It was an awful day for Red Bull, with Marc Webber losing control of his car, hitting the wall and bouncing back across the track, taking out Nico Rosberg as he did so. Seb Vettel's Renault engine exploded in a ball of smoke, flame and shards of metal while leading the race.  I have to admit that I would really like to see Marc Webber win the championship, but if he has one more race like this then Alonso will be able to romp home to a third championship.

Jensen Button had a bad race with an ill-handling McLaren, but team mate Lewis Hamilton seemed to be in his element, finishing a superb second. Michael Schumacher continued his good run of form by finishing a racy fourth, has he got the car working to his liking at last?

As for the track, there was so much rain and spray from the tyres, that I actually couldn't see that much of it...

                          

Interviewing the Ringmaster

The official Formula 1 website has a very interesting interview with Bernie Ecclestone  to coincide with his 80th birthday at the end of the month. Highlights include his views on the way teams suppress their drivers personalities and a World War Two encounter with a German fighter plane. The Guardian have also interviewed him and you can find it here.

Massa and the Alonso question

James Allen looks into the Ferrari team orders situation and how Philipe Massa has faired so far this season.

F1 expansion

F1 Journo Joe Saward ruminates on the arguments for F1 expansion into non-traditional countries. Should traditional venues keep their slots, just because they are great racetracks? Personally, I hope so!

The professional view

This column by the nail-hard 1987 500cc World Champion Wayne Gardner never fails to be insightful. Read up about his views on last weekends Australian Grand Prix and his chat with Casey Stoner about his reasons for moving teams.

Moto3 generates manufacturer interest?

As part of it's continuous attempts to devalue the Motorcycle World Championship and it's different classes, Dorna will have the 125cc bikes consigned to history at the end of next year. In it's place will be the Moto3 class, obviously a two wheeled version of Formula 3. The MotoMatters website takes a look at the manufacturer interest surrounding this new class. Bring back the side-cars, I say.

                          

I won't pass judgement on the track, but from the aerial pictures that are flying around the 'net, it is a familiar Tilke template.  You know the score, long straights, slow corners, chicanes etc. However the potentially daftest thing about the track is the 'street circuit' section. Apparently this track will turn off the main track and go around a loop in the nearby town.

Except that the town hasn't been built yet.

The town is being built especially for the Grand Prix. Talk about artificial environments! I often wonder whether the F1 circus is aware of how ridiculous it looks to the outside world sometimes. Mind you, they probably don't care!

                          

The winners from last time around appeared to be the losers at Monza. Lewis Hamilton found himself out of the race on lap one after a collision with Massa. Marc Webber was stuck behind a slightly unruly Nikko Hulkenburg after a poor start and was critical of the tactics the young German used to keep in front. The Australian eventually  managed to get by to claim sixth place,  salvaging something from the afternoon.

Jensen Button lead over half the race but damage to his rear wing and strategy problems meant that he was unable to pull away from the Ferrari's. The Englishman was brought in a lap early for his pit-stop, allowing Alonso to put the quick laps in so he could leap-frog him. In the end, a slightly disappointing race for Button, however he did make a big points haul whereas his team mate was left standing with the track marshals.

As for Fernando Alonso, he was able to tick the box that says 'win at Monza in a Ferrari' on his racing CV. All season he has said that he is still a contender for the World Championship and by winning yesterday, he scrawled his intentions across the championship table with thick red pen. Which way this rather exciting season will twist next, I have no idea.

                          

Sebastien Vettel has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, crashing into Button and putting him out of the race, then getting involved in two further incidents. This has highlighted his often quoted lack of ability in overtaking, something that his main rivals seem to do so well (even in an age of aerodynamic over efficiency). He is superb when driving on the edge, blasting out fast lap after fast lap, yet when in close quarters with an opponent, contact often ensues leaving either himself or the other car left by the roadside.

Marc Webber's car stalled on the grid, always a potentially dangerous occurrence,  but managed to get his car into gear and claimed second place at the end of the race. Robert Kubica took full advantage of an excellent Renault, proving once more that the Pole is the real deal.

Michael Schumacher was also very impressive, showing glimpses of his old form as he worked his way up from the back of the grid to finish a fine seventh.  I think I'm not alone in saying that this is the type of racing we want to see from him, not the dangerous antics he undertook at the Hungaroring.

                          

Hungary like the wolf

The Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday saw a real master-class by the head of the school, Michael Schumacher, firmly defending his position in front of the weak Rubens Barrichello. The Brazilian dared to attempt an overtaking move and was firmly shown the pit wall by our illustrious founder. Take a look at the good, hard racing going on below:

It is fair to say that Barrichello was overreacting, as the sponginess of the pit wall would have cushioned his impact as Mr Schumacher drove imperiously onwards. Clearly a fine example of clean, defensive driving that young racers should all emulate.

That was our most up to date lesson, but we can now also look at some of our previous tutorials on the art of great racing:

Don't mika me do this

Here it is, the move that helped found the school, back in 1990. Wait until the last moment, cut your opponent up and send him crashing out of the race:

He must never overtake you at any cost. EVER!!!!

