“It’s the first time we’re going to Shanghai at this time of year, when there is a high chance of rain. That can have a major impact on the whole weekend, of course. The circuit is very challenging with long straights and hard braking. Plus there are several high-speed corners, for example the slightly banked right-hander you take at almost full throttle and that leads onto the back straight.

“It’s one of the longest straights on the whole race calendar. And, of course, the combination of turn one and two with the blind apex and the long braking is a real challenge. So far Shanghai hasn’t brought me any luck, but I’m hoping that will change this time round.”

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With the Chinese Grand Prix just around the corner, the championship race is closer than ever and after almost counting him out, Robert Kubica is back in the fight.

No question in my mind Robert Kubica drove a great race in a car not quite up to the standards it could have been, but so did Fernando Alonso. Both drivers are simply taking advantage of penalties incurred by Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. This at a time when it has never been more important to drive and maximize their championship points, but youthful aggressiveness on Hamilton’s part and hard driving on Massa’s part have drawn out the final results (great for us fans) and let Robert Kubica back in the fight with an outside chance at sneaking in and at least splitting the overall championship 3 some. Some still give Kubica a chance at the championship and there is an outside possibility he could, simply because Massa and Hamilton are wasting their own possibilities playing Nascar instead.

This carries me on to my beef with what has unfolded this season especially in the last 2 races with regards to the Stewards. Being a sports fan in general with my 2 passions being F1 and NHL hockey (I’m Canadian eh?) I’m continually in this place of frustration where it isn’t the drivers who are determining the final outcome of a race or the championship, it’s the stewards! The officials who are suppose to be the most transparent of all during a race, in F1 are projecting themselves straight into a role not best suited to F1 (my opinion of course).

The pic below is from a video of the battle between Massa and Kubica that shows Massa pushing Kubica completely off track. This was all part of the battle and both drivers did this more than once with no penalties assessed.

Watching the maneuvers that resulted in 3 penalties, I as many of you also knew that the stewards would jump in and give out race and championship determining penalties. Why? Because we are accustom to the Stewards waking up and saying ‘hello’. I find this counterproductive and detrimental to the sport itself. What do I want to see in a race such as the Japanese Grand Prix? Well, I want to see what I saw in 2007 in that magnificent battle between Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica where both drivers in a torrential downpour fought wheel to wheel pushing each other more than once off the track in a show of competition and great skill. That’s what I want to see. That’s what is going to get me out of my chair cheering, not what happened this year, not only because the Stewards assert themselves too much, but also because the penalties were for the same actions that provided that great duel between Massa and Kubica penalty free.