by Ollie Barstow
From 25 to 19. From 19 to 17. From 17 to 11,
Fernando Alonso's championship is falling from his grasp with every race and with little chance to catch his breath from a lacklustre Hockenheim race, the Spaniard goes to Hungary with
Michael Schumacher looking perilously over his shoulder.
Indeed, Alonso's four race winning streak seems a distant memory now, especially when Michael Schumacher took memories back to 2004, when he was the unparallel force in
F1, with his dominant wins in the United States, France and Germany.
With Alonso hobbled and the championship lead down from 25 to eleven points in just three races, the momentum is most certainly with both Schumacher and
Ferrari overall. Furthermore, it isn't just a battle in the drivers' standings that now makes this season's title race so intriguing.
Indeed, it is worth noting that
Giancarlo Fisichella's two sixth places have allowed
Felipe Massa past in the drivers' standings, the Brazilian helping his team to within ten points of
Renault in the constructors' championship too.
With this in mind, the series now moves on to the curious Hungaroring just outside Budapest, a circuit neither renowned for its exciting races, nor for its popularity among the drivers. Slow, dusty and not used too often through the year, the dated Hungaroring remains an anomaly alongside wide, fast and state-of-the art circuits such as Sepang and Shanghai.
However, it remains the only race in Eastern Europe and, more importantly, it is well supported. With this year's title race now finely balanced, it is more than likely that Hungary‘s F1 fanatics will be making the essential trip to the Hungarian capital for this showdown.
FIA F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP NEWS:
The big news ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix is that
Williams have announced their driver line-up for 2007 - and
Mark Webber is not part of it.
