sofaF1

Ralf is currently one of the best paid drivers in Formula 1 and it's always been difficult to fathom exactly what he's being paid that much money for.

I mean he's very fast sometimes, but he's certainly not consistant about it. And although I'm guessing Alonso and Kimi will be paid a lot of money next year I think he's been being paid more than either of them this year.

Perhaps, I've always thought, this means that's he's very good with the sponsors and that's why he's so liked. But two things probably count against this. One the continuing rumours of his homosexuality - not that there's anything wrong with that but sponsors probably don't like the fact that he's married and also supposedly gay.

But also he's clearly not that popular with the fans. In the most recent FIA / AMD survey:

Michael Schumacher 28%
Kimi Raikkonen 17%
Jenson Button 8%
Fernando Alonso 7%
David Coulthard 6%
Juan Pablo Montoya 5%
Jacques Villeneuve 4%
Mark Webber 3%
Takuma Sato 2%
Rubens Barrichello 1%
Giancarlo Fisichella 1%
Nick Heidfeld 1%
Tiago Monteiro 1%
Nico Rosberg 1%
Scott Speed 1%
Jarno Trulli 1%

And you'll notice that he's not there. Not even there! Gosh I'm not sure the sponsors will like that.

Actually while we're on the subject of sponsors not being willing to spend vast amounts of cash on things that aren't really working terribly well. Look who is last on that list: Jarno Trulli aka Ralf's team mate. Toyota can't be too happy about that, but then look at the teams list:

Ferrari 30%
McLaren Mercedes 21%
Renault F1 8%
WilliamsF1 8%
Honda Racing F1 6%
Red Bull Racing 4%
BMW Sauber F1 3%
Super Aguri F1 2%
Panasonic Toyota 1%

and we see that they're not doing too much better!

I've never really been sure about Ralf, but in the last few years he's sort of come into his own a bit certainly when talking to the press and so on. This is in a similar way to what's happened to David Couthlard since he went to Red Bull. But me liking him wont help, if Ralf doesn't get faster or more popular soon he might have to go.

So how will you be watching the Chinese grand prix?

Were you up at 5 this morning watching the live timing on the internet?

Will you be up at 6 to watch the race tomorrow?

Just how much of a fan are you?

By around this time (as I write this it's 6:45 am) on Sunday we will be one single step closer in one of the most interesting title battles in years.

Is it really a bogey circuit for Michael?

Is the pressure getting to Alonso?

Is the pressure getting to Michael?

Will McLaren score a win before the end of the season?

Can anyone else?

...do you do if a slow, woman driver won't let you overtake her?

Schumacher.

But of course in China, they just call it food. Anyway, why has Michael been incapable of performing at this circuit? Or why do we (or the media) think he is? There have, after all, only been two races held here. Once Michael made a mistake in qualifying, but Rubens won, and twice Michael was in a bad car anyway, but was crashed into on his lap to the grid just for fun. Michael, in fact, holds the lap record for the track.

I always get confused between this circuit and Bahrain. They are quite similar in layout, but I guess the point of this post is, what makes a circuit good for one driver and not good for another? The car has some impact, of course, but the car can be set-up by the driver. A champion should be good everywhere, and I think that's what we'll see this weekend: Michael winning from pole.

As the announcement comes that we will be seeing at least one more race next year I wonder what can be done about the breaks. I understand that they need a break at some point but is it my imagination or are there more breaks between races this year? Given a choice of more races or more breaks which would you choose?

Well I would love to have more races and fewer gaps but I know that's probably out of the question. But some of the gaps seem to be bad for the sport. We've got a three week gap now which dampens down the excitement. Then we have two races back to back. And then three weeks until the final. Now this year it may well go down to the final. But with big gaps like this there's a chance the last few races wouldn't be noticed.

Swiftcover were swiftly, and mysteriously, replaced by Shell as sponsors to itv-f1 - I don't think anyone here mentioned it. So what happened? I'm guessing that because the championship was attracting more and more viewers, due to the closeness of the battle between Alonso and Schumacher, a bigger sponsor stepped up and took over. But isn't it suspicious that they're also a sponsor and close ally of Ferrari?

I'd like to suggest to all interested, or otherwise, parties that they try to catch this weekend's MotoGp race in Phillip Island, Australia. The circuit is one of the most amazing I've seen, and would be a really great addition to our calendar: flowing up and down along the ocean coast, always in beautiful sunshine, and always producing great races. Hayden (the championship leader) is on pole ahead of Rossi (his rival) third. Pedrosa (Hayden's upstart young team-mate, and another rival for the championship) is down in tenth and ready to storm through the field. Watch live tomorrow at 5:45-7:00am on BBC interactive, or catch the lunch-time repeat on BBC2 at 1:00-2:00pm.

