Lee Ping Loon

Formula One racing 2007 enters its 3 weeks break a few days ago. I suppose all team members will use this time to recharge their batteries for the final onslaught in the last 6 races of the season. The drivers and constructors championships are still up for grabs between McLaren and Ferrari, they are really hotting up. In fact, things are getting burnt here and there because of the many controversies surfacing in the first season of Michael Schumacher retirement.

Alonso, 2 times title winner, thought he would have it easy this season in the fastest car and with fierce nemesis Schumacher having already retired, but he could not have been more wrong. Rookie teammate Lewis Hamilton embarrassed him with his superb performances and leading him in the points standing. Alonso himself is also creating a fuss within the team until the bosses are getting so fed up and they are comtemplating in releasing him at the end of the season.

His teammate Hamilton was the big surprise. He had already won 3 races in his debut season coupled with a few pole positions. This kid is insanely quick, consistent and he is constantly getting to Alonso’s nerves. Its no joke when a 2 times world champion is beaten in the exact same car by a teammate who had just started in formula one, its a big insult indeed. If Hamilton can keep his head down and with some luck, he would win this year title and many many more in years to come, he is going to be bigger than Jordan in the NBA.

Ferrari and the drivers have been disappointing this season. Not only that their car secrets information have been stolen (by Mclaren), they themselves have also been struggling with reliability problems all season. I have never seen a Ferrari breaks down so often for a long time now. Raikonnen seems to be bringing bad luck with him wherever he goes and Massa proves that he is not world champion material at all. Ferrari needs to buck up and fast, with 6 races to go, they cant afford anymore mistake. I think a change of personnel is needed, i would put Heidfeld in place of Massa, i am sure he would do so much better!

Talking about Heidfeld, BMW have been surprisingly good this season. They have nicked a couple of 3rd places and have been consistenly the fastest cars after McLaren and Ferrari. In Heidfeld and Kubica, they have 2 very consistent and stable drivers. Kubica survived a horrifying crash and put on some amazing performances, sometimes even better than his more senior teammate. BMW should be able to clinch 3rd placing the constructors standing without much problem and if they can keep up the development of the car, they might be able to post a challenge in the title fights in future seasons.