However, given that the FIA sensors were out of alignment and they were supposed to be the datum line for the fuel temperature measurements, there is no logical justification for BMW and Williams to have been permitted to remain in the race. Now, the precedent for fuel irregularities is that the driver keeps their points but the constructor loses theirs (the likes of Steven Roy say this is wrong because the driver is part of the constructor, but the stewards are supposed to pay attention to precedent unless a subsequent formal rule change makes it irrelevant). So it wouldn’t have helped Hamilton’s championship any any. However, it would have made McLaren the team that would have had the most points in the championship, barring the extremely controversial Ferrari/McLaren case. The FIA’s rubbish logic behind that decision would have been raked over again and it would have had a lot of awkward questions to answer.

The dismissal of the appeal was nonsense – the FIA effectively said that only the beneficiary of a favourable stewarding decision could appeal against it.

So my take on it is that if the FIA had followed its own rules completely after the race, taking into consideration the mistakes made by the FIA prior to it, then Raikkonen would have been the champion, Hamilton would have lost on legal precedent and McLaren would have been blatant pre-penalty champions.

Never in its history has the FIA given equal weight to anyone else’s guage of anything. A team cannot turn up with a highly accurate laser ruler to prove that their car is legal. THey cannot turn up with hyper accurate scales to prove that their car is within weight. But apparently they can decide that the official FIA weather guages are not accurate enough for them and use their own and the FIA will give them equal weight. No governing body in any sport in the world allows competitors to use their own guage for anything. But then they don’t have to accommodat Ferrari.

On thing you seem to overlook Ago. Alonso is in a Renault because he couldn’t cope with Lewis. Why should Lewis have humility about blowing a reigning double world champion ou the door when he was a rookie? Alonso may have finished the season equal on points but he lost the plot because he could not keep up for most of the season.

It has to be said: This year a major contender for the title is not in a position to fight for it and Ferrari + McLaren are not as strong as last year (less podiums 30/46, less victories 13/17, less points 301/407)… Amazingly this is more or less what Fernando did last year (4 victories, 12 podiums, 109 points)… so for sure the champion -whoever he is- would need “a modicum of humility”

- Last year Alonso did not play any role in Brazil: Even parking his car on the circuit won’t have changed anything.
- The relialibity goes against Lewis as he had no breakdown yet the probability of a failure can only go up!
And the engine will be in its second race…

Last year was a fantastic year for Lewis he was 12 times on the podium and 15 times in the points (all GPs but Europe and China) this year and after 17 GPs -equivalent to the whole 2007 season- he has only 10 podiums and 14 times in the points (I hope he is happy that Fernando is gone!

It is going to be a difficult race for both drivers. Felipe has nothing to loose, Lewis has a lot… Oliver will probably write something about that… Difficult to choose the good strategy for him I believe he should go for a win because this is what he does best.

Strange situation for McLaren: they should be on the eve of celebrating 4 titles in 2 years and what they will have is one.
Maybe…
Lewis is great but Ron is… Well, he is Ron!

If the leading Ferrari pilot fails to win in Brazil, then he needs to finish in second and he will also need Hamilton to be outside of the points. This would earn Massa eight points and place him one ahead of the McLaren driver.

I see my mistake now – it was a bit of confusion on my part. I’ve adjusted the post, and added in Ago’s thing about back-counts of second places.

- “Team mate” Alonso
- Gearbox problem and
- Inexperience/Pressure

This year I feel he has none of these. Alonso isn’t quick enough to fight for the top 3 and Heikki is no match for lewis.

McLaren’s reliability this year has been almost perfect and I don’t think lewis has retired due to a failure.

The only thing that could go wrong is if he makes a silly mistake that takes him out of contention with Massa or that someone crashes into him.

I think that he has learnt from last year’s and recent mistakes and he will take home the drivers championship in two weeks time.

Good Luck Lewis!

I want Lewis to win just to shove it to the FIA. And hey, since James Allen won’t be the commentator over at the beeb next year, a Lewis victory won’t be as unbearable as it would’ve been if he’d won last year

Massa with 3 second places [...] Lewis with only 2 second places

I have possibly missed something. I’m too tired to check now but I will tomorrow and correct myself if needed. Thanks for pointing it out, Ago.