6 and a half years of dreaming, and now it's reality. Jenson Button... Formula One World Champion. You can't even start to imagine how fantastic that is to now say as a fact!

And to top it off, it truly is the greatest comeback story of all time. Just 11 months ago, Jens was out of Formula One. Nowhere to go, and possibly to the shadows of all the F1 drivers who never got their chance to shine. Yet here he is today, standing amongst 30 other drivers as a legend. And I'm not exaggerating.

Many, for some reason, claim Jenson Button is an unworthy, or undeserving, Champion. If there's any word to describe his championship win that begins with "un", it's "underappreciated". No one - not evenI - can even begin to comprehend the past 12 months for the man and how difficult it has been for him, apart from his team and his family.

The story begins with Frank Williams:

"The name of our new driver who will join Ralf in the BMW-Williams team this year is Jenson Button"

2000: BMW-Williams - 8th in Drivers Championship, 12 points (Best Result: 4th, Germany)

A debut season to remember. A strong debut race in Australia cut short by a mechanical failure, but made up for it by scoring his first point in Brazil the following round after Coulthard was disqualified. He would become the youngest driver to score a World Championship point until Sebastian Vettel topped him at the 2007 United States GP in his one race appearance for the BMW-Sauber team.

He stunned again by finishing 5th in his home race - only his 4th GP start. To this date, Button has only topped that finish once - in 2004.

His love of the Hockenheim circuit became rather apparent in his debut year when he finished 4th, which would end up being his highest finish for the season.

The only main notable error for Jenson Button in this year was a silly crash at Monza under the safety car, when the grid in front of him closed up and he failed to slow down. He ended up hitting the barriers on the side avoiding the cars in front, and later retiring.

Despite such a strong start to his Formula One career, Button would be replaced at Williams by Juan Pablo Montoya.

2001: Benneton - 17th in Drivers Championship, 2 points (Best Result: 5th, Germany)

Jenson Button, the guy loving life and "just driving the car on a weekend basis", got a massive shock when he joined Benneton in 2001.

It suddenly hit him that this was more than just driving the car - the package he was given was a complete disaster. Rather than numerous point-scoring races, Button would only finish one race in the points - and surprise surprise, it was Hockenheim again. Beside this, it was a rather forgetful season for the Brit.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who was Button's replacement at Williams, would win in his debut season.

2002: Renault - 7th in Drivers Championship, 14 points (Best Result: 4th, Malaysia & Brazil)

With Benneton being re-branded as Renault for the 2002 season, Button had his third different teammate in as many seasons as Giancarlo Fisichella did a straight swap with Jarno Trulli from Jordan. Numerous points finishes, including a back-to-back 4th place in Malaysia and Brazil, meant Jenson Button was right back to where he'd started in 200, but with a lot more maturity. In Malaysia though, the Brit was cruely denied a podium finish when a suspension failure allowed Michael Schumacher to pass him on the final lap of the race. Trulli was the better qualifier, but Button took the race finishes.

Again, despite a good season, Button was dropped for Fernando Alonso, who had driven for Minardi in 2001 before becoming a test driver for Renault in '02.

2003: B.A.R. Honda - 9th in Drivers Championship, 17 points (Best Result: 4th, Austria & Japan)

Another season, another teammate - this time, former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve. During the season, the Canadian described Button as a "wannabe Backstreet Boy". It was through this comment that yours truly would become a Jenson Button fan, dedicating himself to cheering on the Frome star and never changing allegiance since.

By the end of the season, Villeneuve had been eating humble pie. Button had wiped the floor with Jacques, so much so that the Candian wouldn't even participate in the final race of the season, the honour instead going to Takuma Sato, the speedy yet unreliable Japanese star, who would score points at home finishing in 6th place whilst Button equalled his best result of the season with a 4th place.

The season was marred by an injury which caused him to miss the Monaco GP after heavily crashing into the barriers coming to the Nouvelle Chicane.

