F1 2013: Simply four-some for Vettel

MULTIPLE F1 WORLD CHAMPIONS

(7)	Michael Schumacher (GER)	Benetton	1994, 1995
		Ferrari	2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
(5)	Juan Manuel Fangio (ARG)	Alfa Romeo	1951
		Mercedes-Benz	1954, 1955
		Ferrari	1956
		Maserati	1957
(4)	Alain Prost (FRA)	McLaren	1985, 1986, 1989
		Williams	1993
(4)	Sebastian Vettel (GER)	Red Bull	2010, 2011, 2012, 2013

SEBASTIAN VETTEL joined a pantheon of motor racing legends after clinching his fourth successive Formula One world title with victory in the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit.

Vettel's win from pole was his sixth in a row, and his seventh in the last eight races. It was also his 10th of the season which, remarkably, is eight more than anyone else.

Aged just 26, the German became the youngest ever four-time world champion, having previously been the youngest world champion, youngest double world champion, and youngest triple world champion.

And yet, despite - or maybe because - of his glittering career, Vettel is not exactly a popular champion with the crowds.

Booing on the podium has blighted the second half of the season when, after a fairly even start to 2013, the superiority of Vettel and the Red Bull team has become unquestionable.

Vettel had remained pretty quiet on the issue at previous Grand Prix but he finally admitted on Sunday that he has been hurt by the negative reaction.

"It's very difficult for me personally, to receive boos, even though you haven't done anything wrong," he said.

"At the time it hurts not to get the reception you expect but I think I'm clever enough to understand why they do it. I'm not blaming them."

Vettel's theory is that most of his detractors are supporters of Ferrari or McLaren, and are finding it difficult to see a team as dominant as Red Bull when it is not their own.

Meanwhile, Adrian Newey, Red Bull design chief extraordinaire, agreed that at least part of it was down to "jealousy of success people have".

However, Newey has also recognised that Vettel has not helped himself this year, even effectively admitting that the German's oft-seen index-finger victory salute could be perceived as arrogant.

Then, there is Vettel's flagrant decision early in the season to ignore team orders not to pass team-mate Mark Webber in Malaysia.

But none of these reasons is in any way good enough for motor racing fans to boo a quadruple world champion. It is rather poor form and he really cannot help being as good as he is.

It does beg the question, though - just how good is Vettel?

Arguably, the last four years have shown only that he is faster than his older team-mate Webber, and that much of his success has been down to the brilliant design work of Newey.

To pardon the pun, that in itself would be nothing new. Since 1992, Newey has designed the winning car on 10 occasions, having previously furnished the likes of Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Damon Hill, Jacques Villeneuve, and Mika Häkkinen at Williams and then McLaren.

Of course, Vettel - for his part - has plenty of brilliance throughout his short career - from winning in a Toro Rosso in Monza in 2008 to wrapping up his title on Sunday by storming through the field from 17th after an early tyre change.

Nevertheless, the feeling persists even among die-hard race fans, who would never boo him, that he needs to win the Drivers' Championship with more than one team - just as Prost, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Michael Schumacher did.

Some more competition would help too, although that this has not been present is largely down to the faults of the other teams.

Ferrari, in particular, have consistently let down their main driver Fernando Alonso over the last few years while McLaren have had another year to forget with even Lotus ahead of them in the Constructors' standings.

Mercedes have probably been the best of the rest in 2013 with three race victories from their two drivers, Lewis Hamilton (once) and Nico Rosberg (twice).

Rosberg's second-place in India has even lifted them back above Ferrari in the Constructors' championship with just three races left.

But the team came back down with one hell of a bump today following the bombshell news that their team principal Ross Brawn has decided to leave at the end of the season.

Brawn, alongside Newey, is the other remarkable figure in F1 over the last 20 or so years, having masterminded Schumacher's seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari before later leading Jenson Button to a dream title-winning season in 2009.

If Brawn were to leave F1 altogether, then he would be a great loss to the sport - and a blow for those hoping that the Vettel-Newey axis will be properly challenged next year.

Nevertheless, 2014 already promises more than 2013 has delivered, with the move from 2.4 litre V8s to 1.6 litre V6 turbos among other big regulation changes.

It will be a clean slate for all of the teams - but the same question as last year will remain: can anyone stop Vettel?

