Hi folks,
We are into the final phase now and the last three races are going to be critical in terms of deciding the championship.
The first stop is China and the race there on Sunday should give us an indication of how things will shape out. In some ways, it will be interesting to see what happens because I think the weather could be one of the deciding factors in Japan and Brazil. Indeed, it could be the ‘big key’ to who takes the title, as we have often seen wet races at Suzuka and Interlagos and that could suit one team more than the other.
For Shanghai, though, I think it is going to be a Ferrari circuit and I think that will be the dominating factor.
The Chinese GP circuit itself is one of the new circuits designed in recent years by Hermann Tilke, and it is a great track, a great facility.
The drivers like it, as it is challenging, quite big and good for overtaking in some areas too. It needs a good compromise to get the car set-up and, as such, is not an easy place to turn up at and go fast. You have got to do a bit of work first.
At Monza, the momentum stayed with
Ferrari, and they used that to good effect to take the lead in the manufacturers’ championship and for
Michael Schumacher to close within two points of
Fernando Alonso.
Of course, Schumacher announced that he would hang up his helmet at the last race and, as I have said before, I think the decision he took was the right one because he is going out at the top of his game. He will leave the sport with a huge amount of respect, and I don’t think he had anything to gain by continuing to race in 2007. It is going to be a tougher year next season and while, obviously, it is a big loss to
Formula One, there are lots of stars coming through.
The race itself was good in Italy. A little bit flat maybe in comparison to the two before it, but overall okay. I think there was probably more action off the circuit than there was on, however, and that probably took a little bit of steam out of the race.
