This weekend’s race sees more than the usual amount of high-profile departures from the sport - some welcome, and some not so.

The most notable for us here in the UK, is that this will be ITV’s last race covering F1.  While most viewers won’t shed many tears at this news, we do have quite a bit to thank the broadcaster for.

I feel I should be writing about the upcoming final GP of the season in Brazil, but I’m not sure what there is left to say to be honest.

Looking at the bare facts, Lewis Hamilton is in the same position as last year with a 7 point lead heading into this final race but in actual fact it’s all different.

Firstly, last year he had had a much larger lead in previous races which had dwindled away due to huge mistakes on the part of Hamilton and his team whereas this year he has actually increased his lead on the way to this race.  That must put him in a much better place mentally.

Last weekend was a total disaster for Lewis Hamilton, despite his assertions that he has taken a load of positives from it - yeah right.

But despite this, perhaps it was actually a good thing as far as he is concerned.

It’s very easy to say that in such-and-such a position I would do X, Y and Z however if it’s all hypothetical then I can never know for sure what I would do.  Once that situation presents itself I may not actually carry out my X, Y and Z plan as I had thought I would, instead opting to go for the A, B, C approach.

I like sleep, always have and probably always will.

But since getting our kitten, Daisy, I haven’t been getting as much as I used to due to her insistence that someone gets up to feed and play with her whenever she wakes up - which is usually a good hour or two before I’d ideally be liking to waken.

However, it’s not all bad - in fact being up and about an hour earlier hasn’t affected me as much as I thought it might.  In the past, a lack of sleep has always made me grumpy with a longing all day for an early night so I can catch up straight away but that all seems to have left me now.

Imagine you are sitting at home watching TV, your kids playing outside, when a car comes hurtling past your front gate at 100mph.

You call the police who stop the car further up the road, breathalyse the guy who turns out to be twice over the limit.

What would you want the police to do?

Would you want them to throw the book at the driver in the hope that doing so ensures he is never stupid enough to do the same thing again?  Or would you be thankful he didn’t hit anyone and want the police to simply wave him on his merry way?