People have talked about how Michael was unprepared to retire because in one of the after race interviews he was unable to remember what the word for retire was in Italian.

People have talked about how he's actually known since the 2nd July that he was going to retire because when asked he said "in Indianapolis".

My thought was couldn't he have actually decided at Indy last year? When despite being possibly the greatest sportsman in the world, and being the only one of the F1 superstars to actually get his car out on the track he still got things thrown at him and booed? Perhaps it was that terrible experience that made Michael start to fall out of love with F1?

Along with Ferrari's driver line up changing next year there is a chance that Ferrari will also be moving its engines over to Torro Rosso. This is what Red Bull want for a variety of performance reasons. And Red Bull are trying to make it seem like it was Ferrari's idea all along by saying that Ferrari should want their engine in the back of the only Italian team with an italian driver. When all it's really about is that Red Bull want Renault engines.

But it wasn't always like this. In the old days Ferrari never wanted to dilute the brand so they badged their engines Petronis and sold them to Sauber. But despite the more prominent name in the deal with Red Bull the relationship is very different. For a very long time Sauber was seen as a fully fledged Ferrari b team. Now that we see real b teams like Super Aguri and Torro Rosso we mark it down but it was certainly considered it at the time. On several occasions it was suggested by commentators that they would be subject to team orders even.

But the signs are that Ferrari and Red Bull are nowhere near as close. And maybe that's not a problem now. But I think it will be in the future. Because although I haven't seen anyone really talk about it Ferrari are now going to be sporting an all Sauber team line up.

So maybe they should switch to Torro Rosso. At least the driver line up there says future more than at Red Bull.

So I haven't done this since the beginning of the season, but I think now's a good time to test your knowledge of what's been happening this year - especially since we have another three week break.

You can obviously see Fisichella here, but where is he, and who, and what, is happening in front of him? Try and guess first, but after that you're allowed to use any resources at your disposal to find out.

Formula one seems to be missing a trick in the world of sponsorship and it's a really big one. In formula one personal sponsorship is almost unheard of. What trainers does David Coulthard wear? Well we don't know. We actually do know that Michael wears Filas but that's because they sponsor Ferrari.

Red Bull tried it but in the end got so frustrated that they had to buy a whole team (or two) just to get their message heard.

Much as the formula one establishment would like us to believe otherwise people really care about personal struggles. And to that end they care who wins the drivers championship but don't mind who wins the constructors (except in Italy).

Because of this the sport has somewhat withered under Michael Schumacher. Okay so the winning all of the time was a factor certainly but the fact that nobody outside the sport knew who anyone else was was probably relevant too.

Personal sponsors do this job for the sport as they get the story out there. And I'm not talking small concerns here. Why doesn't Nike sponsor anyone in Formula one? The reason is that no team boss will let them. Because Nike would want to put the swoosh on the car. And Ferrari wouldn't like it if there was a swoosh on one car and not on the other. And they especially wouldn't like it if there was a swoosh on one of the MaLarens too. And of course they won't like it because it takes away some of their power and also they wouldn't get a cut of that advertising space on their car.

In football the team owns the ads on the kit but the player gets to pick his own boots. And that difference is huge. So at the very least you might think the driver should get to control the ads on his helmet but no.

Why is this important now? Well next year or the year after a lot of people are going to be talking about Lewis Hamilton. A lot of people are talking about him now. But they are in the sport. And in the sport people are already refering to him as "our Tiger Woods" without seemingly realising that without Nike and Accenture we probably wouldn't have heard of him. It was them who latched on to him and made him the global brand. But in Formula One it might never happen. If he wins British people might watch more Grand Prix and perhaps black people worldwide too. But he'll never make the big leap for the sport without the billboards saying "go on be a Tiger".

It seemed irrelevant after Alonso's engine blew up, but why wasn't he punished for cutting the corner at the first chicane? James kept referring to Michael at Hungary, but that was a different story: Michael was in front and being overtaken, and was possibly pushed wide by De la Rosa's move. Alonso was trying to overtake, and went wide due to his own mistake of braking too late. You can clearly see from the on-board footage that they are side-by-side when they reach the braking zone - surely Alonso had to yield the place back?