Ironically again, Button's replacement at Renault - Fernando Alonso - would score his debut win in the season.

2004: B.A.R. Honda - 3rd in Drivers Championship, 85 points (Best Result: 2nd, San Marino, Monaco, Germany & China)

Up until his Championship-winning season this year, Button's 2004 campaign was by miles his greatest season of all, best of the rest behind the dominent Ferrari's of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

The promise of a Jenson Button podium had been lingering for ages, and then in the one season alone, Jens would go on to score ten of them. His cruel luck at Malaysia 2 years prior was repaid for when he finally delivered that elisive podium position in Sepang. After that, he just couldn't stop being on the podium. In the first ever race in Bahrain he would take 3rd, and then bettered that in San Marino by finishing 2nd - and in the process, scoring his first ever pole position. The greatest race of his season happened in Monaco, where he finished less than half a second off of a race win which was taken by former teammate Jarno Trulli - who himself took his debut victory in F1 after 117 races, and ended up breaking the streak of Michael Schumacher who, until that race, had won every GP in that season. Schumacher would then go and win the next 7 races as well.

The podiums still didn't stop though - following Monaco was another duo of 3rd places (European GP at the Nurburgring and in Canada). Button would go and top his debut visit to Silverstone by finishing 4th - which to date is still his best outing at the Northamptonshire circuit - before taking a brilliant 2nd place at Hockenheim (yet again), which was most notable for two things: spending most of the race holding on to his helmet with an issue, and for his overtake of the season on Fernando Alonso.

The Belgian GP returned after a one-year hiatus, and was B.A.R.'s worst weekend of the season - it was the only one in which they scored 0 points. Sato was involed in a first-lap collision, whereas Button's tyre exploded spectacularly on the back straight, smashing in to the side of Zsolt Baumgartner's Minardi which, whilst unfortunate for the Hungarian, did save Button from suffering a large injury. This race also marked Ferrari's 700th GP start, and Michael Schumacher's last World Championship victory. Scary thought to think that was already over 5 years ago...

Button would finish the final four races of the season with three podiums - a third in Italy and Japan, and in between taking 2nd place in the inaugural Chinese GP. Strangely enough, the next time Button would finish 2nd in a race, Barrichello would win the race and Raikkonen would come third - the exact same podium as in China. This race also marked Michael Schumacher's worst ever race-finishing position in 12th.

Button's season came to an abrupt end of just three laps when his engine let go in Brazil. Nonetheless, Jenson scored in every race he finished in 2004 - a record he seems to be about to equal in 2009.

Button's year was marred however by a contract debate - the Brit wanted to move back to Williams, but David Richards was adament that Jenson was to remain at B.A.R. - to which Richards eventually won the contract to keep Jenson, and provided him with an opt-out ability: If he didn't score 70% of the Champions points by the end of the year, he could leave the team.

2005: B.A.R. Honda - 9th in Drivers Championship, 37 points (Best Result: 3rd, Germany & Belgium)

2005 was a tale of two halves. For the first time in his F1 career, Button's teammate was the same as the year before. The team simply had no clue as to what they did right in 2004, as they admitted they had no idea how the previous year's car was so good. This was evidential in their start to the campaign, with Button only managing to finish in 11th place. Retirements followed in Malaysia and Bahrain, but things looked up when Button took 3rd place in San Marino. Unfortunately, the car was found to be underweight as a result of a hidden fuel tank, and as a result the team were handed a two-race ban - meaning Button couldn't compete in Spain or Monaco, the circuit where he came so close to victory just 12 months prior. Instead, he joined Martin Brundle and James Allen for commentary of the race, where he repeatedly admitted his frustration of not being able to race.

Upon his return, the car still wasn't any better - languishing in 10th in the European GP, which he was lucky to even get as he was the car Raikkonen almost collected when the Finn had his last-lap crash. All of a sudden, an upturn in form took place when he scored pole position for the Canadian GP, and did a great job of holding off Michael Schumacher in the race until the pressure became too much as the Brit eventually crashed in to the Wall of Champions - a sign of destiny, perhaps?

