Despite Jenson Button's well-earned victory in last week's Hungarian Grand Prix, the drivers' championship seems destined to go the the reigning world champion, Sebastian Vettel. There's no doubt that Vettel, and the Red Bull team, no longer has the advantage over other teams that they enjoyed earlier in the year, but they have built up such a lead in the 2 championships that relatively mediocre performances in the remaining races will suffice to see them safely home.
The only question really now to be answered is 'who will come second to Vettel ?'. His team mate, Mark Webber, the 2 McClaren drivers, Button and Lewis Hamilton, and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso are all within a handful of points of each and any of them could end up taking the runners-up spot. It should really be Mark Webber, given that he's clearly had the better car for the season so far, but he's failed to capitalise in the way that his team mate has and I can't see him outscoring the others in the rest of the season. Alonso is a driver who, like Michael Schumacher in the past, gets the very best, and then a bit more, out of his car and it did look as though he might be coming into his own but Hungary surprisingly showed that McClaren seem to have made a huge stride forward in the last few weeks. If there are more wet races, and Belgium, Singapore, Japan and Brazil could all provide damp conditions at least, then Jenson Button may be the man to sneak second place, otherwise I think my money's on his team mate, Hamilton, to get there. Whatever the outcome, the eight remaining races are sure to provide plenty of drama.
The rest of this F1 season will also provide us with the last opportunity to watch a complete F1 championship on free-to-air television. With the BBC looking to save whatever money it can, the deal to allow Sky to take the lead in FI means that only half of next year's races will be shown live on BBC, the rest, as I understand it being restricted to the practice sessions, qualifying and race highlights. One has to wonder what this will actually do to the popularity of F1, as it's unlikely that many people will be willing to take out new Sky subscriptions just for FI, while many of those who've traditionally followed the sport on terrestrial television may find themselves losing interest with what will become a disjointed coverage. I've followed the sport since the days of Graham Hill and Jim Clark and now watch every race, whatever time of day they're on; even so, I'm far from certain which direction my own future viewing choice will take. Do I fork out a fortune to Sky, or simply accept that this is yet another sport that's no longer one that can be followed with any consistency ?
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