Where next in the most remarkable of F1 seasons?

In one of the most exciting seasons in living memory, the destiny of the Formula One drivers' championship hangs very much in the balance. With seven races remaining, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso will all feel that, with a bit of luck and some good driving, they can lift the crown when the flag is waved at Abu Dhabi on November 14. And in a sport where the governing body has been criticised for various mistakes and errors in judgment, the FIA deserves credit for the changes in the points system, which has served to increase the excitement and add to the spectacle. For example, Alonso won in controversial fashion in Germany the weekend before last before taking advantage of a miscommunication between Vettel and Red Bull Racing's paddock to finish second at Hungary last weekend. This leaves him 20 points behind the new championship leader Webber - so theoretically, if he were to win at Spa in Belgium following the four week testing break, and Webber's team Red Bull were to make yet another mistake and the Australian fails to finish, Alonso would overtake with the new 25 points for a win system. It has meant almost every race has been exciting, and the leadership and momentum has fluctutated almost from race-to-race.
But, inevitably, the weekend was overshadowed by another controversy. And to hear that Michael Schumacher was at the centre of it, should be a surprise to know one. Since his return to Formula One this season at the agee of 41, he has not been able to conjure up his old speed which saw him win the drivers' championship seven times with Williams and Ferrari. But he has been consistent in his penchant for dangerous driving, and sitting right on the edge of fair-play - often toppling over that wall. One such occasion was Sunday, where he came perilously close to causing a dangerous crash with his former teammate Rubens Barichello. Coming exactly a year since Schumacher returned to Formula One, as a replacement for Felipe Massa at Ferrari after Barrichello's compatriot was almost killed in last season's Hungarian grand prix, it comes as a timely reminder of how dangerous the sport can be, especially when dangerous driving comes into play. The Brazilian has been on the receiving end of the sneaky side of Schumacher before, as have Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve. In 1994 and 1997, in the championship deciding races, tried to drive Hill and Villeneuve off the track to engineer a crash which would lead to him winning the championships when damage had been done to his car. This wasn't a grizzled out competitor, made weary by years of constant racing - it was an enigmatic young driver, who clearly thought he was above the rules of the sport. On the first occasion, he succeeded in driving Hill off the track, and won one of the most controversial championships in history. He was not so lucky in Jerez in 1997, where he crashed and Villeneuve didn't, leaving the French-Canadian to finish the race in the points to win the championship. The powers that be had clearly grown wise to his tricks, as he retrospectively lost his second place finish.
On Sunday in Hungary, he went tooth and nail to try and clinch tenth place in the race - I find it hard to believe that one point, which is insignificant in the grander scheme of the championship, is so much more important than a drivers safety. But it clearly is to Schumacher, and Barrichello can count himself 'lucky' ther consequences weren't far worse. The Brazilian's Williams' was clearly the quicker car, and he moved to overtake his former teammate coming into the pit straight. But Schumacher ran wide to try and prevent him passing, He was clearly not going to give way, and a disastrous accident was only averted when the wall ended and Barrichello was able to pass into Turn One.
It wasn't long before the judgments started flooding in, for one of the sports' greatest, but most controversial, competitors. Steward, and former driver, Derek Warrick said, 'Schumacher would have been disqualified had the incident happened earlier in the race.' He has been given a ten place penalty on the grid at Spa, and the sports' patriach, the great Murray Walker, was equally as damning in his verdict on Schumacher: 'if it had gone wrong, Rubens Barrichello could have been seriously hurt, maybe even killed, and the same thing applies to a lot of people in the pit lane.' And this is perhaps the most damg indictment - Formula One could have experienced it's first drivers' death since 1994. At the San Marino grand prix, Austrian driver Roland Ratzensberger was killed during qualifying, and during the race, the death of Ayrton Senna is well documented. Schumacher was directly behind Senna when he crashed, probably killing him on impact. So in these circumstances, it is unbelieable that Schumacher has been so callous, calculating and dangerous on so many occasions. In my opinion, the world's greatest sportsmen, across all sports, are marked out by fair play and attitude as much as ability and aptitude. Take Muhammad Ali, who refused to fight in the Vietnam War as he declared himself a conscientious objector, even though it lost him his world title - he had a conscious. Unlike another sporting great in Tiger Woods, who's problems over the past year have been well documented. In some ways, his achievements on the golf course will be forever tainted by his behaviour off it. For this reason, there will always be question marks about his greatness, despite being the most successful Fromula One driver in history. He still failed to truly take responsibility for his actions in the aftermath of the incident in Hungary: 'I didn't want to endanger Rubens with my manoeuvre. If that was his feeling, I am sorry, it wasn't my intention.' So he can add a lack of humanity and failure to be contrite to his long list of personality flaws. You can understand the frustration of Schumacher - he is struggling for any kind of pace, and lies down in ninth in the championship, 56 points below his compatriot and teammate Nico Rosberg, who is 16 years his junior. But that doesn't excuse his behaviour, and it remains to be seen whether he will rediscover the other half of his game - the speed he had when he retired from Ferrari.
But we shouldn't get sidetracked by the shenanigans of a fallen idol - the season is reaching a thrilling denouement. With all the twists and turns there have already been, it would be unwise to put a bet on the outcome of both the drivers' and constructors' championships. The close nature of this season, coupled with the huge number of points awarded for a win this season, offers up another interesting factor which could dominate the headlines in the closing races of the season. Ferrari have clearly already made the decision to back Fernando Alonso over Felipe Massa, judging by events in Germany, as they found themselves languishing behind Red Bull and McClaren Mercedes in the championship race. This decision attracted a great amount of derision from observers, but it appears to be paying off, as a second place finish in Hungary following that controversial win in Germany put him right back in championship contention. Eventually, Red Bull might have to decide whether to back Mark Webber or Sebastian Vettel if they are to win the lusted-after drivers title, while McClaren may have to make a similar decision regarding Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. Those four personalities are so strong, those decisions are unlikely going to be easy ones for team supremos Christian Horner and Ron Dennis to make. All things being equal, Red Bull should win the constructors championship and one of their drivers should win the drivers' title. They have been much faster than their competitors in terms of speed, but a number of mistakes have kept the two McClaren's and Alonso in with a sniff. Vettel has actually been marginally the quicker driver of the two Red Bull's, as shown by the controversial decision to give the German Webber's front wing during qualifying for the British grand prix at Silverstone. But another mistake from Vettel enabled his Australian teammate to win the race and give a very pointed message to Horner and his team in the immediate aftermath: 'not bad for a number two,' he said, and maybe this 'number two' could become the first Antipodean World Champion since Alan Jones in 1980. There are sure to be plenty of twists and turns in this remarkable season, though.