The disaster weekend known as the 2005 United States GP followed, as Button was one of the 14 drivers to pull out before the race even began. After the weekend, the B.A.R. team were the only ones yet to have scored in the Constructors Championship - mainly due to the fact Minardi were assisted to a guaranteed points finish in the US race (Jordan, on the other hand, would score another point later on in the season).

Once that race finished though, Button began steaming in to the points - in fact, after the US GP, Button scored points in all of the remaining races, which included two podium finishes at - you guessed it -Germany (where Button pulled off another sweet move, this time on Michael Schumacher) and in Belgium (where he passed a Sauber around the outside of Pouhon).

Fernando Alonso - the man who replaced Button at Renault for the 2003 season - would go on to win the World Championship, and begin a sequence of Brazilian GP's that would determine the Drivers Champion which, to this day, has still not ended.

Button himself was once again caught up in contract controversy, this time because he wanted to stay with the B.A.R. team, whereas Frank Williams now had the legal rights to have the Brit on his team for the 2006 season. Button would eventually stay with the B.A.R. team, but had to pay off Frank Williams himself to the tune of £30 million.

2006: Honda - 6th in Drivers Championship, 56 points (Best Result: Win in Hungary)

In 2005, the Honda company bought out all of the remaining shares in the B.A.R. team to become Honda, one of 5 new teams in the 2006 season (alongside BMW-Sauber, Midland, Toro Rosso and Super Aguri). After years of frustration of being number 2 to Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello left Ferrari to become Jenson Button's teammate at the new Honda team. Takuma Sato, in the meantime, was saved when Aguri Suzuki created the Super Aguri team so that the Japanese star could continue in F1. He would team with the sport's biggest failure in Yuji Ide, who would last only 4 races after being too slow and too dangerous for the other drivers.

Honda had impressed in pre-season testing, and looked to be the nearest challengers to the new #1 team, Renault. During the season though, it was a different case. A fairly strong start saw Button finish 4th in Bahrain, in a race where the stories were stolen by the debut of GP2 Champion Nico Rosberg, who set the fastest lap and scored points in his first outing. Felipe Massa, who was Barrichello's replacement at Ferrari, spun out in the opening stages - almost collecting Champion Alonso - and ended up finishing out of the points.

In Malaysia, Button finished just a few seconds shy of Fernando Alonso to take 3rd place on the podium, but wasn't happy with the result believing he could've taken 2nd place. After the race, Button sat in his best ever Championship position to date, being joint 2nd with Michael Schumacher, 7 points off Alonso's lead.

Pole position beckoned for Jenson Button in Australia, but the race saw disaster strike again. Numerous Safety Car periods, and the inability to generate sufficient heat into his tyres, left Jenson a sitting duck once everyone re-started the race. Eventually, whilst fighting off Giancarlo Fisichella in the dying stages, Button's engine blew up, with him parking the car just 20 yards from the line.

A good result in San Marino was destroyed by a pit blunder, when Button would take the nozzle of the fuel rig down to the end of the pit lane with him, and could only finish 7th as a result. Despite retiring in the European GP, Button would make amends by finishing 6th in Spain.

Then things really took a turn for the worst. With the new qualifying regulations, Button failed to make the top 10 for the first time in Monaco, and only finishing the race 11th. The British GP fared even worse when he was called into the weighbridge during Q1, which didn't give him enough time to get back out on track and set a lap to get him out of the drop zone. Only a few laps in to the race, Button had an oil leak which ended his GP. Canada faired no better when David Coulthard passed Button in the final few laps to take the final points position off the Englishman. A crash on the opening lap of the US GP and a mechanical failure in the French GP just compounded misery even further.

