callMEcrazy I din't think McLaren ever had equal status for thier drivers. I recall Ron Dennis saying at China in 2007 that Lewis's race wasn't against Kimi but against Alonso. Now that's straight from the horses mouth.

The fans will vote with their remotes. Max can F1 survive without fans? Yes Max Ferrari = F1 fans both those who love the scarlet cars & those who loathe the scarlet cars, they all count.

When you feel the need to state that you have the support of the team is generally when you don't.

Just hope they find some sponsorship to stop the car looking so PLAIN. It's embarrassing that the most winning car so far this season looks like an extra & not part of the show.

Would love to see this team succeed for the good of F1. They are close with the car but do thier drivers have it see the chequered flag first, this is where the biggest doubt sits. I'm sure both Lewis & Kimi would like to swap seats right now & have a crack at the Toyota to find out.

Another apologist article for Lewis / McLaren. How about renaming the story THE STEWARDS GOT IT RIGHT THIS TIME & HAVE THE EVIDENCE TO BACK IT UP. Oh that's an upbeat story and doesn't show McLaren as a victim so we won't find that by Planet F1 editors. By the way Trulli did deserve his podium as McLaren let him have it or didn't you hear the in car radio transmission.

Ferrari are big boys they can take responsibility for thier decisions, even if it was Schumacher's suggestions it's still a Ferrari call. Hunting down a scapegoat is of no benefit to anyone.

Felipe you are already starting from zero and will continue to start from zero until you score a point, may be some time away.

Best driver on the grid, beat Schumacher, Raikkonen & should have won in 2007 if McLaren supported him, remember Silverstone 07. If has half a chance this year he will grab it.

Bernie you have F1 confused with the Olympics. Yes it's fine for Olympians to receive medals as they are mostly amatuers. Also the Olympics are not contested over a season but a one off event. Bernie why don't you pop over to the OIC & suggest that the fastest time wins regardless of whether it's in a heat or the final. What's the point of giving the gold medal to the winner of a final if a faster time was recorded in a heat - makes sense doesn't it Bernie? Have a cup of coco & think about it.

Due to McLarens performance shortfall winning for Lewis might be downgraded to beating the other Merc teams & the way that Brawn GP is running even that's not a given LOL

Gotta love this plucky ex rally co-driver who has a fantastic track record of success whether with Peugeot or bringing Ferrari from historical has beens to title winner. Funny how it took a French man to make an Italian team work & conversley how it it took an Italian (Flavio Briatore) to make a French team (Renault) work.

IT will be ridiculous if the driver with the most points isn't champion. Hopefully the wins will be well spread this year as the new regs makes things more even and we will have another thrilling finale.

Hiekki couldn't beat Vettel last year at Monza when all his competitive rivals were behind him so I don't know where his confidence is coming from. Ron has picked you to be No.2 driver so unless the Hamster breaks a leg a la Schumacher in 1999 I can't see him flying the flag for the silver team. Hiekki have a chat with Rubens & he will give you the low down LOL

Things look very shaky at McLaren HQ given all the testing that has occurred they haven't worrid the timesheets once. You would expect them to at least show one day of competitiveness as most of the other teams such as Ferrari Toyota BMW Red Bull & Renault have achieved. It would be interesting to know what percentage of thier testing has been with a full 2009 spec car as they have had trouble losing that 2008 rear wing.

This is going to be the most unpredictable start to any F1 season given the new regs so the minnows might crow a bit more than usual especially for the first half of the comp

This will have no effect on the US audience who probably think F1 is a shampoo formula.

Let's hope the next time they enter F1 they will do it with a better plan than buying out another team with no history of success. If the Honda faces are long now imagine how they will feel if Toyota have a bit of success, that will be hard for them to swallow.

Hooray voices of reason when it comes to points spread, this makes far mor sense than medals. Let's face it historically medals were introduced to sports which were amatuer so that winner would have something valuable to hock. A bit like medals for military service sadly.

