The last five races have been more of a roller-coaster than anything I have seen in a long time.  After Felipe Massa’s lucky victory in France, the British GP was the absolute low-point. It was a wet race, and Massa seemed to go back in time when he was a spin-happy disastrous rookie with Sauber.  Massa, after spinning no less than six times, finished dead-last, finishing 13th out of the 13 who finished the race. Massa, who before the race didn’t have many memories worth remembering about Silverstone, ensured that he didn’t create any in this season either! Kimi Raikkonen wound up a poor show for Ferrari, coming in 4th, behind the beleaguered but never-say-die old horse, Rubens Barrichello’s Honda.

Hockenheim was a race largely dominated and affected by the horrendous crash of Toyota’s Timo Glock.  Massa seemed to have the race very much in his control when Timo Glock had his accident.  Nelson Piquet, who had just come out of the pits seemed to have got a gift from the gods, as just about everyone dived in to the pits while he kept going.  Massa seemed good for second place until a rampaging Lewis Hamilton caught up with him and passed him, making Massa look like a rookie in the process. With a car that was definitely off the pace and with faltering grip, Massa even had Heidfeld breathing down his neck, but managed to hold on to third place and 6 points.  Kimi finished in the same position he started, number 6.

The Hungarian GP seemed like Massa’s all the way, but that was not to be.  Having started in second position, he pulled off a stunning first corner overtaking of Lewis Hamilton.  It seemed like payback time for Hockenheim, and Lewis had no answers forthcoming. After dominating the race almost completely, Massa’s F2008’s engine blew up with just two laps to go. Ah, heartbreak for Massa, manna from heaven for the under-fire Kovalainen who gleefully accepted  an unexpected victory. Kimi held on to 3th place, earning 6 invaluable points for himself.

The European GP was a perfect race for Massa as he completed the perfect triple - pole position, fastest lap in the race and race victory.  This time around though, it was Kimi Raikkonen’s F2008 that went up in flames in the closing stages of the game, depriving him of valuable points.

Belgian GP:  Qualifying saw the Ferraris and McLarens arranging themselves in a staggered formation. Hamilton, Massa, Kovalainen and Raikkonnen.  Kovalainen had a dreadful start, slipping from 3rd to 13th, on the opening lap while Kimi seemed to be on fire. Despite having a clearly faster car and a new engine, he seemed to almost edge Massa while leaving him past.  Massa survived the scare and Kimi was now in 2nd postion.  In the same lap (lap 2), Hamilton spun on a wet patch and Kimi did not need a second invitation. He grabbed the race lead.  From there on, the top two were always well ahead of the remaining runners, the lead changing only during pitstops, and that too, ever so briefly.  Towards the end, Kimi seemed to have the race in his kitty, but rain and Hamilton had different ideas.  The showers, which occured with only three laps to go caught everybody in a fix. Too little time to get a change of tire, but the conditions seemed too treacherous on slicks.  Kimi slowed to a crawl, Hamilton took a gamble.. and passed.. almost.. before Kimi closed the door on him.  Hamilton, instead of going over the grass, cut through the escape route and came out ahead of Kimi. Now though he slowed to allow Kimi ahead, he hardly lost momentum and he overtook Kimi promptly in the next corner.  It was this move that attracted the race stewards attention, and later punishment.  Now Kimi, last years world champion and a driver rated very highly by a whole lot of people, was in second place and could have chosen to hold on to his 8 points, keeping in mind the treacherous conditions, but he didn’t.  He pushed like a man possessed, slammed into Hamilton’s car from the back, took the lead as Hamilton spun, and spun himself off giving the lead back to Hamilton. Even at this stage, Kimi could have held back, but he did not.  He stomped on the gas, something he should not have done on the super-slippery surface.  Result? Another slide, but this time, into the wall.  Game over for Raikkonnen. Massa, who had realized the danger had cut back his pace and continued to cruise gingerly and picked up the 8 points which were to be Kimi’s.
Unwittingly, Kimi had been of a great help to Massa! Before the Belgian GP, the two teammates were just separated by four points, but with Kimi’s DNF, Massa added 8 more to that gap.  Nick Heidfeld, who took a big gamble by changing to intermediates with just one and a half laps to go, saw that this gamble paid off! When everybody were crawling across the surface to avoid spins, Heidfelt blazed past them on his intermediates and claimed the third place on the podium!

Within hours of the presentation ceremony, the stewards released their verdict: Hamilton was slapped with a 25 second penalty in lieu of a drive-through penalty that he would have had to serve, had the race gone on longer. This meant that Massa now collected the full 10 points, which would have been Kimi’s, had he only kept his head, and his cool. 
Now that Kimi is 19 points away from the tournament leader Hamilton and 17 away from his own team mate and with just 5 races to go, it seems like it is the end of the line for Kimi’s title hopes, but then, he rode his luck last year.  Let’s see what this year has in store!

<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" summary="" class="raceResults"><tbody><tr><th>Pos</th> <th>Driver</th> <th>Nationality</th> <th>Team</th> <th>Points</th> </tr> <tr> <td>1</td> <td> Lewis Hamilton</td> <td>British</td> <td> McLaren-Mercedes</td> <td>76</td> </tr> <tr> <td>2</td> <td> Felipe Massa</td> <td>Brazilian</td> <td> Ferrari</td> <td>74</td> </tr> <tr> <td>3</td> <td> Robert Kubica</td> <td>Polish</td> <td> BMW Sauber</td> <td>58</td> </tr> <tr> <td>4</td> <td> Kimi Räikkönen</td> <td>Finnish</td> <td> Ferrari</td> <td>57</td> </tr> <tr> <td>5</td> <td> Nick Heidfeld</td> <td>German</td> <td> BMW Sauber</td> <td>49</td></tr></tbody></table>