David Coulthard's Singapore GP preview

We have a straight race between five guys for the world championship now, with just five races left. It's been an up and down season, but there's not going to be a bad driver winning this title.

There's not a question mark over any of these drivers - three of them are world champions already, and nobody doubts the credentials of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel. With that in mind, it comes down to a development race between the teams, to see who can give its drivers the best equipment possible.

The easy money there would be on Red Bull. The RB6 has been the fastest car this year, but McLaren has sustained a good performance, as you would expect, and Fernando Alonso's determination is keeping him in there.

He's the odd man out in all this, because he has the full support of his team. It was incredible to see him and Felipe Massa going wheel-to-wheel at the start in Italy, but in fairness they both handled it very well. Fernando has been good in Singapore both times we've been there, regardless of the help he might have had from Nelson Piquet in 2008, so he will be confident.

This weekend is very difficult to call. Red Bull has been the strongest on street tracks so far this year, but we need to wait and see how these cars have developed since Monaco and Valencia to see if that advantage remains.

Hamilton hanging in there

Lewis made a costly error at Monza, but he is still in this fight. It's easy to say from the comfort of the sofa that he should pick his battles more carefully, but part of what makes Lewis such an exciting driver is that he's a great racer. He's always looking for a chance and inevitably, with that style, you are sometimes going to take it too far.

On reflection, he wouldn't do the same thing again. And if I was his team boss I wouldn't criticise him because I wouldn't want him to stop racing the way he does. One mistake doesn't make Lewis an erratic driver all of a sudden, so unless he keeps making errors I don't think we need to start questioning him.

I was surprised that he came out and said it could cost him the title, almost as much as I was surprised that he admitted it was his mistake. That's not a sign of weakness; it's admirable, in fact. I think he was a bit hard on himself, but this is what those of us on the outside want to see. It's so frustrating when these guys don't say anything after an incident, especially when it's so obvious that someone has made an error.

On the subject of McLaren, things have been very peaceful between its drivers so far this year, but that must come to a head at some point if they both continue fighting for this championship. When you're sitting across the table from the guy you have to beat, over time the intensity grows between you. I think that will get very interesting.

A fair fight

Renault is the only team that could pop its nose in among the title contenders at some point before the end of the year, as Robert Kubica continues to look like a quality driver.

No disrespect to him or the team - but what would be great is if the front three rows are mixed up between Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari for the rest of the season. We are on the home stretch of this championship now, and I'd love to see out-and-out racing between the top guys, with nothing else spoiling it.

Who has the quickest car? Who can outsmart his team-mate? Who is prepared to make the ballsy move, or the clever decision? We are not going to have one person dominating all these races, and that will make it very exciting.