I think McLaren are paying the price for having to develop last year's car to the end of the season unlike most of the field. Unless they show a huge improvement at the final test next week I suspect they will be fighting for podiums BUT they do have the capacity to develop during the season. I can't wait for the season to start cause I can smell upsets galore for the start of the season.

It's not the quantity of the opposition you beat it's the quality. I remember Nige having a dig at Alain Prost for winning the 1993 WDC in a car that was head & shoulders above the rest of the field & Senna was stuck in an uncompetitve McLaren. Hey Nige it's ok to have an ego you just look a little silly when you keep tripping over it LOL.

Hard to see a long term future without any major corporate backing, the financial incentives offered by Honda will only last so long. Could be another Super Aguri which was after all an artificial team.

They look like they will be in the hunt for a podium at least in the first part of the season. It's the teams with proven mid season development, ie Ferrari, McLaren & Renault which will lead the pack in the home stretch. Yes I know I didn't mention BMW but they are yet prove that they can keep up with the development in the crucial second half of the season. It's not who starts fast but who finishes fast.

McLaren's persistance to run the 2008 rear wing when everybody else is in 2009 configuration certainly raises question marks. Last test session before Melbourne will be interesting to say the least. Could the pecking order recieve a massive shake up due to the new regs, probably for the first away leg of the F1 season at least,

Max you have been in the job a long time and were privvy to the trends a lot earlier than most so I find the finger pointing a little hollow. As you have presided over the current situation & that situation is now considered critical then leave because you obviously have not had your eye on the ball. I agree with thidea of a budget cap it's just very difficult to police.

Massa showed he was top class driver last year & has come a long way since his glimpses of quality when he drove for Sauber. His attitude is spot on & the respect he gets from his peers is well founded. I am sure he now has the total support from Ferrari that he can win them a world champion and it's not just the Kimi show. Kimi has more to prove this year than Massa.

Or the year before Fluffy LOL

I believe Honda & Toyota have been looking for a Japanese driver to bring home a WDC for a lot longer. Could be quite a wait before we see an Indian F1 driver take a chequered flag but on the plus side given the low wages on the sub continent at least it will be a cheaper search lol.

I really hope Toyota can bag thier first win this year it would have a positive effect on F1 especially in Japan. After last year's problem with rain effected races how do Ferrari justify a day off or were they afraid that their car might slip into a barrier, surely they don't want a repeat of Silverstone last year.

Pretty hard to argue with clint99. I think this year we will see if Vettel & Kubica are in the same bracket as Alonso Hamilton Raikkonen & Massa. Rosberg may not have had a worthy car but Vettel showed last year with the right opportunity you can still pull off a giant killing performance.

If Sam Michael has pulled off a design coup then Williams should still have the initial advantage. Remember there's a big difference between copying ideas & understanding how ideas work. If that were the case then Ligier might have one a championship instead of Williams in 1980. Yes that will stretch your memories & debate no doubt.

Half pay is better than no pay especially when it it still ends with a big $M. I think most of us out there in land of real wages would accept that lol :)

Has Adrian Newey pulled a special rabbit from the designers box? Will be very interesting to see the comparison when Webbo gets a hold of the car so we can see if it's the car or the latest baby bundle of talent, Vettel

Who haven't Honda asked? Now that would be a short list. The word desperate may well be changed to Honda lol

I think has more to do with publicity stunt than real consideration of driving talent available. At least it will get those with strong opinions putting the name of USF1 on peoples lips even if it (surprisingly LOL) never happens.

Good news for American racing drivers with 2 new seat next year at USF1, Jenson get a greencard NOW!!!!

His next team will be FIAT S2000 car in the WRC which he has been practicing for. Will that be in 2010 or 2011?

I wonder if any of the McLaren boys will attend the test. They might want to know how the merc package goes in a full 2009 spec car unless the Force India runs with a 2008 rear wing lol

Showed glimpses of what he could be capable of last year, unfortunately he must have picked Mark Webber's mantle of unluckiest driver at the start of the season. You can see him as a solid driver but a future champion, I think not. Would be nice to see him on the podium this year.

Do you get the feeling the selling Honda is bit like trying to sell a dead parrot, the team's not a failure it's just resting.

The openning of the F1 season should be the best chance in years for some upset results, I hope Toyota snag a win to make sure they hang around next year.

Is Flav sand bagging about KERS, looks like they seem to have this most under control. And why is McLaren using an 08 rear wing given the huge change in specs for 09? How can you compare McLaren's testing times to the teams testing 09 packages. Surely Hamilton times can be discounted the same as the Torro Rosso current testing.

It's hard to get excited by a team who will only make up the numbers IF they get on the grid for 09.

Was one of them Jenson Button? I wonder if he's working on the theory that if he has a licence that's his best chance of a drive next year. Maybe the other 2 are Rubens & Bruno Senna LOL

Sandstorms heh? Weren't you guys in Bahrain to make the best of the weather conditions. I believe this is called irony, I hope Toyota, Ferrari & BMW have a sense of humour.

If Max really cares about F1 & not his position (stop sniggering out there) then he has had years to put in som e sort of succession plan like all good businessmen. He can't hang around for ever so bring in some new blood & stop thinking that F1 can't live without you. We can, quite happily in fact :)

No excuses this year Nelson so you better find a way to stay close to your team mate cause he has a natural ability to get the best out of a car. If you can't get close to him then your seat will be in question by say May.

Why not Renault were the ones to take the crown from the might of Ferrari & Schumacher when McLaren & Williams both failed. For a team that gets so little praise especially from the British press they sure do acheive a lot, 1st turbo car to win a F1 race, inventors of the pnuematic valve, most successful V10 engine if F1 history oh on their return to F1 from the ashes of Benneton won the WDC & Constructors in the time frame they predicted plus they were the team that improved their car the most last year.

What a fluff piece. The superbowl has no relevence to F1 except that it is a sport. The only business comparison is F1 has a couple tycoons owning teams where in the NFL all teams are owned by tycoons but how that translates to F1 is tenuous at best. Oh I forgot both F1 drivers & NFL players wear helmets is that enough to run a serious comparison on.

There is a huge expectation for BMW to keep the momentum of the last 3 years Not surprised to hear Mario getting the fans ready just in case they don't come through with the goods this year.

Can we get Scott Speed back to drive for them that would be funny especially if they could get sponsorship from Coca Cola's Mother brand so we could have a battle of the energy drink drivers.

Rossi has already had some impressive rally drives & hopefully we can see him drifting an S2000 rally car in a few years. In F1 unfortunately he would be a celebrity driver in the WRC we would be a genuine racer.

Couldn't the FIA provide additional testing dedicated to KERS?

Now that the Brits have their new world champion Jense is already yesterday's man. DC already has the plump commentating role at BBC which is the closest he was ever going to get to an F1 track this year.

If overtaking is made easier then can we get rid of the blue flags and let the real racers fight through the pack just like Senna did. Then overtaking would very much be part of the show displaying real skill and some fantastic in shot footage of good old fashioned fist waving.

Spot on meyerweb the points differtial between 1st & 2nd was reduced to stop a certain Ferrari driver from winning the championship with a third of the season left to go. If a driver is that good (and yes he was 7 WDC is not a fluke) then let the championship points table reflect that. There will be years when it's close & others where someone will run away with it, that's called competition.

Flav is the man. This is the man the grabbed Schuey from under Eddie Jordon's nose and found Alonso. I can still remember the British press giving him such a hard time for replacing Button with that young Spanish kid at Renault. With hindsight you cn see what foresight he has.

Is there any point now to someone buying the team, if there really was any interest it would have been sold by now so that the car would be ready for Melbourne. Now all we have is the prospect of another minnow battling it out with Force India & that's if someone buys the team. Save the embarrassment & let Honda die in the manor they chose, ritual suicide.