CALENDAR

Date	Television		Pole position	Fastest lap	Winner
17 March	Sky	Australian Grand Prix	Vettel	Raikkonen	Raikkonen
24 March	Sky	Malaysian Grand Prix	Vettel	Perez	Vettel
14 April	BBC Sky	Chinese Grand Prix	Hamilton	Vettel	Alonso
21 April	Sky	Bahrain Grand Prix	Rosberg	Vettel	Vettel
12 May	BBC Sky	Spanish Grand Prix	Rosberg	Gutierrez	Alonso
26 May	Sky	Monaco Grand Prix	Rosberg	Vettel	Rosberg
9 June	BBC Sky	Canadian Grand Prix	Vettel	Webber	Vettel
30 June	BBC Sky	British Grand Prix	Hamilton	Webber	Rosberg
7 July	Sky	German Grand Prix	Hamilton	Alonso	Vettel
28 July	Sky	Hungarian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Webber	Hamilton
25 August	BBC Sky	Belgian Grand Prix	Hamilton	Vettel	Vettel
8 September	BBC Sky	Italian Grand Prix	Vettel	Hamilton	Vettel
22 September	Sky	Singapore Grand Prix	Vettel	Vettel	Vettel
6 October	Sky	Korean Grand Prix	Vettel	Vettel	Vettel
13 October	BBC Sky	Japanese Grand Prix	Webber	Webber	Vettel
27 October	BBC Sky	Indian Grand Prix	Vettel	Raikkonen	Vettel
3 November	Sky	Abu Dhabi Grand Prix	Webber	Alonso	Vettel
17 November	Sky	United States Grand Prix
24 November	BBC Sky	Brazilian Grand Prix

STANDINGS
Drivers' Championship

P	Driver	Team	Points
01	Sebastian Vettel (Ger)	Red Bull-Renault	347 (11 wins)
02	Fernando Alonso (Spa)	Ferrari	217 (2 wins)
03	Kimi Raikkonen (Fin)	Lotus-Renault	183 (1 win)
04	Lewis Hamilton (Gbr)	McLaren-Mercedes	175 (1 win)
05	Mark Webber (Aus)	Red Bull-Renault	166
06	Nico Rosberg (Ger)	Mercedes	159 (2 wins)
07	Romain Grosjean (Fra)	Lotus-Renault	114
08	Felipe Massa (Brz)	Ferrari	106
09	Jenson Button (Gbr)	McLaren-Mercedes	60
10	Paul di Resta (Gbr)	Force India-Mercedes	48
11	Nico Hulkenberg (Ger)	Sauber-Ferrari	39
12	Sergio Perez (Mex)	McLaren-Mercedes	35
13	Adrian Sutil (Ger)	Force India-Mercedes	29
14	Daniel Ricciardo (Aus)	Toro-Rosso-Ferrari	19
15	Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra)	Toro-Rosso-Ferrari	13
16	Esteban Gutierrez (Mex)*	Sauber-Ferrari	6
17	Pastor Maldonado (Ven)	Williams-Renault	1
18	Valtteri Bottas (Fin)*	Williams-Renault	0
19	Jules Bianchi (Fra)*	Marussia-Cosworth	0
20	Charles Pic (Fra)	Caterham-Renault	0
21	Giedo van der Garde (Ned)*	Caterham-Renault	0
22	Max Chilton (Gbr)*	Marussia-Cosworth	0

*= Debut season in F1

Constructors' Championship

P	Team	Points
01	Red Bull-Renault	513 (11 wins)
02	Mercedes	334 (3 wins)
03	Ferrari	323 (2 wins)
04	Lotus-Renault	297 (1 win)
05	McLaren-Mercedes	95
06	Force India-Mercedes	77
07	Sauber-Ferrari	45
08	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	32
09	Williams-Renault	1
10	Marussia-Cosworth	0
11	Caterham-Renault	0

Formula 1: Button and Brawn reach the pinnacle

JENSON BUTTON's blistering start to the 2009 Formula One season proved enough to land him the World Championship in the penultimate race at Interlagos in the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Brawn GP driver Button climbed from 14th on the grid to finish fifth and become the tenth British man to win the title.

Much of this is down to the first seven races, when he won six times to build up a lead of 26 points over Brazilian team mate Rubens Barrichello after the Turkish Grand Prix in June.

Although Button then failed to win another race all season, he finished consistently in the points in a reliable car to preserve his lead over Barrichello and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber.

This was a fairytale debut season for Brawn GP, who also won the Constructors' title at Interlagos.

The team was formed by former Benetton and Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn just weeks before the start of the season in the wake of Honda's withdrawal.

Nevertheless, the Brawn team made quite an introduction. Button was on pole and he led home a 1-2 in Australia, the first team to achieve this feat on their debut since Mercedes in 1954.

Button was again on pole in Malaysia and won a race which was truncated by torrential downpours, meaning the drivers scored half-points.

Vettel finished third to pick up his first points of the season while Barrichello was in fourth as the race was halted after 31 of the scheduled 56 laps.

At the third race of the season, the Red Bulls fought back.