Drive it like a Reliant Robin

Even with just three wheels, we can still defend our position and ensure that our opponent doesn't win. Even if you really have no right to be driving your badly damaged car around the track. It's YOUR track, NOT theirs!

Hang him out to (Canada) dry!

Well not exactly, hang him out... Just drive into him! It was your piece of the road and he was trespassing on it. Hit him, no one's looking. What do you expect if you're driving in Spain anyway?

Join the school

If you're impressed by any of the driving you have seen here, then get in touch, as our head instructor Mr M. Schumacher will be happy to coach you through the fine art of firm, defensive driving, with a spot of pathological lying thrown in for good measure. You can also benefit from his apprentice Mr Vettel, who will be taking classes in belligerence and petulance as well.

                          

Sebastien Vettel came third (and probably happy to be a bit part player after Silverstone), with Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button a distant fourth and fifth. Marc Webber, hamstrung by oil consumption problems, rounded out the top six. Oh, and Mercedes were awful. They'd have been better off using one their vans! The days of Schumacher dominating all he surveyed are now very distant.

Team orders are nothing new and were never seen to be wrong until that infamous day in 2002, when Ferrari management ordered Rubens Barrichello to let Michael Schumacher through to take the win on the last corner. Barrichello had been inspired all weekend bested his German team mate in the race, yet was expected to slow right down and let him through. It was such an obvious and cynical move that the FIA banned team orders.

Unfortunately that was a knee-jerk reaction and now stops team managers from being able to give orders to their drivers. A simple order to instruct the number two driver to keep his position behind the team leader to maximise their championship chances, is no longer allowed. So through the utter cynicism and disregard for sportsmanlike  behaviour, the Ferrari team got an important part of team management banned, therefore making it a underhand practice.

And yesterday it came back to bite them on the backside.

                          

Support races and layout's aside, the main story of the weekend was the controversy that erupted in the Red Bull team. Both cars had been fitted with a new developmental front wing, which Seb Vettel managed to smash in an off during practice. It was then ordered that Webber's wing should be transferred over to his team mates car. Whether or not this was a major contributing factor to the car's overall performance is neither here nor there, but what it shows to the outside world is a clear preference for Sebastien Vettel to be champion this year. If the team was being run to a joint number one system, then Vettel would have just had to make do with the old wing.

During the press conference on Saturday it was clear that the Australian was furious and that anger probably contributed to his fine performance the next day. Indeed, from where my brother and I were sitting at Stowe corner,  Webber seemed to be putting in a muscular, controlled performance that tempered aggression with mature race-craft. In fact, his performance was probably the only constant in the whole race (apart from Lewis Hamilton's dogged pursuit of him).

At the other end of the scale, Fernando Alonso's fiery, exciting and ultimately unrewarding drive was fascinating to watch. It was a gloves-off and slightly unhinged show of great car control. His hounding of Robert Kubica and the Force India's later on in the race was great to watch. Although the Spaniard's ham fisted attempt at overtaking the Pole did seem to take a bit of the shine off things (and earned him a drive-through penalty). Thanks to this and the collision with team mate Massa, one gets the impression that Ferrari need to pull their socks up a bit.

Special mention should go to Jensen Button's fourth place, especially after the Englishman started in 14th on the grid. He made up sixth places on the first lap, stayed out and changed his tyres late to jump two places and capitalised on Kubica's retirement. All in all, an excellent save of a weekend that could have turned into a disaster for the McLaren driver.

Bruno Senna was strangely absent from the Hispania racing team this weekend, with Japanese driver Sakon Yamamoto stumping up the cash to take his place for the race. He needn't have bothered, the cars were painfully slow. An old bedford van would have been as effective!

Now it's over, I'd better start saving my pennies for next year!

                          

The other problem is the support races, as they really are a Bernie stitch-up these days, with GP2, GP3 and Formula BMW clogging the programme. How about a bit of local colour? Incorporating a round of the British Formula 3 and the BTCC would provide a far more entertaining curtain raiser to the main event (I believe this always used to be the case). For example, I went to the Spanish Grand Prix in 2003 and one of the support races was a Seat Ibiza Challenge race; brilliant entertainment! 25-30 tin tops racing around the track, smashing into each other! Something a bit more like that would help immensely.

Slight moans aside, I'm very much looking forward to this weekend. I presume that this is going to be a Red Bull weekend as their car is the proverbial rocket on fast tracks and with it's alterations, Silverstone is once again extremely quick. Damon Hill and the British Racing Drivers Club have spent their financial investments wisely as the track is looking great. Plus, guess who's the driver steward for this race? Nigel Mansell!!!!!!!

I think I'm going to have a lie down...

                          

Lewis Hamilton and Jensen Button finished second and third respectively, putting them first and second in the drivers championship. Fernando Alonso was fuming that Lewis Hamilton's overtaking of the safety car ruined his race and that the drive through penalty that the Englishman received did not affect his end placing.

Grand Prix Gold!!

Ayrton Senna. Donington 1993. An absolutely classic first lap where the Brazilian overtakes the top five cars and takes control of the race. That particular Grand Prix has since gone down as one of the Brazilian's greatest victories and you can enjoy it here, here and here!!!