Mo-Nercy

I really need a place to splurge about Formula One. Most people on F1 forums are hyped-up motorhead fanboys who'll support there favourite driver no matter how he ridiculously he may have driven and it's just about impossible to get my point across without being flamed. Even though the season's already down to it's 14th race out of 19 and even though to my knowledge, no one of EoFF follows Formula One, I'm going to push on with this anyway. It doesn't matter if no one reads this - I'm doing this for me! xD

2010 is the best Formula One season I've ever seen since I began actively following the sport back in 2004. Critics have been panning the rule changes in the last few years, saying that the problems of the past (e.g. it's too easy for one team to dominate a season, it's too difficult for individual drivers to overtake one another due to the complex aerodynamics of the cars) aren't being addressed, but it's hard to accept their arguments now. Slowly but surely, F1 has become more and more entertaining since 2005. Fernando Alonso finally ended Michael Schumacher's five-year Driver's Championship streak with the help of a well-timed rule change for the year, banning tyre changes over a race distance (unless it rained). The season was a nail-biter and went down the penultimate race. It was a viewer's dream - years of Schumacher-Ferrari dominance and fortnight after fortnight of boring processional Ferrari-dominated races had come to an end. At the time, we didn't think it could get any better, but then Ferrari hit back in 2006 and we had another great year-long fight played out before us. The winner of the 2007 Driver's Championship wasn't decided till the final race. The winner in 2008 wasn't decided till the final corner of the year. Jenson Button won the first six of seven races in 2009, but the fight between him and Sebastian Vettel went right down to the final races. Again, we all thought it couldn't get any better, but now in 2010, with five races to go, there are five drivers with a good chance of winning the title. I don't even know how far back I'd have to go to recall the last time something like this had happened. If you've never been a fan of Formula One in the past - now's the time to get into it.

Of the five drivers - Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel, it's hard to pick one out. After the most recent race at Monza though, it's clear that Ferrari have stepped it up and are now challenging the Red Bulls and McLarens for pace instead of lagging behind. Fernando Alonso, though some 20 points or so behind Webber and Hamilton at the moment, is the only driver to not have his teammate in contention. He has the advantage of being the Ferrari team's one and only option for winning the driver's title, whereas the Red Bull and McLaren drivers are competing against each other for points. In 2007, Kimi Raikkonen won his maiden title by a single point because Alonso and Hamilton had spent the latter half of the year nabbing valuable points from each other. It's not impossible to see it happening again.

Then again, with slow-cornered tracks like Singapore, Abu Dhabi and Korea coming up - Red Bull are at a clear advantage. They've shown all year that their cars operate better than the rest in high downforce situations. It's hard to split the two drivers. Though Vettel is probably the better natural driver of an F1 car, Webber is in the form of his career, whilst Vettel is cracking under the pressure. I reckon Webber's the pick of the two at the moment.

I'm ruling out the McLaren drivers. I don't think their cars will suit the final five tracks, even with Button and Hamilton behind the wheel, so I'm tipping that the title will be fought between Webber, Alonso and Vettel.

In other news, my hero Kimi Raikkonen is reportedly interested in coming back from the World Rally Championship to Formula One. He's allegedly in discussions with Renault, who are likely looking for a replacement for Vitaly Petrov. I love Kimi, but I'm doubtful about his chances. He's a quality driver so he'd probably be asking for a fairly big salary. To my best knowledge, Petrov is a pay-driver. Renault F1 are under a bit of financial stress at the moment. The parent company is probably still weighing up the pros and cons of pulling out of F1 altogether like BMW did this year. I don't know if it's financially viable for them to pay for a driver of Raikkonen's calibre unless he takes a big pay cut.

MO'S PODIUM TIP FOR SINGAPORE:
1. Mark Webber
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Lewis Hamilton