As if someone just flicked a switch, the Honda then became competitive again, and so did Button. And where did the comeback begin? None other than Hockenheim. A strong performance saw him take 4th place, before the weekend of Button's 113th GP start. The one where people started to believe.

August 5th, 2006. Hungarian Practice Session 3, and Jenson Button suffers an engine failure, which would demote him ten places on the grid from where he qualifies. A good session sees Button qualify 4th, but he'll be starting from 14th instead.

August 6th, 2006. Hungarian GP Race Day. For the first time ever, the race in Hungary is wet. The race begins with a sublime start from both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, the former jumping from 11th to 5th before the first corner. A few laps in, and Alonso begins picking through the field which involes a wonderful move around the outside of Michael Schumacher. Then, Jenson Button begins to pick his way through the feild, but it's clear as to who's taking this race by the horns - it's Kimi Raikkonen, with a nice lead over his teammate Pedro de la Rosa. And then Kimi hits Liuzzi.

The Safety Car comes out whilst the mess is cleaned up, and through all the carnage, Button is up to 2nd behind Fernando Alonso (after making a brilliant move on Schumi earlier). Initially, Alonso has a good re-start, but Jenson continually catches Alonso but just quite can't get past him. It's Monaco 2004 all over again. Alonso then makes his one and only stop of the afternoon. The track is drying and so it's a good move to go to the dry tyres now. Alonso comes out of the pits but slides as he gets into turn one - did he catch a puddle on those dry tyres? A few seconds later, the Spaniard is in the wall at turn 2 backwards - it was a loose nut from a rear wheel. Button is out in front with a MASSIVE lead - can Jenson really be about to win his first Grand Prix?

He comes in to his stop - knowing what happened to Alonso, the dry tyres go on with extreme caution, but they're secure and he's off again. Jenson is aided by the battle going on behind him with Schumacher and de la Rosa squabbling - eventually Pedro gets through into 2nd, but with 5 laps to go and being over half a minute behind Jenson, it looks inevitable. Schuamcher then collides with Heidfeld, which puts the challenger to Alonso's crown out of the race. No Raikkonen. No Alonso. No Schumacher. This is all about Jenson Button.

"HE'S DONE IT! JENSON BUTTON WINS THE HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX, GET IN THERE!"

Jenson Button is a race winner. kipi19 was three thousands of a second off predicting the correct winning race margain, and Redders is in tears. His favourite driver - the one that truly got him passionate for the sport - has won at last. From then on, there was no stopping him. Whilst only scoring one more podium in Brazil (ironically from 14th position), Button would score more points in the final 6 races than anyone else. Bring on 2007 and the beast of a car Honda could make with that elusive win finally scored.

2007: Honda - 15th in Drivers Championship, 6 points (Best Result: 5th, China)

Jenson Who? It's a media frenzy with Britain's new star Lewis Hamilton hogging all the attention away from Jenson Button which, given the abismal car he was given for the year, was pretty much what the doctor ordered. The downfall of the Honda team really began here with the "EarthDreams" concept - the car livery was that of the image of the Earth, with no sponsors whatsoever - Honda's main aim was to make Formula One a cleaner sport for the environment, and it hurt them big time. The car was a mess, with the only highlight being every time Button finished in the top 10 (excluding Silverstone), he scored. A rain-affected Chinese GP assisted Button to an irregular 5th for the Honda car, but it was a year to forget - Button was forgotten by the majority of the UK fans as they switched their allegiance to Hamilton who narrowly missed out on the World Championship in his debut year, and Rubens Barrichello failed to score any points all season - the first time in his career that ever happened.

2008: Honda - 18th in Drivers Championship, 3 points (Best Result: 6th, Spain)

Just when you think Button's season couldn't be any worse than 2007, Jenson then tops it off by having his worst ever season statistically in 2008. Just like 2001, Button only scores in one race the entire year as Hamilton once again dominates the sport for Britain, taking the World Championship in the most dramatic fashion imaginable. Barrichello, for the first time since teaming up with Button, has the upper hand on the Brit and does wipe the floor with him - including taking a shock podium position in Britain from 17th on the grid to 3rd in the race in atrocious conditions.

