Wordless Wednesday

McLaren Watch!

A terrific 2nd and 3rd place in the final race in Abu Dhabi for Lewis and Jenson respectively wasn't enough to lift them into the top 3 overall, although it gave McLaren 2nd in the constructors championship. Vettel took the win (and will have the mickey taken out of him till the day he dies, for his emotional reaction!) and the title, as Alonso, unable to get past Petrov to mount a challenge, finished in 7th place on the day and 2nd in the championship. Mark Webber took 8th on the day, enough to secure 2nd place overall.

Final leadboard:
Sebastian 256; Fernando 252; Mark 242; Lewis 240; Jenson 214

Constructors:
Red Bull 498
McLaren 454
Ferrari 396

Watch the GP in 90 seconds!

McLaren Watch

It's all over for Jenson unfortunately, even with a storming 5th place finish from 11th on the grid, the 1-2-3 for Vettel, Webber and Alonso takes them out of his reach. Lewis was 4th but is also out, bar a miracle (but we know they can happen one in a million! I mean, there's always the first corner, right?) he'd have to win and the other three not finish to take the title.

A shame, but at least they were there or thereabouts. And we can't be greedy, can we? Let Mark Webber borrow it for a year. At least, given the choice from those three, I'd like to see Mark take it!

Leaderboard: Fernando 246, Mark 238, Seb 231, Lewis 222, Jenson 199

In the Constructors' Championship, Red Bull are confirmed as the winners, with 469 points. McLaren currently second on 421, with Ferrari on 389.

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McLaren Watch

OK, I admit - I forgot the last one! Second place for Lewis in a rain hit and therefore event filled Korea race, in which neither Red Bull finished, put him back in touch for the championship; Jenson, finishing 12th, will unfortunately need to win as well as others not finishing. Likely as not, he'll be wing man for Lewis in Brazil (unofficially of course). Fernando took another win.

The leaderboard then: Fernando on 231; Mark 220; Lewis 210; Seb 206; Jenson 189.

Constructors: Red Bull 426 McLaren 399 Ferrari 374

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McLaren Watch - a bit late, sorry!

But brings you up to date before next week!

Vettel emphatically wins in Japan, team-mate Mark Webber is 2nd and Alonso 3rd - Jenson comes home in 4th, Lewis recovers from writing off his car in practice to bring it home in 5th. It looks like it's slipping away, with only three race left, the championship stands as follows:

Mark - 220; Seb & Fernando both on 206; Lewis on 192 and Jenson on 189. It is going to be tough. McLaren are also dropping back in the constructor's title: Red Bull on 426, McLaren 381, still ahead of Ferrari on 334.

See the race in 90 seconds!

McLaren Watch

Not such a good weekend for Lewis again, as his overtaking manouvere on Webber just failed him, and though Jenson still picked up much needed points, he's now exactly one win behind leader Mark Webber, with those 25 points covering the top 5 drivers. Alonso is the form man as we enter the last few races.

The race finished: Alonso; Vettel; Webber; Button; Hamilton dnf. The standings now: Webber 202 - Alonso 191 - Hamilton 182 - Vettel 181 - Button 177. See the race in 90 seconds!

McLaren Watch

A turnaround for the McLaren boys this week, as Lewis crashes out but Jenson purrs away at the start; unfortunately he's overtaken by Alonso during the pit stops but still finishes in second place - with damage to the car!

Luckily, the Red Bulls didn't take full advantage - see the race in 90 seconds here! It's still anyone's title:

Mark 187 points
Lewis 182
Fernando 165
Jenson 166
Sebastian 163

McLaren Watch!

Whoop whoop - the return of F1 after the break finds a resurgent McLaren and victory for Lewis Hamilton ahead of Mark Webber at the Belgian GP.

An excellent start for Lewis and a shocking one for Mark saw Lewis take the lead and apart from a little foray, he stayed out of trouble to the flag.

Sebastian Vettel is becoming countryman Michael Schumacher ... at his worst, being responsible for booting various other drivers off track, including our very own Jenson *boo hiss* I wonder if he'll be penalised for it next week, I'm pretty sure the 'new' drivers would be.

So it's a return to the top of the leaderboard for Lewis: he's on 182; Mark 179; Sebastian 151; Jenson 147; Fernando on 141. McLaren are now just 1 point behind Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship.

McLaren Watch

It's all change at the top, unfortunately. Lewis looked set to gain another podium when transmission problems hit and with Jenson back down the field, the race belonged again to Mark Webber.

It should have belonged to Sebastian Vettel - and he didn't half get the hump when it all went pear-shaped following the safety car! Shades of another racing driver's arrogance creeping into him and Oh! talking of the other racing driver, Old Schuey nearly killed Rubens Barrichello because he didn't like being overtaken! *Tuts* Shades of Australia '94 there, methinks! Only no title up for grabs this time!

Mark Webber is now on 161; Lewis on 157; Sebastian on 151; Jenson on 147; Fernando on 141.Here's a rundown of the race, including the errant tyre!