Also, his relegation to 10th place was not cancelled out by the engine blow-up but may in fact have caused it since Alonso had to push very hard with his engine to get back the places. Interestingly, this was the first Renault engine blow-up since 2003.

Whilst many people will be analysing what and how Schumacher said what he said in the post-race press conference (his over-emphasis on helping out Massa, for example), there is a bit of light relief to be found in the answers of Kubica:

Journalist - Robert, what a fantastic result in only your third Grand Prix; could you ever have imagined that at the start of this year?

Kubica - No.

Journalist - And a big battle with Nick at the first corner?

Kubica - It was big?

Journalist - Mr Kubica, can you tell us about the key to your success in getting a third position in your first year?

Kubica - What key?

It really seemed like Michael doesn't want to retire. Winning the Italian grand prix, closing down to within two points of Alonso, it seemed like it was almost the happiest moment of his life - why doesn't he want to go on winning? They itv-team hinted a few times at the idea that Ferrari almost pushed him out, and he seemed to suggest it too, mumbling something about Massa and it not being fair on him, and then praising, but not naming, the man Ferrari signed (some time ago, it appears) to replace him: Raikkonen. It makes me think, as I posted earlier this week, that he might retire, but the urge to race will be too strong and he might come back. It will certainly be hard, as they said, to fill that void in his life.

a salty otter

Martin Brundle is brilliant

Will Ron stop him racing in the rest of this season?

Have Pedro ad Lewis Hamilton for the rest of the season?

A lot of people say that F1 isn't really a sport as they understand it. Partially because overweight people are instrumental to winning. The engineers play such an important part in the Formula 1 team's speed that people watching seem to think that it is so removed from other sports to perhaps no longer be one. Of course the fact that engineers are so vital to the sport is also the reason that so many other people love Formula 1.

What Alonso is talking about is something else, he thinks that people are arbitrarily making decisions at the end of each session and are fundamentally affecting the outcome of the race or championship.

First a quick history of qualifying:

Old style - Everyone in eachothers way, if you caught traffic then it was your own fault and you didn't get to the front. But you could go around as many times as you liked. People said that too many good laps were being ruined by traffic.

Mid style - You could only go around once but you were guarnateed not to be impeeded. People said it was too boring because there wasn't enough going on at the same time.

New style - Limited number of runs, people going out at the same time and then if they get in each others way a punishment.

I think that you can't have it both ways in the long run. If people are nervous of getting in each others way then you will loose the excitment of the new format and go back to boring (it never was for me but as perceeved). If you deliberately get in somebody's way then you should get punished, but everything else if fair game.

However in this instance I think Alonso did deliberately get in the way of Massa. He was deliberately going at quali speed on his outlap to get round in time to be included on his fast lap. So he was deliberately doing something other than standard practice. So it then comes down to another thing which is was he close enough to impeede Massa. And the answer to that seems to me to be no. He wasn't in the way because otherwise Massa would have been faster not slower. On the final straight I can still remember Martin saying "he's not close enough to get a tow off him". And that to me looks right. I think the one lift they used as an excuse was a mistake by Massa and was unrelated to Alonso.

So I don't think he should have been punished, and I do think the punishments should be less arbitrary. They should set out some plain rules on the subject and stick to them. Perhaps using something like distance between cars.

So there were some pretty funny things said by the commentators in today's session; perhaps the funniest thing ever by James when he and Martin were wondering why Liuzzi was still in the car when he was out of the top 16. He said*: 'Liuzzi there maybe pondering the magnitude of what's happened and perhaps not understanding it'.

Then Martin came up with some classics. First, on Jenson during the pointless fuel-burning stage of qualifying: 'I imagine he's probably thinking about whether to buy a cream or a white sofa for whatever new house he has'.

And, secondly, on what the drivers do through the Curva Grande: 'at this part of the track they now just get their sandwiches out and read the financial times'.

However, they did annoy me in that they didn't understand for a minute at least the importance of Alonso's tyre failure. They didn't act shocked or astonished when it happened, and then it took them a long time to say 'this could really affect the championship'. I was almost off my seat when they first showed Alonso's wheel gone. All right, in the end it didn't matter too much, but it could have been vital.

*All quotations are based on my very shaky memory four hours after the event, and are thus not exactly exact.

I have suddenly realised something about the situation that I hadn't done before.

Ferrari senior management - especially their sponsorship people - will want a swansong season of Michael going to each race as it is his last and the ticket sales that will generate and the media attention. Remember Murray's last season? They have to want something like that.

