Formula-1 news

A couple of months back many had ruled him out of the title fight. Fernando Alonso maintained he could still do it and after his faultless drive to the top of the table in Korea – his third win in four races – his doubters are now eating their words.

The Spaniard’s brilliance in Yeongam’s testing conditions, combined with a disastrous day for Red Bull, means that with just two rounds to go he heads the standings by 11 points…

Team principal Christian Horner has insisted Red Bull will not be favouring Mark Webber over Sebastian Vettel at the championship’s penultimate round in Brazil, despite the Australian’s points advantage following their Korea DNFs.

Webber is second in the table, trailing Fernando Alonso by 11 points, with Vettel a further 14 adrift. Horner says that with 50 still available, it’s too early to back one man…

The Hungarian Grand Prix not only put a victorious Mark Webber firmly back in the championship race, it left fans with the tantalising prospect of a genuine five-way fight for the title over the season’s final seven rounds, with just 20 points covering the leading contenders.

Red Bull’s Budapest pace might suggest they’re favourites, but the RB6 is unlikely to be so perfectly suited to the remaining tracks…

While Red Bull won the race, Williams also had reason to celebrate in Hungary, with drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Rubens Barrichello both finishing in the top ten in Budapest.

The impressive pace of the FW32 – and the team’s haul of nine points – have certainly put technical director Sam Michael in a buoyant mood ahead of the summer break. Michael discusses the Hungarian weekend and looks forward to the Belgian race

Felipe Massa handed Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso a controversial victory in Sunday’s German Grand Prix as the red team scored their second one-two of the season and the win they were under so much pressure to achieve before the summer break, beating Sebastian Vettel’s pole-winning Red Bull into third place.

Lewis Hamilton held on to his championship lead as fourth place brought him to 157 points ahead of McLaren team mate Jenson Button, who moved to 143 points after finishing fifth. Red Bull’s Mark Webber was sixth after a race in which he was held back by an engine problem. He and Vettel are now joint third with 136 points, as Alonso closed up on 123 and Massa climbed to 85.

Red Bull may have won the last two races but McLaren have scored enough points to retain the lead in both championships. In a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ‘Phone-In’ session, team principal Martin Whitmarsh discusses F-ducts, blown diffusers, the team’s chances at the forthcoming Hockenheim race and their rivals for the titles

Although McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton would have preferred to have won his home race at Silverstone last weekend, he’s well satisfied with his second-place finish.

With the slightly quicker Red Bull leading the way and the British team’s well-documented blown diffuser issues, Hamilton is pleased he left the British round with a haul of 18 points and his lead in the drivers’ championship intact. He explains more in an interview with his official website

It was something of a worst-case scenario for Sebastian Vettel – starting from pole position but then having to head back to the pits after only one lap with a puncture. Not the British Grand Prix he had anticipated. But over the remaining 51 laps he caught up brilliantly, giving the fans a great racing experience, and was able to bag seventh place and six points – points that could yet make all the difference…

Ferrari’s Stefano Domenicali has admitted that his team are going to have to dig deep to recover from their recent trials and tribulations, but he is optimistic that they can turn things around. The Maranello squad have scored just 19 points from the last three races and are currently third in the constructors’ standings, trailing championship leaders McLaren by 113 points.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton may try to play it down, but his second-place finish at the European Grand Prix was unexpected. The British team had arrived in Valencia worried about the pace of rivals who had upgraded their cars in advance of their own.

However, a strong qualifying lap, a great start and the MP4-25′s consistent race pace saw the British driver overcome accident damage, safety-car dramas and his subsequent penalty to add 18 points to his championship tally. It was, as he explained to his official website, an interesting weekend all round