Vettel put his car on pole and he led home a 1-2 ahead of Webber but Button in third still slightly increased his lead from five points to six over fourth-placed Barrichello.

And the 29-year-old from Frome in Somerset stretched the lead to 12 points when he won the Bahrain Grand Prix with Barrichello in fifth.

In Spain and Monaco, Barrichello returned to form but could only finish second to Button who won both races from pole.

Remarkably, the 1-2 in Monaco was Brawn GP's third of the season in the opening six races as Barrichello remained Button's closest challenger.

But while Button benefited at the Turkish Grand Prix from pole-sitter Vettel making a mistake on the opening lap to win his sixth race out of seven, Barrichello became the first Brawn GP retiree of the season with a gearbox problem. The gap was up to 26 points.

Since then, Button has not won another Grand Prix all season, and he has been out-qualified by team-mate Barrichello regularly.

But he has finished out of the points just once, when retiring at Spa in Belgium.

His championship rivals have also been so evenly-matched that none has been able to launch a proper challenge.

Red Bull drivers Vettel and Webber picked up a win each in Britain and Germany respectively with Button picking up seven points by finishing sixth then fifth.

Button's position was strengthened even further at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The race in Budapest saw the return to form of 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton but will be most remembered for Ferrari driver Felipe Massa's horrific injury caused by a suspension spring which struck him on the head during qualifying.

Although Hamilton won the race for McLaren, Button's seventh place finish compared favourably against Vettel who retired with suspension failure and Barrichello who failed to score in 10th.

Australian Webber, who finished third, now became Button's nearest rival but even he was some 28.5 points back. It was the biggest lead that Button would hold.

Barrichello picked up a much-needed win at the European Grand Prix in Valencia to regain second place in the standings. With Button finishing only seventh, the lead was dented to 18 points.

Barrichello's big chance came at the Belgian Grand Prix when he qualified fourth, well ahead of Button in 14th.

But the Brazilian made a terrible start to the race - and although Button retired on the first lap, his team-mate could only finish seventh and close the gap by two points to 16.

A second win in three races for Barrichello gave him some redemption but Button limited the damage by following him home in second for Brawn GP's fourth 1-2.

Nevertheless, the lead was down to 14 points. It had been halved in three races with four left. Button needed a good result at the next meeting at the night race in Singapore - and he got it.

Lewis Hamilton won his second race of the season but with none of Button's rivals on the podium and Vettel only one place ahead, this was a successful race as he kept Barrichello behind him.

The Brawn GP drivers finished fifth and sixth as Button increased to his lead to 15 points with three races remaining. Mark Webber's retirement left him 32.5 points behind and out of the running.

With Webber out of the championship race, Red Bull were able to favour Vettel and the German delivered at the Japanese Grand Prix, winning his third race of the season from pole.

Button finished down in eighth but he was just one place behind Barrichello who remained 14 points behind in the standings. Vettel was 16 points behind.

But the Drivers' championship seemed destined to go to the final race after a nightmare result for Button in a rainy qualifying session in Brazil.

While Rubens Barrichello put his car on pole in his home race, Button could not even make it through Q2 and was 14th.

The only consolation for Button was that Vettel had an even worse session and was down in 16th.

But Barrichello's luck at Interlagos deserted him once again, a late puncture meaning he ultimately finished eighth.

Button drove more aggressively than usual and his overtaking was outstanding as he battled up from 14th to fifth by avoiding the crashes and passing Romain Grosjean, Kazuki Nakajima, Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastian Buemi.

There have been doubters who could not see Button getting over the line after his big lead was eroded.

While qualifying was disappointing and he may still not have won the race, his drive during it showed this was a worthy victory.

The emotion of the occasion was all too much for Ross Brawn and Button's father, John.

It is hard to believe now that Button was without a seat for the 2009 season before Brawn GP were hastily formed.

He has gone from zero to hero and reached the pinnacle of his career.


FOR THE RECORD
The 2009 Formula One season - race-by-race

Australian GP (29 March)
Pole: Jenson Button
Result: 1 Jenson Button, 2 Rubens Barrichello, 3 Jarno Trulli
Standings:Button 10, Barrichello 8, Vettel 0, Webber 0
Constructors: Brawn GP-Mercedes 18, Red Bull-Renault 0

Malaysian GP (5 April)
Pole: Jenson Button
Result: 1 Jenson Button, 2 Nick Heidfeld, 3 Timo Glock
Button 15, Barrichello 10, Webber 1.5, Vettel 0
Brawn GP-Mercedes 25, Red Bull-Renault 1.5

Chinese GP (19 April)
Pole: Sebastian Vettel
Result: 1 Sebastian Vettel, 2 Mark Webber, 3 Jenson Button
Button 21, Barrichello 15, Vettel 10, Webber 9.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 36, Red Bull-Renault 19.5