There's simply no way that Ferrari would let Michael retire before saying goodbye to the Tifosi in Italy. And the announcement is going to be after the race. That to me says next year for his retirement.

As I suggested yesterday morning Honda's engine plan could leave them Hero or Zero:

Zero

Flav has been suggesting that he almost got an along and Kimi super team and would have got away with it if it hadn't have been for that pesky Renault senior management.

Renault seem to have some pretty fast cars over there and if they had managed to sew up Kimi and Alonso it would have been a pretty mega situation for them. We might be about to have a superteam at Ferrari but it can't be for too long whereas with Alonso and Kimi both at the beginning of their career it would have been a very interesting proposition.

However you have to say that Flav might have been the one to blow it himself - not that he's mentioned it of course. The fact that even he wouldn't commit to next year in case it all went wrong must have sent a very destabilising feeling through both Alonso and Kimi. No wonder they both went elsewhere.

So despite what you might have read in the popular press as well as the announcement of the Ferrari line up this weekend the F1 world will be also holding a race.

Monza is an old style ultra fast circuit. It's one of the only places, like Monaco, where they have a totally different aero package than everywhere else. And it's also one of the only places, like Monaco where the driver genuinely seem sacred to drive. And the reason for that? It's so fast. Whereas the aero package at Monaco is designed to stick the cars to the floor here it is designed to just let them fly.

Generally three things happen in Monza. Bridgestone tend to dominate, Ferrari tend to be in the lead and the winner of the race tends to be decided on a Saturday. Maybe that's why the Ferrari boys decided they should give us something to talk about on the Sunday.

But perhaps this year they didn't need to bother. The V8 engines are making some big changes to the way that the tracks are working by seriously messing around with the breaking zones. This has meant on some circuits like Silverstone that there is less chance of overtaking but in others suddenly chances have been opening up. And Webber, Button and Coulthard seem to be the fastest at throwing away the planned racing line and taking advantage of the one that means you can overtake. Perhaps they are the ones paying most attention at GP2.

So it's possible that there will be more chance for overtaking than in previous years and add to the mix the weather and we could have something very interesting. Although supposed to be dry on Sunday it's apparently likely to rain on Saturday and a mixed up qualifying could make for a very interesting Sunday.

Ferrari are looking strong at the moment everywhere, so on a circuit where they have traditionally gone well they have to be dead certs.

Renault are doing less well at the moment, but Alonso is outdriving his car at every turn. If he can get ahead of a few people down to the first corner he'll make that Renault as wide as a tractor on a Sunday afternoon drive.

McLaren have been getting stronger and stronger and they clearly are desperate for a win before the end of the season. They're unlikely to get it here but if an upset qualifying puts them near the front expect them to be able to keep the Renault's behind them.

Toyota have been running better for a while, and the Bridgestone advantage might play well into their hands.

Honda as a team are still on a high after Jenson's win. They have brought their new engine to Monza. Bringing a new engine is one of those Hero or Zero moments. It could be much faster and on a high speed circuit that could be a boon, but it might also break. And basically on a circuit where overtaking has been harder before you better be good off the start line - and Honda aint.

So it seems like, after three seasons in a middling team, this is the last we'll see of Christian Klien. What did you make of him? I have never been totally convinced by him, but there have been times when he's driven amazingly well. I think Bahrain last year? Nonetheless, he has been outperformed by his team-mates every time - and this year and the last by a man who was easily outperformed by Hakkinen and Raikkonen. In fact, the points deficit is quite shocking: 14 points to 2. But he is fast, and maybe he deserves another chance, but aren't there a lot more drivers who deserve a chance too? His going effectively frees up the seat at Williams for Wurz - a driver that has waited along time to prove himself again.

I just received an email from autosport.com's editor-in-chief saying that as of tomorrow news stories on his website will be free to read. There will still be pay content (worth subscribing to, I should add), but the most important part - the headlines - are yours now for nothing.

The most interesting section of the email, however, was the claim that the reason for doing this was that autosport.com was now the best F1 website on the internet. Do you agree? I certainly think it is - the news arrives there sometimes a day before it does on itv-f1.com, and the race reports are much more detailed. A swinger in the debate has to be the terrible 'Italian GP Preview' on itv-f1.com at the moment which tells you nothing about the race at all.

So Heikki will partner Fisi, Flav has re-signed for next year. And they've got Nelson Piquet Jr. as a test driver. They're clearly keeping up the idea of bringing promising rookies in to F1.

