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"The 2007 Formula 1 season"

I want somewhere to stick my thoughts on the Formula 1 season as it progresses so I'm going to do that here. Feel free to join me if you want.

I was talking to a guy who works at McLaren while I was at work earlier today, and he said that in practice (According to the figures he was seeing sent to the HQ in Woking), the Ferraris were lapping 0.2-0.3 of a second per lap faster than the McLarens, so they do seem to have a slender adavantage.

Aside from that, we could be in for quite a race, I'm only wondering whether the Toyotas are lightly fuelled seeing that both cars are in the top 10 - and Ralf qualifying sixth. And good luck to pole sitter Lewis Hamilton, be good to see a British driver get a home win!

A cracker of a qualifying session. I don't think there is much between Ferrari and McLaren and I'd think there is only a lap or 2's worth of fuel between the top 7-8 cars. I think Heidfeld and Trulli may be doing slightly longer runs.

If the times and fuel loads are to be believed, it could be a very close race. Overtaking is possible and there isn't much difference between the 2 tyre compounds. The key will be the cars balance because I think there is going to be less wind tomorrow.

Kubica could play spoiler if he gets ahead of Massa and maybe Alonso.

Apparently, the BBC boss hoped Hamilton crashes on the 1st lap so everyone will turn over and watch Wimbledon. A spokesman then came out and said it was intended as a joke.

Hamilton took the first session and Raikkonen blitzed them all in the 2nd session. The wind certainly would have played havoc with the cars making it very difficult to find a setup, especially in the open areas of Silverstone.

The forecast is a little changeable for the next couple of days so it really is anyone's guess as to which team has the upper hand.

Toyota and Williams went well today. I guess tomorrow we'll see a bit more. Button sat out of 2nd practise with back problems but is expected to race.

Also, Coulthard is staying at Red Bull for another season.

Last night, it all became a bit clearer. Allegedly, Stepney had given a McLaren employee a package containing information on the Ferrari car. The McLaren employee is apparently the chief designer.

All very nasty.

All the teams know Silverstone very well so it'll be down to conditions as to which team takes advantage. I would say McLaren are still ahead but there isn't a lot between them and Ferrari. Honda didn't test at Silverstone so I'm not sure how they will do.

This whole Stepney V Ferrari thing is totally bizarre. From what I gather, Stepney said he wanted to leave the team. Ferrari then find some evidence of sabotage in their factory before the Monaco Grand Prix. An investigation takes place with Stepney the main target and legal proceedings are looming. Ferrari now announce that they have fired Stepney.

Stepney is currently on holiday and has maintained his innocence throughout.

On the face of it, it would seem that Ferrari are unhappy that Stepney would want to leave. Knowing how good he is (he was one of the key personnel that helped Ferrari get back to winning ways), they try to discredit him, meaning he'll find it difficult to get another job in F1.

It's one way of looking at it anyway.

Button finally getting a point out of that troublesome Honda. Not a big achievement, but still something worth noting, and hopefully this'll bode well for Button's home race.

All I'm thinking is why didn't McLaren put Hamilton on a two stop strategy, as that really could have worked better for him, but his start wasn't so great either. Ferrari resurgence? Well, it'll make things interesting!

Well, that was a poor race for McLaren. Alonso was aggressive but too many errors, poorly timed pit stops and being on the wrong tyres at the end left him down in 7th. Hamilton was stuck on a 3 stop strategy that was never going to work, especially when he lost 2nd off the line to Raikkonen.

Massa didn't do a lot wrong but he was the one with less fuel so he had to be further ahead. Raikkonen kept up and overtook him in the pit stops because of the extra laps before his stop.

BMW were consistent and I thought Heidfeld did a good job with questions about his back. Kubica's comeback after the crash in Canada was very good.

The Honda seems a bit better now. Not so good in qualifying but much better in the race. Barrichello not so much as he was holding up Red Bulls for most of the race.

Albers was a bit silly to leave with the fuel hose attached.

The British Grand Prix should be pretty close as a lot of the teams know the track extremely well.

It definitely seems that Ferrari have caught up but I still think that McLaren have an advantage. I think Hamilton is running a lap or 2 longer than Massa and that should work to his advantage. The gap between Hamilton and Raikkonen is the one to look at.

There isn't much of a penalty to do a pit stop round Magny-Cours so if an engine change is needed for Alonso, I don't think they'll fill him up with fuel. They'll want him to do some overtaking.

The midfield is more bunched up than it's been all season and I don't think there is much between the BMW and the Super Aguri. Maybe half a second round this track. It might stretch to a second on some others.

Saying that, I think the BMW has a small advantage over the chasing midfield pack. Heidfeld's position on the grid is probably a slight protection of his back problem. Just a bit more fuel and let him circulate.

Should be a good race, especially with some points available to the midfield car that hooks it up. If Massa stays ahead of Hamilton, it could be quite close.

Well, that was an interesting couple of practise sessions in France. The big surprise was obviously Toro Rosso getting the 3rd and 5th fastest times. They were running really well at Silverstone in testing, so it would seem that they have unlocked the mysteries inside that car.

Ferrari seem to have the upper hand ahead of McLaren and if McLaren's current pace is to be believed, they aren't certain of being on the 2nd row.

I would say all the teams, with the exception of Spyker (but they are putting all their hopes on next years car I believe), have the potential to get within a second of the lead car and that is something you very rarely see.

France, to me, has never really been a track where times have been very close. There are a lot of fast flowing corners which indicates that a lot of cars are working well.

Saturday is the better indicator but this was certainly an interesting Friday.