Closest championship in years
With three races to go, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen are just one and two points respectively behind Michael Schumacher in the championship table. It will take a remarkable set of events for this championship not to go down to the last round

There is no doubt that the new points system is doing its job of intensifying the title race. This is one of the closest championship battles in history, the more so because it involves three drivers fighting for the title. And that's without counting Ralf Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, Rubens Barrichello and David Coulthard, all of whom remain with a mathematical chance of winning the title.
The nearest comparison in history is the 1981 season, when Nelson Piquet and Carlos Reutemann were level on points with three races to go. Third-placed Jacques Laffitte, however, was nine points behind at this stage. For the record, Piquet went on to take the title that year.
After Michelin swept the first seven positions in Budapest, the question now is whether Schumacher, Ferrari and Bridgestone can fight back at Monza, Indianapolis and Suzuka to prevent being overhauled in the championship run-in.
The Ferrari package could be expected to be much more competitive at the remaining circuits, with Schumacher particularlyly strong at Suzuka. McLaren still have their new car waiting to race, but it seems unlikely they would choose to run an unproven contender at such a late stage. More may be revealed after this week's Monza test.
Williams technical director Patrick Head said: "Michael always seems to have sector one at Suzuka very well sorted out, or his car does, so we certainly have some howework to do before then."
Although MIchael Schumacher's eight-point lead after the French Grand Prix has been steadily eroded, Ferrari MD Jean Todt refused to admit that Ferrari was now effectively out of the running after Hungary.
"Sometimes you have seen one team and one car on another planet. It happened for Alonso today, for Montoya three weeks ago, Rubens at Silverstone and Raikkonen was very fast at Nurburgring. I cannot predict what will happen."
Team orders may very soon come into play as it may make sense for second drivers to support the driver with the best championship chance. Both Williams and McLaren have ruled out team orders at this stage, but at Ferrari the policy of putting Michael first seems unlikely to be changed now.
Part of the intrigue is also the fact that team manipulation of results is not officially allowed. However, this would be almost impossible to police as long as manoeuvres are not performed as obviously as in Austria 2002.

Italy Gives Ferrari Hard Time after Hungarian Flop
Italian papers have a pop at Ferrari

Latest news
Could late rule changes to F1 2023 floors aid bigger teams?
The FIA World Motor Sport Council finally pushed through rule changes to address porpoising for the 2023 Formula 1 season, amid suggestions the late alterations will help bigger teams.
Magnussen still 'pinching myself' about Haas F1 comeback
Kevin Magnussen says he has gained a new appreciation for the privilege of being a Formula 1 driver over the course of his 2022 comeback season.
Wolff: Mercedes bounced "from depression to exuberance" in "painful" F1 season
Toto Wolff says the ranging emotions through Mercedes’ Formula 1 season so far has been “painful” at times, bouncing from “depression to exuberance” through its 2022 car struggles.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid