Testing times for Formula One

This decision means that any doubt that Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen is legitimately World Drivers' champion was removed and a line can at last be drawn under an astonishing F1 season.

The running sore of the season was the spy scandal which involved the transfer of a huge amount of confidential documents from a wayward Ferrari employee to an equally errant counterpart at McLaren.

Close followers of the sport know that watching what other teams are up do in respect of design and technical development has always been an important activity - there is usually at least one technician whose primary job is to keep an eye on the competition. But this year's scandal goes way beyond anything that had happened before and was probably unlawful - although that will be for the courts, especially in Italy, to decide.

The extent of the advantage that McLaren got from all this will perhaps never be known - although the severity of the fine imposed on them by the FIA and the words they used that "some degree of sporting advantage was obtained" (by McLaren) were fairly unequivocal. Only the diehard McLaren/Hamilton fans would disagree that justice was ultimately done when Räikkönen won the championship.

Great sport on the track

Whilst events away from the track brought Formula one into disrepute the competition on the track was the best for years. The stunning debut season of Lewis Hamilton has led some commentators to suggest that the young driver is likely to be an all-time great - in the class of Fangio, Clark, Senna, and Michael Schumacher.

These premature rushes to judgment don't help Hamilton one bit but he has been remarkably unfazed by events this year and no doubt he will also cope well with the inflated expectations. My guess is that Hamilton will have learned more from the failures in China and Brazil than he will from all his successes and that he will be an even better driver as a result.

Sources close to McLaren told me last week that the atmosphere between the drivers in the team this season was the worst that they can remember - even compared with the days of the bitter Prost/Senna feud in the 1980s. As far as the "spy scandal" is concerned however, there was a strong sense of 'unity in adversity' because McLaren were confident of their integrity. They believe that the FIA ruling and the size of the fine, "brought incredulity to an already farcical off-track season".

As has been widely surmised, the early season performance of Hamilton caught Fernando Alonso completely by surprise, as did the fact that despite his world champion status he wasn't getting any favours from McLaren ahead of the younger driver. As the season progressed Alonso surrounded himself more and more by a gang of countrymen who isolated him from those working at McLaren, the team's sponsors and others. This contrasted markedly with the way that Hamilton built on his long association with everyone at Woking, all of whom were thrilled with his performance and all of whom undoubtedly went the extra mile for him. The key to Alonso at McLaren was always going to be his rapport with team principal Ron Dennis - but this relationship never blossomed into friendship and by the end it was antipathetic.

McLaren's driver options for the 2008 season look to be limited, although it is unlikely that Dennis would have agreed so readily to Alonso's departure from the team unless he was fairly sure that he could find a top class driver as replacement. Some are seeing Schumacher's remarkably successful Ferrari testing last week as a sign that the seven times world champion is hungry to return to the sport and are even suggesting that the vacancy at McLaren would be ideal for him.

Schumi is denying that he will ever drive competitively again - but you never know! Certainly he would be good to watch in a 2008 cars on which traction control is banned and which, as a result, should put more of a premium on driver skills.

Formula one still enthrals

Despite its seamier side, Formula One still enthrals and excites and there will be much to look out for during the 2007/8 close season, and not just on the test track. It is difficult for those who created the modern sport to depart the scene but surely anno domini will eventually catch up with the 77 year old Bernie Ecclestone - and it also seems likely that 2008 will be FIA President Max Mosley's final year.

The rather younger Dennis has also suggested that he may soon start to wind down his still very hands-on role at McLaren. With Dennis it sometimes gets personal and next year he will be looking for a way finally to get even with his nemesis Mosley and his arch foes at Ferrari.

A resounding and unsullied championship success for Lewis Hamilton in 2008 would be the best way for Dennis to do this - and maybe then, on a high, he just might retire to the beach and the golf course.

See also:
Sponsors pulling F1 strings?
Turkish delight for Ferrari
Will Ron Dennis now take charge of McLaren?