Overtaking maybe easier but keeping those big front wings intact will be more difficult. Pit crews may be confused for plastic surgeons this year as they may end up doing more new nose jobs than tyre changes.

Alonso is a class act & Ron deserves this level of send off. You don't have to like him to respect him.

Bernie is a business man & a very successful one & Luca as well as every other team principal know where their bread's buttered. It just fun & games to work out how much butter you can get Bernie to spread.

I'm sure we will continue to hear "Ronspeak" during the season but all the best to him. We need different characters to keep the spirit of F1 alive so Martin practice that concrete facial expression & play those cards close to your chest if your steppin into Ron's well polished shoes, maybe from Italy LOL

Last year was a solid year for Timo, it will be interesting if he can build on it. He is a quality driver but can he mix it with the leaders if the Toyota is competitve is the question mark hanging over his head that he needs to remove.

C'mon Toyota get your first win and embarrass those Honda exec's that showed how wasted their effort was. I agree with Ferrari27 Jarno deserves a another win & wouldn't the jubilation in the Toyota camp give every F1 fan a warm smile :)

At least if Buemi is successful he won't have to move countries for tax reasons, right Lewis !!!!

All PR speak, IF Honda is sold it will be too late but to have anything but another settling in (read wasted) year the engine won't matter.

I think BMW will rue letting him go. Can you imagine the driver line up of Kubica & Vettel. Usually there's a lot of hype over the latest wunderkid but his first victory in an inferior car in the rain has a hint of Senna about. The driver contest for 2009 will be fascinating. CAN"T WAIT.

It would be fantastic for F1 if Toyota could win their 1st race this season. With so much up in the air the first few races could throw up some interesting results, maybe Toyota could jag a win. Especially with Honda pulling out wouldn't that be the sweetest win. Even I'll throw down a few saki's if that happens lol

Massa will need Ferrari to be on the ball from the first race if he is to get another bite at the WDC. He showed last year has improved temperament to build on his natural speed but can he get more from a car than it can give like Senna, Schumacher or Alonso. 2008 showed that he made a huge step forward, keeping the momentum is his challenge.

The window of opportunity passed Jenson a long time ago. Now exit gracefully as you have no control of your f1 driving destiny. The use by date expired quite a few years ago, Honda's poor performance just masked it.

Kimi needs a bit of practice getting the best out of a car where there is no grip. That's right Howee it would have helped him at Spa LOL

Given that both Ferrari & McLaren had to concentrate on their 08 cars for the majority of last season & that some teams could switch earlier to the 09 regs it could be that both these teams will start on the back foot at the start of the season. In some cases this can cost you a season if you're playing catch up. Remember Ferrari probably would have won in 2006 it they didn't start off so bad. Given that no car on this year's grid is an evloution of last year's car predictions are pretty meaningless especially to make direct comparisons the championship just completed.

Kimi has been a title contender for the majority of his career so he knows what it takes. I don't think he is in the same league as Alonso when it comes to getting the maximum out of a car so he needs a car to do it for him. He will need to kick start some sort fire in the belly if he's desire is to match that of Hamilton, Alonso, Kubica or even now Massa.

Red Bull obviously own the copyright to any one named Seb (future parents take note if you want some of that Red Bull money). They can now have 2 teams filled with Seb's if they got rid of Webbo, what sort of name is Mark anyway, sounds like a stain and relpaced him with Seb Loeb from the WRC & he has felt the car so it's not out of reach. That gives you Seb team 1 of Vettel & Loeb and Seb team 2 could Buemi & Bourdais. Sebtabulous!!!

If Heikki was mentally destroyed at the end of 07 (& why would you hire a driver who as you say knew was mentally destroyed?) then how does he explain the state of Alonso's mind after 1 year at McLaren. Didn't Heikki's performance improve over his 1st season with Renault leading to his 1st podium towards the end of the season? Transpose this to his 1st year at McLaren which started promising but declined as the season went on in a race winning car. His inability to race with Vettel at Monza is probably the most telling race of under performance. Heikki it might be a good idea to have a chat with Rubens to get the big picture of the cost of being the SECOND driver.