Constructors wise, Red Bull take over on 312, McLaren on 304. They're off now for a month, let's hope McLaren come back re-charged!

McLaren Watch

A low key race for Lewis and Jenson, as they again pulled in a bunch of points in 4th and 5th places respectively. However, a resurgent Ferrari bagged a controversial one-two, taking points from Red Bull, as Vettel and Webber finished in 3rd and 6th.

Talking point was the alleged Ferrari team orders (again!) as Massa's race engineer advised him that 'Fernando is faster than you' and 'can you confirm you understood that message?' followed by 'Sorry' as Massa then slowed to allow his team mate through. None of which I remotely give a flying er, fig for, but it did give us the chance to see the lovely Rob Smedley again ...

The standings then:
Lewis on 157; Jenson 143; Mark 136; Sebastian 136; Felippe Massa jumps up to 123 in 5th. McLaren are still ahead in the constructors though, on 300 to Red Bull's 272, with Ferrari on 208.

McLaren Watch

And what an eventful first lap for the British Grand Prix! Mark Webber aced the start; Vettel and Hamilton lightly touched, but it was enough to send Vettel off the track after suffering a puncture, effectively putting him into last place. The safety car gave him the opportunity to close up though, and he rescued a 7th place finish.

Lewis held onto second throughout, unable to catch a seriously motivated Mark Webber (after Red Bull pinched the nose cone from his car on Saturday to replace Vettel's damaged one). He ended the race with a "Not bad for your number 2 driver" barb at the the team, live on the team radio - don't you just love the Aussies!

Meanwhile, from a dreadful 14th position on the grid, Jenson stayed out of trouble and cruised around and up to a fourth place finish, a charge for third hampered by having to conserve fuel. What a guy! It leaves the standings as follows:

Lewis on 145 points
Jenson on 133
Mark on 128
Seb on 121

Teamwise, McLaren maintain their lead over Red Bull, 278 points to 249 points.

McLaren Watch

Ok, so, technically it's 2-0 to the Germans today, as Vettel won the European Grand Prix as well as his compatriots proving what we all knew in our hearts - the current England footballers are not as good as the industry would have us believe: The Golden whatevers? Who termed them that, their agents? Give 'em the Golden Boot is all I can say!

Anyway, Lewis survived an early scare to drive to second and Jenson was third, so they maintain their lead at the top of the driver standings, although Vettel has jumped up to third. Webber proved that Red Bull really do have wings - the re-tweeted joke doing the rounds, following his massive accident; how he walked away a testament to the toughness of these cars. Do check the on-board camera!

Lewis is on 127, Jenson 121, Vettel 115, Webber 103, Alonso on 98. McLaren still at the top on 248, Red Bull 218 and Ferrari a distant third on 165.

McLaren Watch

Wow - who'd a thought it! I mean, I did, when Lewis stormed to pole position yesterday, but when he lost the lead today and off went Webber again, I doubted! So I watched - and the boys brought home a one-two result again! Fab-u-lous!

Strategy and luck with regard to tyres played their part in a brilliant result for McLaren - a backmarker gave Jenson the opportunity for a cheeky little pass on Alonso - watch the highlights here. It sees the leaderboard with just 15 points now covering the top 4 drivers.

1. Lewis 109

2. Jenson 106

3. Mark Webber 103

4. Fernando Alonso 94


And at the head of the constructors table, McLaren extend their lead over Red Bull and Ferrari. And I'd tell you by how many points but neither the BBC website nor Teletext have updated the tables yet. I'm assuming Jake is too busy celebrating with McLaren ...

Sportsnight

Last weekend was certainly a great one for our motorsport boys - as well as the McLaren result, we had a one-two in the Indycar 500, with Dario Francitti and Dan Wheldon. Sending best wishes for a speedy recovery to Mike Conway too, following his spectacular crash in the same race. (And to Valentino Rossi - I know, he's not British but we love him!)

Danny Greaves and Heather Cockroft both set new world records in their respective paralympic sports, Greaves in the Paralympic World Cup. In the same championships, Jason Smyth won 100m and 200m Gold, visually impaired sprinter Libby Clegg won 100m, Tracey Hinton the 200m and Stephen Miller won the club event. The GB football team secured a bronze - our basketball team won Gold! Poolside, Ellie Simmonds broke the World Record.

In the rowing World Cup, another one-two for GB, as paralympian Tom Aggar clinched Gold ahead of Andy Houghton in the men's single scull, with victory for the mixed adaptive coxed four of Kelsie Gibson, James Roe, Naomi Riches, Ryan Chamberlain and cox Rhiannon Jones. The rest of the squad aren't doing too badly either - nine golds, six silvers and a bronze!


World champion Alistair Brownlee picked up where he left off, storming to Triathlon victory in Madrid upon his return from injury. Helen Jenkins took third place in the World Championship in Madrid, while Chrissie Wellington hit the winning trail again.

Sailing - World Cup Gold for Ed Wright, European Silvers for him and Lucy MacGregor's crew. And World Cup Gold for Nic Asher and Elliot Willis, plus silvers for Nick Dempsey and another for Lucy MacGregor's crew, with bronzes for Bryony Shaw and Helena Lucas.

