F1 Race Reports

Kimi Raikkonen catapulted Ferrari back into the world title fight following the Prancing Horse's disastrous season-opening Australian Grand Prix just seven days ago, by storming to an unchallenged victory in Malaysia as McLaren wilted in the searing heat.

In a performance reminiscent of that which delivered him his breakthrough Formula 1 victory in Montreal last year, Lewis Hamilton got his 2008 title bid off to the perfect start by triumphing in the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne - never putting a foot wrong as the heat and lack of traction c

And so it was the outsider once again, as it had been last time three drivers went into the Formula 1 season finale all with a chance of lifting the title, with Kimi Raikkonen coming out of almost nowhere to clinch his first drivers' crown, Lewis Hamilton seeing his championship dreams crumble in

The Formula One world championship is alive and kicking after a quiet afternoon in Shanghai turned into one of drama with Lewis Hamilton's first retirement of the season.

Lewis Hamilton took a huge stride towards becoming Formula One world champion in his rookie season after keeping his head where others lost theirs in treacherous conditions at Fuji Speedway.

Having scored a landmark win for 'justice' off the circuit, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa ensured Ferrari would also be victorious at what they do best in the same week with a crushing 1-2 result in the Belgian Grand Prix.

McLaren got the perfect tonic to all the spy row shenanigans on Sunday at the Italian Grand Prix, when Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton brought their MP4-22s home in first and second to give the Woking-based team the best result possible.

Felipe Massa did exactly what he had vowed to do in the 2007 Turkish Grand Prix, sealing his second successive Istanbul triumph to launch both himself and Ferrari back into the world championship fight.

It was a case of 'after the Lord Mayor's show' in Budapest on Sunday as the Hungarian Grand Prix again provided a race to forget, particularly after the controversy of qualifying.

There was to be no fairy-tale ending, no cause for further fawning adulation. The wrong man won the British Grand Prix, sending tens of thousands of adoring Lewis Hamilton fans home disappointed after what had been billed as the McLaren man's triumphant homecoming went awry.

Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa re-asserted Ferrari's supremacy in the French Grand Prix, with the Finn making a return to the podium for the first time in almost three months and belatedly getting his world championship challenge back on-track.

Lewis Hamilton overcame all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in what was quite possibly the most dramatic race in Formula One history to claim his debut grand prix victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal in only his sixth outing with the McLaren Mercedes team.

Fernando Alonso delivered McLaren's 150th grand prix triumph around the streets of Monaco today, as the Silver Arrows utterly destroyed the opposition to lay down an ominous marker for the remainder of the campaign.

Bullfighters are undeniably brave, but frequently foolhardy, and similar sentiments could be levelled at Fernando Alonso after an ambitious, if flawed, effort to seize control of the Spanish Grand Prix cost him a shot at victory on the opening lap.

Despite pre-race predictions to the contrary, Fernando Alonso was the man to beat on a hot and humid afternoon at Sepang, the Spaniard dominating the Malaysian Grand Prix from start to finish.

Kimi Raikkonen completed the perfect start to his Ferrari career by waltzing to victory in the Australian Grand Prix, and adding fastest lap to his pole position for good measure.

Felipe Massa brought Brazil's 13-year wait for a home winner at Interlagos to an end with an imperious performance in the final grand prix of 2006, but it was the fortunes of title rivals Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher that held the capacity crowd enthralled.

Fernando Alonso's championship chances received a massive boost at Suzuka, not only with victory in the Japanese Grand Prix but also with main rival Michael Schumacher retiring from the race while comfortably in front.

After two races without so much as a sniff of the points at the Shanghai International Circuit, Michael Schumacher finally found the fortune he was looking for as he won a race that really should have belonged to Renault.

Michael Schumacher suffered the highs and lows of motorsport life in one afternoon at Monza as, having racked up his 90th race win in front of the adoring tifosi at Monza, he announced that the time had come to bow out of Formula One.

Felipe Massa's move to Ferrari finally brought its reward, as the Brazilian recorded the first grand prix win of his interrupted career by beating Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher to the line in Turkey.

The common belief that the Hungarian Grand Prix and excitement couldn't go hand-in-hand was debunked as Jenson Button defied the odds and all the weather gods could throw at him to claim his maiden F1 victory.

The 2006 French Grand Prix will certainly not go down as a classic, but for Michael Schumacher and Ferrari, their fourth win of the season marked another important step in their bid to close the gap to Fernando Alonso and Renault in the drivers' and manufacturers' championships.

If the American fans that gave Indianapolis and Formula One a second chance were looking for something different this season, they only got part of what they hoped for as Ferrari again romped to a 1-2 result.