F1 Racing magazine points out this ad on YouTube which features ex-McLaren drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen, which I thought was quite good…

Is the tide starting to turn against Lewis Hamilton?

Everyone is amazed at how well he has driven since he started the season in Formula 1, and Ron Dennis was shown beaming away with pride on more than one occasion after a successful race or qualifying session.

Until now, the press have kept away from any real kind of intrusion into his life other than to talk about the things they should be talking about, ie the races and his driving ability - albeit that this side of things has tended to be a bit overhyped, but they just can’t help themselves there.

The only interesting thing to happen over the course of the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix was the Alonso/Hamilton/McLaren spat which blew up in qualifying.

Quite who was at fault in that is a matter of great debate, but the result was a penalty of 5 places on the grid for Alonso and a deduction of any Constructors Championship points that McLaren scored in the race.

The fairness of the penalties is as much a source of debate as the penalties themselves, but the upshot was that the penalty handed to Alonso was immediate and therefore he was unable to appeal against it which somehow doesn’t seem very fair.  McLaren’s points could be easily added back on at a later date if any appeal they lodged were successful.

Most of the world will know the basic background to this story - a McLaren employee was found with a whole batch of documents which should really have been in the hands of Ferrari team members only, thus sparking a huge uproar from Ferrari that McLaren were guilty of using these secret documents to better their 2007 car.

The FIA however have decided that the current evidence suggests that although McLaren did have this information in their possession, they have not used it to gain an advantage and therefore they are not to be punished.  At the moment at least - if further evidence comes to light then they could face the ultimate penalty of being excluded from not only this year’s Championship but also the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship as well.

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have done an absolutely amazing job so far this season - much more than most people had hoped for.

For a driver to be on the podium of every race so far and to have 2 wins on the trot this early in the season is something special, something normally only associated with a more experienced driver who is sure to be battling for the title. For that driver to be someone who has only just arrived in F1 is simply amazing!