Bahrain GP (26 April)
Pole: Jarno Trulli
Result: 1 Jenson Button, 2 Sebastian Vettel, 3 Jarno Trulli
Button 31, Barrichello 19, Vettel 18, Webber 9.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 50, Red Bull-Renault 27.5

Spanish GP (10 May)
Pole: Jenson Button
Result: 1 Jenson Button, 2 Rubens Barrichello, 3 Mark Webber
Button 41, Barrichello 27, Vettel 23, Webber 15.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 68, Red Bull-Renault 38.5

Monaco GP (24 May)
Pole: Jenson Button
Result: 1 Jenson Button, 2 Rubens Barrichello, 3 Kimi Raikkonen
Button 51, Barrichello 35, Vettel 23, Webber 19.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 86, Red Bull-Renault 42.5

Turkish GP (7 June)
Pole: Sebastian Vettel
Result: 1 Jenson Button, 2 Mark Webber, 3 Sebastian Vettel
Button 61, Barrichello 35, Vettel 29, Webber 27.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 96, Red Bull-Renault 56.5

British GP (21 June)
Pole: Sebastian Vettel
Result: 1 Sebastian Vettel, 2 Mark Webber, 3 Rubens Barrichello
Button 64, Barrichello 41, Vettel 39, Webber 35.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 105, Red Bull-Renault 74.5

German GP (12 July)
Pole: Mark Webber
Result: 1 Mark Webber, 2 Sebastian Vettel, 3 Felipe Massa
Button 68, Vettel 47, Webber 45.5, Barrichello 44
Brawn GP-Mercedes 112, Red Bull-Renault 92.5

Hungarian GP (26 July)
Pole: Fernando Alonso
Result: 1 Lewis Hamilton, 2 Kimi Raikkonen, 3 Mark Webber
Button 70, Webber 51.5, Vettel 47, Barrichello 44
Brawn GP-Mercedes 114, Red Bull-Renault 98.5

European GP (23 August)
Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Result: 1 Rubens Barrichello, 2 Lewis Hamilton, 3 Kimi Raikkonen
Button 72, Barrichello 54, Webber 51.5, Vettel 47
Brawn GP-Mercedes 126, Red Bull-Renault 98.5

Belgian GP (30 August)
Pole: Giancarlo Fisichella
Result: 1 Kimi Raikkonen, 2 Giancarlo Fisichella, 3 Sebastian Vettel
Button 72, Barrichello 56, Vettel 53, Webber 51.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 128, Red Bull-Renault 104.5

Italian GP (13 September)
Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Result: 1 Rubens Barrichello 2 Jenson Button, 3 Kimi Raikkonen
Button 80, Barrichello 66, Vettel 54, Webber 51.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 146, Red Bull-Renault 105.5

Singapore GP (27 September)
Pole: Lewis Hamilton
Result: 1 Lewis Hamilton, 2 Timo Glock, 3 Fernando Alonso
Button 84, Barrichello 69, Vettel 59, Webber 51.5
Brawn GP-Mercedes 153, Red Bull-Renault 110.5

Japanese GP (4 October)
Pole: Sebastian Vettel
Result: 1 Sebastian Vettel, 2 Jarno Trulli, 3 Lewis Hamilton
Button 85, Barrichello 71, Vettel 69
Brawn GP-Mercedes 156, Red Bull-Renault 120.5

Brazilian GP (18 October)
Pole: Rubens Barrichello
Result: 1 Mark Webber, 2 Robert Kubica, 3 Lewis Hamilton
Button 89, Vettel 74, Barrichello 72
Brawn GP-Mercedes 161, Red Bull-Renault 135.5

Abu Dhabi GP (1 November)
Pole: tbc
Result: tbc


FOR THE RECORD
Previous British F1 World Champions
1958 Mike Hawthorn (Ferrari)
1962 Graham Hill (British Racing Motors)
1963 Jim Clark (Lotus-Climax)
1964 John Surtees (Ferrari)
1965 Jim Clark (Lotus-Climax)
1968 Graham Hill (Lotus-Ford)
1969 Jackie Stewart (Matra-Ford)
1971 Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell-Ford)
1973 Jackie Stewart (Tyrrell-Ford)
1976 James Hunt (McLaren-Ford)
1992 Nigel Mansell (Williams-Renault)
1996 Damon Hill (Williams-Renault)
2008 Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
2009 Jenson Button (Brawn GP-Mercedes)

Sport Preview, 24-26 April (Part II) : The car in front is a Toyota

Formula 1 qualifying
Jarno Trulli took pole from Timo Glock as Toyota managed to fill the front row for the first time for the Bahrain Grand Prix tomorrow.