The major anticipation though was that 2009's regulations were going to face a massive overhaul, and seeing that Ross Brawn, who had returned from a year's sabbatical after leaving Ferrari, decided the best thing to do was to scrap the 2008 project (considering it would end up being a failure anyway) and focus entirely on 2009 - and in the process became the first team to do so. Initial stages looked good, as Ecclestone predicted the new Honda would be "one of the top three teams of 2009" and declaring that it would be capable of a few wins.

However, all the promise and hope died within one single announcement: Honda was to withdraw from Formula One at the end of the season. Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, and the team as a whole were to be no more unless a buyer could be found. Cue Ross Brawn and Nick Fry going through the biggest discussions of their lives, JB and RB wondering if they'll even race next year and the team working on the car in the hopes a rescue package could be made.

2009: Brawn GP - World Champion, 89 points*(Best Result: Wins in Australia, Malaysia, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco & Turkey)
* Season in progress

With three weeks to go until the Australian GP, Ross Brawn announced he and Nick Fry had worked together to make a takeover of the team, which was going to be called Brawn GP. No longer a manufacturer, the small independent team would go on to run with Mercedes power - the engine that all of a sudden for the past 2 years had become bulletproof.

Initial tests over the winter seemed to suggest the car would indeed be competitive, but even with the impressive times no one could've expected what would go down at the start of the season. Jenson Button would take pole position for Brawn GP's first ever race, and to boot Barrichello stuck it on 2nd - the order in which both cars would finish the race. a 1-2 finish for Brawn GP on their first ever race. One race it took for Brawn GP to eclipse Honda's 2008 tally by.

Another pole in Malaysia, but a poor start by Button and a storming start by Rosberg meant Jenson had to work for the win. After the first round of stops he'd given himself a pretty comfortable lead, but clouds were coming in - and then all of a sudden, the Grand Prix became a boat race - with red flags ending the GP early. Another Button victory.

China came around, and then it became rather clear - despite the diffuser advantage, the Brawn car was not competitive in the rain, but the diffuser still helped. Red Bull scored their maiden F1 win with Mark Webber finishing 2nd, all done without a diffuser. Button and Barrichello would finish 3rd and 4th respectively. This result also meant that Toyota would end up being the only team in the field that - under any disguise - had never won a Grand Prix.

That looked to be about to change when it was an all-Toyota front row in Bahrain. However, bad tactics left them falling down the grid, whereas Button - aided by a fantastic pass on Hamilton on the 2nd lap - would go on to win his 3rd race in 4 that year. This soon became 4 wins, then 5 and then 6 with victory in Spain, Monaco and Turkey. 61 points scored out of 65 that had currently been available - 2nd place in the Championship wouldn't even reach that amount of points until the Italian GP 6 races later!

By Silverstone, it was clear the teams with the bigger budgets had, or were about to, leapfrog Brawn GP in competitiveness. However, the media being what they are, decided instead it was the team going in to meltdown and that Button was panicking under the pressure of being Championship Leader - which was never the case at all. 6th place in Silverstone was the first time the whole season that teammate Barrichello had beaten Button to the finishing line and - to the date of writing this, Rubens has only beaten Jenson to the line another 4 times (Valencia, Belgium, Italy and Japan) -- hardly impressive when thought about in the bigger picture.

With the media pressing on Button to deliver a strong race (which he had done every race bar Valencia and Belgium), a slip-up on tyre choice meant Button would start the Brazilian GP from - guess where - 14th. By this time, only two people stood in his way from making the miracle comeback a reality - teammate Barrichello who started from pole, and Sebastian Vettel who was 15th. Needing a win or 2nd with Button low or out of the points, Vettel didn't exactly seem to have much chance of taking the fight to Abu Dhabi, but Barrichello had a good shot - apart from Lady Luck deserts him in Brazil, and it happened again. Button finished 5th, and with Barrichello behind him in 8th, it was all over - Jenson Button became the 31st FIA Formula One World Champion. Cue Redders in tears again. After 169 races, Button is now one of the all-time greats.

