Brits on Pole

‘Sort it, or I’m off.’ That’s the ultimatum issued by Jenson Button to his Honda team. And he really hasn’t minced his words, either. He has told the Mail on Sunday: “I can’t be bothered with working my nuts off and qualifying 14th any more.”

Few people took Lewis Hamilton’s assertion that he was moving to Switzerland to retreat from the pressures of fame very seriously. Most commentators, including this blog’s management, saw the long shadow of the taxman looming over the horizon. And so it has proved to be.

If Alonso wouldn’t stay with Renault in 2007, when the possibility of manufacturer backing being withdrawn was a distant threat never destined to materialise, can he possibly sign a contract now with something like this hanging over his head?

The Renault F1 team has admitted that it possessed confidential information belonging to McLaren, and that the data made it onto its computer systems – but has denied that it was misused in any way.

An awful lot has been said and written about the 2007 Formula One season, and not much of it has been very positive. Rather than dwelling on feuding team-mates, the trashing of reputations among drivers and team principals alike, the alleged behind-the-scenes fisticuffs, the legalities of flexible floors or cooled fuel, and exactly what it…

No question – the 2007 Formula One season is one that will live in the memory for a mighty long time. Reputations made and broken, the closest of finishes and the biggest of scandals – re-live it all in our end-of-year round-up.

The possibility of F1 having a full grid of 12 teams next year is looking increasingly unlikely as the odds of Prodrive making it to Melbourne in March recede into the distance.