Trulli will hope that this fifth career pole will bring him a second career win after he last tasted victory in Monaco in 2004.

And both he and Glock, in only his second F1 season, have both been in good form all year.

Trulli finished third in Australia and Glock managed to get on the podium in the shortened Malaysian GP.

Sebastien Vettel qualified third as he seeks a second successive win after victory in China but disaster hit his team mate Mark Webber.

Vettel will share the front row with the current championship leader, Brawn GP's Jenson Button.

And Button admitted his car was unable to challenge the Toyotas and Red Bulls over one lap but will hope to do better in the race itself. Team mate Rubens Barrichello starts from sixth.

Just behind Button is his compatriot and current world champion Lewis Hamilton who put in a good shift for McLaren.

McLaren were one of four teams using Kers, the others being Ferrari, BMW and Renault.

Kers was expected to benefit these times on Bahrain's long straights but only Hamilton and seventh-placed Fernando Alonso performed particularly well.

The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were eighth and tenth respectively.

And the BMWs fared even worse with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld posting 13th and 14th.

McLaren's Heiki Kovalainen also got knocked out in Q2 and will start 11th while Renault's Nelson Piquet Jr may have completed his last F1 qualifying session after qualifying in a miserable 15th.

Stuck in the bottom five alongside the Force Indias and Toro Rossos is Webber.

He qualified in 19th after Force India's Adrian Sutil weaved his car in front of Webber on the Aussie's flying lap in Q3 and it seems highly likely that the stewards will penalise the German.

But that won't help Webber who admits his race is "screwed" before it has even begun.

Athletics - London Marathon
One of the capital city's biggest events of the year takes place on Sunday as a few hundred elite athletes and thousands of fun-runners pound the streets of London.

In the men's race, Martin Lel is favourite to win his fourth race in five years.

And it would be Kenya's sixth successive win after Evans Rutto (2004) and Felix Limo (2006) also enjoyed recent success.

But it has been Lel who has utterly dominated the event and he set a new course record of 2:05:15 in 2008.

In the women's race, Britain's Paula Radcliffe will not be able to add to her three London Marathon wins.

Radcliffe, who won the event in 2002, 2003 and 2005, broke a toe when training in the US.

And she has been advised by current Olympic champion Constantina Dita to cut her workload if she still harbours ambitions to overcome her previous Olympic failures in 2012.

With Radcliffe out, Britain's best hope lies with Japanese-based Mara Yamuchi who finished sixth in the Beijing Olympics.

But the favourite for Sunday's race is German Irina Mikitenko who won in London and Berlin last year although she did not compete in Beijing.

And Mikitenko's closest challengers are expected to be Kenyan Catherine Ndereba and China's Zhou Chunxui.

Snooker latest
Mark Allen stunned Ronnie O'Sullivan to come from behind in their final session and win their second round match 13-11.

O'Sullivan began the final session at 9-7 but Allen took the first three frames to lead 10-9.

A break of 105 by O'Sullivan leveled the scores again going into the mid-session interval but Allen had showed he was prepared to push as hard as he could.

The next two frames were shared before a break of 80 put Allen one frame away with two to play.

But the Northern Irishman only needed one more to the shock of the Crucible theatre.

O'Sullivan's premature exit ends his chances this year at least for a fourth world title and means the honour has failed to be defended for the thirteenth successive season.

Allen joins Stephen Hendry and Shaun Murphy - who thrashed Marco Fu 13-3 - in the quarter finals.

Murphy had been booed by sections of the crowd when making his appearance for the first session.

But, yesterday, he stormed to a 7-1 over-night lead and then ruthlessly won the tie with a session to spare.

Murphy and Fu shared the opening four frames this morning, making the score 9-3.

But Murphy kicked on again and won another four frames on the spin, finishing with a break of 101.

And, after an edgy first round performance, he looks a real contender again.

So far, my predictions have been terrible with Allen, Hendry and Murphy all progressing at the expense of O'Sullivan, Ding Junhui and Fu.

At least it looks as if my Ryan Day-Nigel Bond prediction will come off, with Day leading 11-5.

Sport Preview, 17-19 April (Part III)

Part three reviews another exciting week off the track for Formula 1 and previews the third race of the season, the China GP. It also looks at the first round of matches in this season's County Championship.

Brawn GP continue to dominate Formula 1 at the third race of the season in Shanghai in China.

In the first two practices, Jenson Button finished second and first with team-mate Rubens Barrichello finishing third in both sessions.

The continued success on the track follows excellent news off the track this week for Brawn when their rear diffuser was declared legal by the governing body FIA.