And do you know what? Look at his ten-year career in Formula One. Anyone who still says he's an undeserving World Champion now clearly doesn't appreciate all the hard work, pain and suffering he's gone through to reach the pinnacle of the mountain. This is one of the hardest-earned Championships in history.

Jenson Button, you deserve all of this glory. You deserve the smiles, the joy and happiness. And lastly, thank you for making a longtime fan feel the best he's ever felt.

...but there are some people (thank goodness none on this website) that believe Jenson Button is an undeserving World Champion in the waiting.

Case is, Button's been the one who has done the business, and in 9 days is likely to become F1's 31st World Champion, and the first World Champion in history to have had to wait over 100 races for their first GP win.

"Jenson only won at the start because his car was much better than anyone else's!"

Most people who state this also mention the diffuser issue. Whilst this above statement could be considered true, let's not forget something here: Williams and Toyota also started the season with the diffusers, but they hadn't designed the best car on the grid. You can't exactly blame Jenson for winning with a decent car when he's not the one designing it. Not to mention his first two wins this year weren't exactly easy either - Vettel and Kubica were closing on him in the final stages of the Australian GP until Vettel got too defensive and took the pair of them out, and in Malaysia a poor start meant he had to fight back to the front again, and once he took the lead was being caught by Glock and Webber - the weather being the culprit of stopping those two from catching him. China was a 1-2 for Red Bull, but Bahrain was a mastercIass in how to beat the field. In Spain Rubens just wasn't fast enough when he needed to be, and in Monaco Jenson just did the job great. Turkey could've been a whole lot different if Vettel hadn't run wide at the start but alas, Button still probably would've won.

"He's doing rubbish now, he's getting awful results all the time!"

The good people of GS would not come out with a response like this, which is always a good thing to remember, but there are the critics who will say these things that aren't as well in the know about F1 as we are. Simply, Brawn does not have the funding/R&D which the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, BMW and Renault can afford. It was always inevitable even before the start of the season that Brawn would be unlikely to be the top team by the end of the season, but still people persist to say Jenson continually has bad weekends. The case is he's only had one, potentially two, awful weekends of which were his fault: Valencia, where he could only manage 7th where Rubens drove brilliantly to win, and Spa with a qualifying effort that could've been much better.

Also, Button has the most points finishes of anyone this year - in fact, you have to go back to Michael Schumacher in 2003 for the last time a World Champion won the season failing to score at only one race in the entire season, a feat Button so far currently has. The only reason he didn't score in Spa was of a crash caused by Grosjean too - given Button jumped Barrichello off the start and Barrichello made it in the points by the end, fairly safe tosay that barring any dramatics for Jenson he would still have a 100% scoring record as we speak.

"Rubens is doing way better than Jenson!"

It took Barrichello EIGHT races just to finish a race ahead of Button. By then, Brawn was no longer the top car - it was Red Bull. Brawn was the car to beat for the first 7 races - Jenson took 61 points of a possible 65 in those 7 races, Barrichello - in the exact same car - scored just 35. Jenson was on the podium all 7 of those races, Barrichello just three times. When the opportunity was there, Rubens just simply didn't take it, and now he is beating his teammate, Button is pretty much always right behind him - in the entire season, there have only been two races where Rubens has managed to take more than 2 points out of Button's lead: Silverstone (3 points) and Valencia (8 points). Of the other three races that Barrichello has finished ahead of Button, he's only managed to take either one or two points out of him. So 15 races in to the season, Button has still finished ahead of Rubens on a count of 10-5 (and even if you take retirements in to consideration, it still lands 9-4 in Button's favour). Button has been on the podium 8 times this year, Barrichello 6. Still gonna tell me Barrichello is the better of the two overall?

