Did someone say rookie??

Rookie:A newcomer to the professional arena;a person new to an activity or in his first year of an education or job.

Right...Lewis Hamilton, 7 races into his first season as a professional formula one driver, has not put a revolution wrong. He has not crashed his car, he has not been fined, nor has he been given any penalties for breaking any rules(so commonly done by even the exprerienced drivers) by the FIA even once. Heck...the kid hasn't even spun his car once on the track. The only time he did make a mistake was in free practice in Monaco, where he managed to crash into the barriers breaking his left front suspension. That was when it mattered the least. No penalties, no fines...it's free practice.

So lets talk about all that he has done in the season so far. He has managed to stick to the podium like glue, has finished in the top three all season long until now. He has won two grands prix back to back, the first for a 'rookie'. As a result he is now leading the world championship(WDC) with a 14 points the gap between him and second place Alonso.

Spare a thought for Alonso though, the reigning double world champion came into McLaren with the hype, and the expectations of a McLaren revival on his shoulders. Alongside him a 'rookie' (I can't believe we are still calling Lewis that) Lewis Hamilton. Damn...the guy looks like a couple of seasons old already!! What's worse is that while Alonso has managed to be on and off in terms of the pace, has had his engine changed, and managed to get a 7th as his wors finish to in the season so far, Lewis has been unbelievably consistent and managed to walk away with a trophy in each of the grand prix. His worst finish this year has been a 3rd place in Australia and a 3rd at France. phew!!

Ferrari on the other hand are facing a dynamics in the team of a totally unfamiliar kind. Traditionally they would have a #1 driver (Michael Schumacher) and a #2 driver (Barrichello, Massa) and obvoiusly, the best strategies went to the #1 driver in order to maximize the chances of a Ferrari victory. This year however, Massa after having played the role of an underdog alongside Schumacher is now pitted equally against Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi with the responsibility if filling Michael's extra large sized shoes has yet to prove to the team that he and not Massa, is the man who's going to get them the title this year. Though his season started off perfectly with a win in Australia, he had slipped off in terms of performance in the following few races, Massa managed to outqualify Kimi and was also on pole more often than Kimi. Kimi's win in France should do his confidence a world of good.

What it has also done is that it has split the championship wide open again. It looked as if McLaren would run away with the 2007 WDC with Ferrari throwing in the towel in the first half of the season itself. With the scarlet cars back to winning ways, and Lewis still managing consistent performances, it looks like a close fight to the chequered flag at the end of the season awaits us.

With almost no testing between the French gp and the british gp (both gps are on consecutive weekends) the scarlet cars definitely seem to have the upper hand. A repeat of the results from France would see the championship close up even further.