This ruling came despite Ferrari lawyer Nigel Tozzi QC weighing in with an ill-though description of team manager Ross Brawn as “a person of supreme arrogance”.

Perhaps it’s not surprising to see Ferrari act in this way – it’s not often they are without a point after the first two rounds – but it does not leave it any less distasteful.

The other big news in midweek was the confirmation of the expected departure of Ron Dennis from McLaren.

Dennis denied the timing of his departure was linked to McLaren’s FIA hearing on April 29 where the team will answer charges of

He had attended the Australian GP (although he was not in team colours) but watched the Malaysian GP on television having handed over complete control of McLaren Racing to Martin Whitmarsh at the start of the season.

Dennis said he found it “surprisingly easy” to keep his emotions in check as a remote viewer.

And McLaren have been much easier on the eye this weekend. Lewis Hamilton was fastest in the first practice session and team mate Heikki Kovalainen was fourth.

In second practice, though, the two McLarens dropped to ninth (Kovalainen) and 13th.

And so the early signs are that Brawn GP’s main competition may come from the Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock, Red Bull’s Mark Webber (5th then 4th) and Williams’ Nico Rosberg (2nd in session two).

The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen (11th then 14th) and Felipe Massa (15th then 12th) have been nowhere so far this weekend.

Likewise Fernando Alonso (9th and 19th) has shown very little.

In the drivers’ championship, Button on 15pts leads team mate Barrichello on 10pts with Trulli on 8.5pts and Glock on 8pts in third and fourth.



In cricket, the County Championship began this week although defending champions Durham are not in action this weekend after beating Durham UCCE in an MCC match earlier today.

The first win of the season came at the Rose Bull where Hants (216 & 107-3, 18 points) beat Worcestershire (132 & 189, 3 points) by seven wickets within three days.

In the only other first division match, Ian Bell scored 172 as Warwickshire racked up 500 in their first innings. Somerset have so far reached 435-4 with James Hildreth not out on 188 in a likely draw.

In division two, Derbyshire (326 & 4-1 currently) enjoy a first innings lead over Essex (194) in a match which saw only 23 overs bowled on day two.

And Gloucestershire, who scored 333 in their first innings, have also been frustrated by the unsettled spring weather which washed out all of day three. They had Surrey on a perilous 18-3 at the end of day two.

Finally, after no play on day two, Leicestershire are still struggling at 102-7 in reply to Northants’ 387, short by 135 of avoiding the follow-on.

And they're off - Sports Preview - April 3-5

Horse Racing

The world's most famous steeplechase will be run at Aintree Racecourse for the 162nd time on Saturday.

The talk in the Paddock is whether Comply or Die (16-1) can become the first horse since Red Rum to win two Nationals.

But the favourite over the 33 fences and 4m 4f course is My Will (7-1) as jockey Ruby Walsh seeks his third National success after winning on Papillon (2002) and Hedgehunter (2005).

For most casual punters, like myself, it's the equivalent case of sticking a pin on the page of the newspaper while blindfolded.

But one horse I will have to go for is Fleet Street, even if it is a 66-1 shot and even though there are no newspapers left in that area of London.

The beauty of the National, of course, is that it might be the only one left in the running.

The race starts at 4.15pm, in the middle of the second half of the Saturday 3pm football kick-offs...

Premier League football

Alan Shearer makes his return to Newcastle United as temporary manager with eight games left.

That starts on Saturday against third-placed Chelsea who are four points behind leaders Manchester United having played a match more.

Newcastle start the weekend in a perilous position in 18th on 29 points but Shearer insists his role is only on a temporary basis.

He said: "I'm definitely only here for eight weeks and that's all I'm concentrating on."

In the chase for the title, Liverpool could regain the lead if they succeed at Craven Cottage against Fulham where Manchester United failed.

But United can ensure it is a short stay at the summit by beating rapidly-unravelling Aston Villa at home on Sunday.

And Arsenal can stretch further ahead of Villa in fourth by beating travel-sick Manchester City at home.

Back at the bottom, Hull City (13th, 33 points) face Portsmouth (15th, 32 points) at home with the safety line in sight.

But Hull have the worst home record in the lead and Pompey's Peter Crouch seems to have hit a hot streak at the right time.

Middlesbrough (19th, 27 points) desperately need a win soon, being four points adrift of safety already.

But this weekend, they face a tough test against Bolton Wanderers (12th, 34 points).

West Brom (20th, 24 points) are even further adrift and to give themselves any hope surely must take three points against Stoke City (16th, 32 points) who are still without an away win all season.

Of the other teams in trouble, Sunderland (14th, 32 points) travel to the Boleyn Ground to face West Ham who will be without Carlton Cole after his injury on England duty.

And Blackburn Rovers (17th, 31 points) meet resurgent Tottenham Hotspur in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off.