In fencing, Richard Kruse took World Cup Silver, as GB also took Bronze with Laurence Halstead in the Tokyo Grand Prix and Chrystall Nicol in the World Cup in Germany.

Modern Pentathlon European Junior Championships saw an individual silver for Katy Burke, contributing to overall team Gold for GB.

And at the Taekwondo European Championship, Aaron Cooke and Sarah Stevenson both won Gold.

McLaren Watch

Yee-Haa! Another one-two for the boys in Turkey, this time Lewis taking his first win of the season – not that Jenson let him have it easy!

Even with the Red Bulls coming out ahead of the McLarens after the pit-stop, the speed of the silver cars continued to pile on the pressure until Vettel, overtaking his team-mate Webber, appeared to misjudge how far ahead he was and pulled across, banging his right rear tyre into Webber’s chassis. Or Webber didn’t move across like the team would have preferred. Or Vettel is an over-excited idiot. Or Webber is nuts. Only Christian Horner will ever know for sure!

Anyhoo, it meant that the McLaren boys went steaming ahead and would maintain position to the flag. Or not, as they resorted to giving the fans a real treat of actual racing, as in, wheel to wheel, swapping the lead-type racing – McLaren told them they needed to conserve fuel so they backed off, leaving Lewis ahead. Which seems fair, he qualified higher and stayed ahead in the race – perhaps they need prior agreement that the highest place qualifier or quickest on the day takes it, so we’re spared the anguish of them doing a Red Bull!

Leaderboard then: Webber on 93, Jenson back up to second on 88, Lewis a huge leap to third on 84. Alonso is in fourth on 79, as Vettel slips to fifth on 78. In the constructors, McLaren leapfrog Red Bull by a massive ...er, one point! 172 plays 171, with Ferrari in third on 146.

McLaren Watch

Well it's all gone a bit t*ts up hasn't it, with Jenson out and Lewis finishing in 5th. I told you I shouldn't watch live, didn't I? I'm consoled myself with a Penguin.

So Jenson is dumped down to 4th in the championship, on 70 pts, below new championship leader Webber on 78 pts, same as team-mate Vettel in 2nd, but one more win puts him ahead. Alonso is on 73 in 3rd, Massa in 5th on 61 and Kubica given 6th ahead of Lewis, both on 59 pts.

Red Bull (156) and Ferrari (134) both leap frog McLaren (129) in the Constructors championship.

McLaren Watch

A Spanish GP qualifying dominated by the Red Bulls left our boys in 3rd (Lewis) and 5th (Jenson) but another fine drive from Lewis saw him in 2nd place on the penultimate lap, when unfortunately a left front puncture hoofed him off track and left him pointless. This did do Jenson a favour in moving him up from 6th to 5th though, after trailing Michael Schumacher following his pit stop. The Championship looks like this:

1. JB 70pts
2. Alonso 67
3. Vettel 60
4. Webber 53
5. Rosberg 50
6. Lewis 49
7. Massa 49

Constructors
1. McLaren 119
2. Ferrari 116
3. Red Bull 113

McLaren Watch

I told you, didn't I - a one-two when I wasn't watching means I can't watch again now. But hubby getting up early meant two hours snore-free sleep for me that I simply had to take advantage of.

So, another good call for tyres saw Jenson nab victory in another rain hit race, while Lewis stormed through the field - even with 4 pit stops and a reprimand - in another fantastic drive to grab second place!

Jenson now leads the championship by 10 points from Nico Rosberg (still beating team-mate Michael Schumacher) 60 points to 50, with Lewis in 4th, tied on 49 pts with Alonso in 3rd, due to Alonso's one win.

McLaren are now clear leaders in the Constructors Championship, 109 points to Ferrari's 90.

McLaren Watch

Bad judgement in qualifying saw JB and Lewis staying in the garage, instead of bagging a banker lap on the damp track. So finally, out on a wet track, they ended up 17th and 20th respectively.

However, a storming first lap from Lewis took him up eight places, eventually finishing in 6th, while JB pulled himself up to 8th. Both declared themselves happy with the race, and the overall standings are probably the closest I've ever seen at this stage.

Just nine points cover the top seven drivers, Massa first on 39, JB in 4th on 35 and Lewis in 6th on 31. Kubica is 7th just one point behind. Team wise, Ferrari are still top on 76, with McLaren on 66 and Red Bull storming up to 61 with the one-two result this week.

This could the be the closest championship ever!

Sportsday

Don't let the football result get you down - remember, our women's team were runners up in the recent Women's 2009 Euro Championship and Phillips Idowu has been named European Athlete of the Year; Dario Franchitti has regained the IndyCar series; England's netball team scored an historic victory over Australia in the World Series! Success at the World Darts World Cup for Tony O'Shea, Karen Lawman & Lisa Ashton and Jamie Lewis. And triathlete Chrissie Wellington has won her third successive World Ironman Championship - she's never been beaten! Rio who?