What an exciting Formula 1 season. After the Japanese Grand Prix, two races ago, I was convinced Lewis Hamilton was going to be the first rookie to win the Formula 1 World Drivers’ Championship and that Kimi Raikkonen didn’t have a chance. Even entering today’s race it was really only a mathematical probability that Kimi would win. I was still convinced the WDC would go to a McLaren driver, either Fernando Alonso or Lewis Hamilton.

Kimi really kept his cool throughout the entire race, while Lewis lost his on the first lap and McLaren proved no match for Ferrari.

Congratulations Kimi - you deserve it!

Back in June, I wrote a post suggesting it was time for Kimi Raikkonen to turn up the heat. He’s certainly done that over the last few races, winning the Canadian, US, British, Belgium and the Chinese Grand Prix’s and coming second or third in four others. Kimi now has a chance to win the world drivers championship.

With Lewis Hamilton’s retirement and Kimi and Fernando Alonso finishing first and second in the Chinese Grand Prix yesterday, the championship is down to just 7 points. The battle for the world championship should go down to the wire in Brazil. If Massa can become the spoiler, Kimi has a chance to pull it off. I’m looking forward to the finale of an exciting season.

There’s been a lot of talk in the press and blogosphere about Lewis Hamilton and whether he should have an asterisk beside his name if he becomes the Formula One world drivers champion. I say yes! - Not because he may have won as a result of the Mclaren - Ferrari spying scandal, but because he’s the only rookie to ever win the championship and he did so fairly over his teammate and previous WDC, Fernando Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton, is one of the best new drivers to enter into Formula One since Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna. If he wins the championship, he deserves to be recognized for beating Alonso and the rest of the field and earning it during his rookie year. I say put the asterisk beside his name and let it indicate the first rookie ever to win the championship.

At long last, it looks like Kimi Raikkonen is back on form. He ran a flawless race beating his teammate Felipe Massa.

As reported in GPUpdate, Kimi said:

“We’ve had a bit of a hard time the past two months but I always expected that and it’s a bit difficult when you don’t get good results so we just worked hard to get the car right,” he added. “We’re still not right where we want to be but definitely a lo happier with the car since the last test.”

It seems that I’m not the only one disappointed in Kimi Raikkonen this year. According to a news item on Pittpass.com and another on gpudate.

“Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has turned the heat up on Kimi Raikkonen, saying the Ice-Man has so far failed to achieve his potential with the Italian team, despite winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

We’ve got just over half the season to go. Lets hope Kimi will show us his ferocious competitive form over the next few races - and become the F1 race car driver of the last few years - feared by his teamates and competitors.

After the retirement of Michael Schumaker last year, I though this year’s Formula One racing would be boring. It’s been completely the opposite. At least three teams seem competitive McLaren, Ferrari and BMW Sauber. We’ve also got a new era of race car drivers with Alonso, Rosberg, Hamilton and perhaps even newcomer Vettel.

With the single tire manufacturer, the back and forth advantage we’ve seen over the past few years, has been eliminated. It’s good to really see the competition among the teams and their drivers. With six races completed and eleven to go, I’m looking forward to a very interesting and exciting rest of the season.

My only dissapointment, so far, has been the performance of Kimi Raikkonen.

The FIA gave Michelin and the 7 teams several options, as outlined in the letter from the FIA to Michelin, that would enable them to race on Sunday at the US Grand Prix Formula One race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Did they race with these options — No, they even made matters worse by lining up on the grid and taking the warm-up lap. Michelin clearly brought faulty, unsafe tires to the race. Instead of asking the 7 teams to drive slower through turn 13 or change tires every 10 laps, Michelin and the 7 teams asked for the race track to be changed. This change would have made the 7 teams running with Michelin tires more competitive and Ferrari and the other two Bridgestone teams potentially less competitive.

Can you imagine going to an Olympic downhill skiing event where two-thirds of the entries brought the wrong equipment and asked that the course be changed from a downhill to a giant slalom so they could be more competitive. Can you image the 24 hours of Daytona changed to the 20 hours of Daytona because two thirds of the teams brought cars whose engines would not last the entire race. 7 teams came to the US Grand Prix with faulty equipment and wanted the rules changed to accommodate Michelin’s mistake. What arrogance!

Now Michelin are blaming the FIA for the aborted race by not changing the track and adding a chicane before turn 13. Again what arrogance! This is about PR and politics — not racing as a sport. I blame the 7 teams for being bullied by their tire manufacturer and Michelin for having the arrogance to believe they have so much control.

You won’t see me buying Michelin tires for my current car or any future cars I may purchase.

Technorati Tag: Formula One