Sunday's match between sixth-placed Everton and seventh-placed Wigan at Goodison rounds off gameweek 31. The reverse fixture ended up with Wigan winning 1-0.

In local non-league football, Whitley Bay travel to Lowestoft Town for the second leg of their FA Vase semi final, defending a narrow lead (2-1).

Away goals do not count in the competition and the Bay will hope to avenge last season's defeat at the same stage against the same team.

Meanwhile, Gateshead lost the lead at the top of the Blue Square North in midweek when second-placed Tamworth Town beat third-placed Southport in their game in hand.

With the teams around them still having games in hand, all the Heed can really do is win as many points as possible and see where they end up - starting away at Stafford Rangers on Saturday.

Cricket

England have managed to hang onto the coat-tails of the West Indies and have travelled to St Lucia for today's decider in the five-match series in good spirits.

The availability of Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen has given the squad a timely boost as they seek to secure a first-ever one-day series win in the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, the Windies have potentially been distracted after their players threatened a boycott because of a row with the WICB over payment.

But Gayle calmed fears that the match would not go ahead by confirming there are now talks between the WICB and the Players' Association (WIPA).

He will hope to continue his magnificent form as the Windies aim to win a Test/ODI-series double.

England will hope to emerge from this torrid winter with some credit.

Formula 1

The F1 circus has moved to Sepang in Malaysia for the second race of the new season which is already engulfed in controversy.

In my review of last weekend's sport, I congratulated Lewis Hamilton on his skill in getting his uncompetitive McLaren up to third, although this was only after Jarno Trulli's 25-second penalty.

But this was not the end of the matter and Hamilton was called to the governing body, the FIA, to explain emerging evidence.

The hearing discovered Hamilton, under instructions from team boss Dave Ryan, gave stewards "deliberately misleading" information about team radio instructions which told him to allow Trulli to pass him.

Hamilton has been stripped of his points with Trulli promoted back into third. Ryan has been suspended by McLaren.

"I'm not a liar or a dishonest person," said Hamilton.

But his reputation remains tarnished in the eyes of many F1 fans and it is doubtful if Hamilton will ever radiate the same glow as what followed when he won the world championship in Brazil.

Of course, he could start by racing brilliantly and fairly this weekend. But his chances are likely to be restricted by Brawn GP, Williams and Ferrari after they all impressed in practice.

In first practice, Niko Rosberg led a Williams one-two ahead of Kazuki Nakajima with the Brawns of Button and Barrichello in third and fourth, and the two Ferraris in fifth and sixth.

In the second practice, it was the Ferraris turn to enjoy a one-two with Kimi Raikkkonen faster than Felipe Massa and Sebastien Vettel in Red Bull in third.

Ice Hockey

In ice hockey, it's finals weekend for the Elite League.

Sheffield Steelers facing Cardiff Devils at 1pm and it's Coventry Blaze against Nottingham Panthers at 5pm at the National Ice Arena in Nottingham on Saturday.

The winners of the two semi-finals meet on Sunday.

Sheffield, playoff champions in 07/08, won the regular season by a clear 11 points from Nottingham and Coventry who both finished on 78 suggesting that the evening match-up could be very competitive indeed.

Cardiff are very much the outsiders, hacing finished fifth in the regular season on 63 points before surprisingly beating Belfast over two legs in the quarters.

The Weekend in Review

A review of the sporting weekend...

Formula 1
The return of F1 was well worth the wait as Brawn GP made a dream start with a one-two in their opening race.

Jenson Button rammed this correspondent's words down his throat by living up to the tag of favourite by leading from start to finish, but this was far from a boring procession.

While Button got off to a flier, team mate Rubens Barrichello was slow off the start and got involved in the usual first-corner mayhem at Albert Park which took out Heikki Kovalainen and ruined Mark Webber's home race.

Instead it was left to Sebastien Vettel in the Red Bull to carry the fight to Button but the main hindrance to the man from Frome was the appearance of the safety car on lap 19 which wiped out his lead.

Nevertheless, Button built it up again but Vettel looked good value for second place until a late crash with BMW's Robert Kubica which was followed shortly after by them both spinning out, promoting Barrichello back to 2nd.

World champion Lewis Hamilton confounded expectations and was classified as third after Jarno Trulli was handed a 25-second penalty for passing Hamilton under yellow flags.

He had started in 18th on the grid in his under-performing McLaren but had managed to find his way to 12th after the first lap before avoiding the carnage in the rest of the race.

Timo Glock finished fourth in another impressive race for the German and Fernando Alonso got his wish for a top-eight finish by coming in fifth.