BAR started off under bad management & unrealistic tergets, remember them advertising that they would be race winners in thier first year? Honda continued that bad management as they could not build on any success they acheived on the track unlike either Renault or BMW. The last 2 years have been nothing but aweful in every aspect, earth dreams WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ABOUT? IF anyone REALLY buys this team then they will need deep pockets to turn this ship around. Mr Richards you are no fool given your motor sport success and have walked away correctly.

One of the good things about Singapore that it shares with Monaco is that it's a track where you really pay for a mistake. That's one reason we can expect unusual results from this track just like we have in the past with the wonderful Monaco and to lesser extent Hungary. Not all tracks should be like this but part of the variety of challenges for the drivers competing in an F1 season.

I think Nick is in the Heinz Harold Frentzen mould, close but no banana when it comes to WC aspirations. Kubica will eb the real one to watch if BMW can give him a car which is a bit closer to the front for the FULL season. By the way Renault managed to win the world championship in the timeframe they predicted so it is possible.

I remember the both James Hunt & Alan Jones won in a Hesketh & Ayrton Senna winning in a Toleman, I wonder what these people have in common. Sure 1 win doesn't make someone a future champion but sometimes it gives a glimpse into the future due to the ability shown. Compare Vettels first win with that say of Kovalainen's and as time goes on I think both will speak volumes about their respective careers.

Ferrari by their nature will always attracts top drivers but you can't expect them to have every one. They never got Senna and he was one of the greatest drivers of all time. If you are going to have an F1 giant like Ferrari then we will always need giant killers like Alonso & Hamilton otherwise where's the show?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all drivers were out there on driving merit & not sponsorship $. I think we are getting ever closer to this & I sincerely hope that Buemi is part of this. Plus I just love the ironic idea that the country, Switzerland, the only one to my knowledge which banned F1 could provide a world champion.

It must be very scary for Hamilton to know the quality of the drivers youger than him. Remember when Alonso was the baby of the F1 circus, I think Hamilton will hold onto his mantle as youngest champion ever sooner than Alonso did. Whether it's Vettel or someone else remains to be seen but isn't great when you have such an exciting young crop to watch. Let's not make rash judgements on him either way & enjoy the ride.

Doesn't matter how big your wage is if your employer can't afford it. I'm sure Alonso will tell you that his Renault contract is worth more real money than the Honda contract if he had taken it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing when you make the right decisions, right Fernando?

It will be very interesting to see where Williams end up next year with a more level playing feild as F1 reduces running costs. If the ability to pass is truly improved we will see the top drivers perform as the ability to keep a faster car behind diminishes. I hope Nico has a chance to show his true ability.

Does Jenson still have Sir Frank's number? Will Honda regret there decision to bow out as loser if Toyota manage to find themselves competetive next year. Wouldn't this be the worst PR exercise for the Honda brand then giving the benefit of all those R&D dollars which have already been spent a final year.

What team would support this besides Ferrari & McLaren as it is of no benefit for any other team. What made this season great was the different levels of battles. The Toyota v Renault challenge or the Red Bull team rivalry added so many more things to talk about than who won. WIll they really fight hard down the order if there is nothing to be gained past 3rd place. When it comes to to down the field action who will forget Sato passing Alonso in 2007, would that have happened if there was nothing on offer?

No. 5 If Silverstone was the masterclass performance by Hamilton then equally Hungary was the maturity race for Massa and should be treated with equal awe. Yes Hamilton was a deserved winner this year but also fantastic to watch was the coming of age performance from Massa.

Best last race since Adelaide 86 when 3 drivers had the world championship in thier grasps How could you forget that tyre blow out on Nige's car when he was cruising knowing that his arch rival Piquet was having an early shower. Then Prost had to get the most out of his fuel fumes just to make the finish line to bag the win & an amazing title. 2008 Brazil just beats that, THAT'S HOW GOOD A YEAR IT WAS