"Jenson's one of the worst drivers in the field..."

Sure, we have the Hamiltons, Vettels and Kubicas in F1 now, but it was only 5 years ago that Button was considered the 4th best in the entire field, behind Schumacher, Alonso and Raikkonen. Given Schumacher is now retired, and adding the three that I mentioned earlier in to the pack, that still makes Button the 6th best on the grid - ahead of 14 other drivers on the field, which includes his teammate Barrichello. The thing is Button's technique in driving a car is much more different to anyone else's - he drives with ease and elegance, and is the least likely driver in the field to lock a tyre under braking. This way of driving means he is one of the best at managing tyre degredation, as was seen in Monaco when everyone else lost grip in their tyres but Button kept on going without a problem. The only downside to this is he can't generate the heat in his tyres as the rest of the field can because of their more aggressive approach to driving a car. That has lead to some bad downfalls during this season (noting Silverstone especially given where Barrichello finished and where Button finished), but just look at how he races - when he sniffs an opportunity, he's always been on it. In Silverstone he had a chance of beating Rosberg to the line after the final stops, and he became the fastest guy in the field. Singapore, he had the chance to jump Kovalainen and Barrichello but needed to put in some scorching laps - he did justthat and passed the pair of them.

At the end of the day, it gets rather irritating seeing so many people wanting an underdog in an underdog car winning the World Title, only for them to then say the guy who's about to do it is undeserving. Vettel has proven fast but unreliable (only one of his DNF's to date is mechanical-related, the rest are all driver errors), Webber's just taken too long to get himself in the picture, and by then it was too late, and Barrichello never took the opportunity at the start of the season when the goal was wide open to storm ahead in the Championship. The end result is Button, with only one bad weekend which was his fault in Valencia, has done a better job of this year than the rest. That's why he's at the top, and that's why he's still the odds-on favourite for the World Championship.

It's going to be one of the happiest moments of my life finally seeing my favourite driver take a well-deserved World Championship, and make a new record in the process.

And one last thing: When everyone else said Button was going to have a Schumacher-like 2002/4 season, who was the only one saying Button would actually have an Alonso-like 2006 season? Me. And I was right.

And yet again it appears Formula One is about to be rocked by a brand new scandal.

If it wasn't bad enough that Renault had WheelGate last month, they now have what is likely to be dubbed CrashGate to look forward to.

On the 28th September 2008, Formula One hosted its first ever night race and the 800th GP in its history. Fernando Alonso, who started 15th, took an unexpected victory from 15th on the grid.

A good strategy, luck, or a race fix?

Currently, the FIA are investigating into the race as accusations of the latter have been made by an unknown source, speculated to be former Renault driver Nelsinho Piquet Jnr., who crashed out in that race.

Fernando Alonso - unusually for someone starting 15th - was on a short first stint, and going for a two-stop strategy, not exactly that tactics normally deployed for a street circuit.

Despite this, Alonso made his pit stop on lap 12 which went without a hitch. Two laps later - and before anyone else had pitted - his teammate Piquet crashed into the wall which brought out a Safety Car.

What would then ensue was chaos.

Running low on fuel, Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg had to pit before the pitlane was open to them - and thus, both suffered drive-through penalties once the Safety Car was pulled in. Once the pitlane was open to the drivers, carnage took place in the Ferrari pit as a blunder meant race leader Massa took the refueling hose with him to the end of the pitlane, which took almost two minutes for the team to run to where Massa's car was and remove it. Not only that, he had been released into the path of Sutil, almost causing a collision - which meant Massa also had to take a drive-through penalty.

With the madness over, Alonso sat in 5th place - Rosberg needing to take his penalty still, and three other cars yet to pit (as they didn't under the Safety Car). Alonso was in the pound seat, and - sure enough - he took the lead and, as the pace setter that weekend, could now take advantage of that and pull ahead by over 20 seconds, until an unexpected second Safety Car incident took place when Sutil smashed into the barriers attempting to avoid a spinning Massa. Time was against Alonso's rivals though, and still the Spaniard pulled away to win.