But this announcement and its timing suggestes that Kimi is definately going to Ferrari.

I read this morning that Ferrari will announce their decision the moment the last of their racers crosses the finish line at Monza. So, if they want to delay the announcement, all they have to do is order Massa to stop his car a few laps before the end. Easy. Or, they could be thinking of saying the two Red Bulls are theoretically their racers too, so if one of them breaks down or has a crash...

According to the press this weekend Michael will either retire, carry on with Ferrari or race with Renault. What do you think. Say what you think will happen and what you want to happen.

But first here are the arguments for each.

Retire: Several people including Bernie himself have said that Michael will retire at the end of this season. The main argument seems to be that Michael has already achieved so much that he doesn't feel the need to go on, that he's lost some of his desire to win, that he feels the baton has been passed, that the Ferrari team are moving on and that he should go out on top.

Carry on with Ferrari: Michael has built the success story that is Ferrari and while he may want to go out on top he might not feel that he isn't on top or at the very least in with a chance or being on top. And if you've got that feeling then why would you want it to stop. And if there's the challenge of beating Kimi on equal terms in the offing that might just be an offer he'll find hard to refuse.

Move to Renault: I think I might have only heard this one from Peter Winsor whose argument went something like this: why not? He also suggested that with Flav and Pat it would be like the good old days of Benneton. And he already knows it's a fast car.

So which do you think?

Tickets for next year's race at Silverstone have gone on sale and this year they've added a little gimmick in light of Jenson's maiden win. If Jenson wins the race then they'll give you fifty quid. (Expect Jenson in that weigh bridge)

The thing is that surely they must be expecting ticket sales to be up even before this. And also surely it would be better the other way round. Surely people won't have minded paying top dollar for tickets if Jenson won but in case you're upset Jenson lost then here's fifty quid.

Everyone and their grandmother seems to be so I figure I should jump on the band waggon too. But how can Ferrari, MaLaren, Renault, Honda and Toyota all feel confident after the test? The answer is some of them must be lying.

Actually this feeds into a wider point. All of the teams I just mentioned and Williams and BMW all want to win the world championship. The others at least know that they never will although I'm not so sure about Red Bull. So lets say eight teams want to win the championship. This is crazy because at least one of them is going to come eighth. And if you've been gleaning money out of your paymaster overlords for years on the promise of a win how do you explain eighth place to them?

Okay so Red Bull will be happy whatever happens for the next few years. Williams are upset this year but will be attempting to build for the next few seasons during a period of renewal. And maybe that's how it works. It can't just be money because otherwise Toyota would be winning all the time.

But you've got to say with odds of one in eight of winning even after 100 Million dollars invested each year you've got to have some serious balls to turn round to your bosses and say, "lets play again, you see I've got this system it can't fail. This time we're going to win".

The guardian has a story that at Monza Ferrari will announce three drivers for next year. Kimi, Massa and Michael.

This would fit with the earlier stories about Michael not having to decide until the end of the year.

According to a Spanish magazine "AS" (sorry no link) at Monza Renault will also be making an announcement about its driver line up. As apparently Kimi has also signed with them for next year. This contract apparently stands if Michael remains at Ferrari.

Part of the oddity is that Telefonica have upped their sponsorship commitment to Renault next year quite substantially at a time when Renault have less star power and no Spaniard. Although some people have taken it as a sign that Pedro de la Rosa will be moving over to Renault I wouldn't want to see what Pedro would look like after he'd tried to wriggle his way out of one of Ron's contracts!

A lot of commentators have been mentioning that Michael's raggedness is a sign that he wants this championship worse than ever and that's a sign that he's determined to resign this year. Maybe it's true, but I don't think you would have found anyone in a previous season who would have argued that Michael didn't want to win the championship so badly it hurt. He always wants to win. I just don't think he's been under as much pressure for a while.

And with the team clearly being a bit fairer between drivers maybe they are letting Michael know, and the rest of the world, that next year when he's racing Kimi he'll properly be racing Kimi.

I can't believe I hadn't focused on it but I just realised this week how bad it would be for Renault if they don't win the constructors championship.

As Alonso is going to McLaren next year even if he wins the drivers world championship then his number 1 would go to McClaren and all of the status too. If Renault don't win the constructors then next year it will be as though they won nothing. All of the benefits of having a world champion in your stable will be elsewhere.

And while Michael might be 12 points behind Alonso. Ferrari are only two points behind Renault.

Well here's Kimi riding his new bike:



What's that Ferrari Enzo doing in the back of his garage?