PUBLIC MARKS from kzoo with tag f1

After stripping McLaren of all its constructor points for this season and a record-breaking £50million fine, FIA President Max Mosley says championship is tainted. Additionally, only the immunity Mosley granted the McLaren drivers - Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and reserve Pedro de la Rosa - in return for information prevented them from being thrown out.

So that’s it. F1’s greatest talent will not win the 2006 World Drivers Championship (WDC). Michael Schumacher admitted as much after last week’s Japanese GP, when engine failure sidelined his car and his hopes of an eighth title. “One cannot always win and things do not always go as planned.” Although Schuey threw in the proverbial towel, there is a way he could snatch victory from the jaws of defeat: if he wins the final race of the season and Renault pilot Fernando Alonso fails to score a single point.

In the next few weeks, F1 junkies will see the kind of close-run drivers’ championship battle they’ve craved for nearly ten years. It’s highly likely that the remaining Grand Prix races will extend the competition to the very last race on the F1 calendar. Equally important, the end of the ‘06 season will signal the changing of the guard.