Nico Rosberg's sixth-place finish would have surely been higher, had he not been let down by his pit team on lap 15. Debutant Sebastien Buemi and Torro Rosso teammate Sebastien Bourdais finished 7th and 8th in the final point-scoring positions.

It was an engrossing spectacle and the Beeb did a good job in its first coverage of F1 since 1996, a particular highlight being Richard Branson calling himself "a lucky bastard" live on air after seeing his investment pay immediate dividends.

Football
Mixed fortunes for the home countries with wins for England and Northern Ireland but losses for Scotland and Wales.

While Scotland's 3-0 loss in Amsterdam was to be expected - and was indeed a significant improvement on their last showing in the Dutch capital when they lost 6-0 - it leaves their qualification hopes resting on them beating Iceland on Wednesday and picking up enough points in their remaining matches to finish as one of the top eight second-placed teams.

At least Scotland have qualification in their own hands. Wales' meek defeat at home against Finland in front of a pitiful 22,600 has left their World Cup dreams in tatters already, although it was never a likely proposition considering they face Germany and Russia in their group.

But the only way Wales, who face the Germans next, will get easier draws is by improving their qualifying performance and home losses to Finland completely undermine any other efforts.

The Welsh could learn a lot from Northern Ireland who have had excellent home form in recent qualification campaigns and continued this with a fine 3-2 result at Windsor Park against Poland, for whom Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boric had a nightmare.

The result lifted the Irish to the top of their group although this is a somewhat misleading position considering they have played more matches than any of their rivals, including two games against group minnows San Marino.

The Republic of Ireland took the lead within a minute against Bulgaria through Richard Dunne but threatened rarely after the goal and will be happy that the draw keeps them seven points clear of their opponents.

The chase is not over yet, however. Bulgaria have a game in hand and the Irish must play Italy twice and Cyprus away where they have previously had problems before the campaign is over.

England could just about finish off their campaign on Wednesday if they beat Ukraine and they warmed up in convincing style with a fine 4-0 win over Slovakia with the two goals from Wayne Rooney particularly delightful.

The England forwards, however, failed to heed my warning about 'skating around Slovakian challenges' as Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch all limped off, although Crouch should be fit.

Cricket
England and West Indies traded victories over the weekend with the Windies the first to strike on Friday after another England batting collapse.

England were bowled out for 117 in the 42nd over, which the Windies had no problems chasing down.

Indeed, captain Chris Gayle looked set to record the fastest ODI century but his stunning attacking display was brought to an end on 80 when he was bowled by James Anderson.

The embarrassing loss for England came in the wake of comments by Kevin Pietersen in the Mail on Sunday, expressing his desire to go home.

And so it is to Andrew Strauss' great credit as England captain that he replied to Gayle's onslaught with one of his own in the next match.

Although it was less extravagant than Gayle's effort, Strauss hit an unbeaten 79 to level the series at 2-2 as England comfortably chased down a readjusted target of 136 from 20 overs.

The series decider on Friday in St Lucia will determine if England have anything at all to take from this hitherto fruitless winter.

Other sports
In ice hockey, the Elite League playoffs mainly went to form with Sheffield Steelers emerging victorious against Edinburgh Caps in a high-scoring tie (12-7 on aggregate: 8-2, 4-5) but one which was won in the first match.

Nottingham Panthers also did most of the damage in their home first leg against Manchester Phoenix, winning 9-5 on aggregate (6-3, 3-2).

And although Newcastle Vipers held Coventry Blaze to a 2-2 tie in the first leg, the Blaze were too difficult to overcome and won 6-4 on aggregate.

Cardiff Devils beat Belfast Giants in the most competitive of the ties, winning 6-5 on aggregate. The Devils beat the Giants 2-1 away before a 4-4 tie after OT in the return.

Thus, the semi finalists are Sheffield, Nottingham, Coventry and Cardiff.


Great Britain finished a disappointing third in the medal table at the World Track Championships behind Australia and France.

They managed just two golds from the efforts of Victoria Pendleton and the women's team pursuit trio of Wendy Houvenaghel, Joanna Rowsell and Lizzie Armitstead.

But the absence of Sir Chris Hoy, Bradley Wiggins and Rebecca Romero must also be factored as a genuine reason why Britain did not perform better.


In non-league football, Gateshead stayed top of the Blue Square North on goal difference with a smashing 5-0 win over Hinckley United, the best home win of the season. Lee Novak got two of the goals and an assist.

And Whitley Bay will take a 2-1 lead to Lowestoft after the first leg of their FA Vase semi final.


Finally, Oxford beat Cambridge by a comfortable three-and-a-half lengths on the Thames in the 155th staging of the Boat Race.

The victory was Oxford's fourth win in the last five years, although Cambridge still lead the series 79-75, with one dead-heat.