Initially, conspiracy theorists jumped right on it and claimed Renault had fixed the race in order to win, but the drivers clearly stated it was an unfortunate coincidence that the two events (Alonso's stop and Piquet's crash) happened so close together, and that was that.

However, with this revelation, the person who has the most to lose is no one from the Renault team, but in fact Felipe Massa. If the fix was on, then Renault single-handedly cost Massa the chance to become World Champion.

Without the Safety Car hassle, Massa was looking set for a win, which - if all the other remaining races stayed the same - would've given him more points than Lewis Hamilton, and thus made the Brazilian World Champion.

It's no surprise then that of all the drivers in the field, it was Massa who was the most angry after the race had happened as it seems - if true - Renault did actually cost him his World Title status.

And it's not as if the evidence so far stacks up in Renault's favour. For what we do know:
- The strategy for Alonso is irregular for a driver in his position on the grid;
- Piquet had a set-up by the end of the practice sessions he was happy with, but was then changed by the team;
- Piquet himself span on the parade lap before the start of the race - practice, potentially?

Otherwise, we are still low on facts to comprehend the situation. The "new evidence" is unknown to the media and general public, and who has provided the information is also unknown. However, the situation looks grim for the Renault team. If guilty, they could be facing sanctions equal to or even surpassing those seen in SpyGate.

This is only the beginning of another darkened chapter in the sport.

Renault banned from the European GP,
Nelson Piquet dropped,
Jaime Alguersuari's debut,
Felipe Massa's recovery,
Michael Schumacher's return, and
BMW's pull-out, leading to
the chase for the 13th spot on the grid.

Why then, after two weeks, has there been... not that much about it at all?

It's strange really. I myself can see a fair amount of discussion coming from these points.

1. RENAULT'S BAN FROM THE EUROPEAN GP

In light of the Surtees/Massa stories, a wheel coming loose during a race was going to end up with something like this. The problem is I cannot understand why Renault, once the problem was quite clear, did not tell Alonso to stop. It was clear from the pictures on TV that the wheel was not on, and for me as soon as the wheel cover broke off, that was the time to tell Alonso to pull off and call it a day.

Instead, they wanted him back in the pits. Big mistake.

It lead to Alonso's tyre eventually falling off, and bouncing along the side of the track. Thank goodness there was no one - marshalls or drivers - around who could've been a victim to that, and that it was removed as soon as possible.

What makes this so ridiculous after all is that Renault learnt absolutely nothing from the Red Bull incident in Australia. When Vettel had his coming together with Kubica, he smashed his wheel against the barrier, meaning it was hanging loose from the car, but because the safety car had been called out and Vettel was still in a points-paying position, the team told him to continue driving on to salvage the points from the position he was in (which he'd dropped to 7th once the SC was out). Eventually Vettel did park the car, but for their moronic decision and putting people at risk, Red Bull were fined $50,000 (the grid penalty was as a result of the collision itself).

Why then - with an even LARGER risk of the wheel falling off, did Renault still think it was acceptable to allow Alonso to continue?

The simple fact is, Renault didn't take the lessons learnt from the past and will pay the price, unless the appeal goes their way a mere few days before Valencia. It pays to take note what happens in the past and make sure you don'tr repeat those same mistakes. Takethe Ferrari teamfrom last year, for example. In Valencia, they released Massa right into the path of Sutil which almost cost the Brazilian a victory - that was saved as a result of the team being fined. Then, in Singapore, the same thing happens again to the same driver. This time, it's a drive-through penalty. Simple fact is, learn from the past or face the consequences.

Therefore, in my honest opinion, it is a rather harsh but understandable penalty handed out. If it hadn't been for Surtees and Massa, Alonso would've simply had a grid penalty in Valencia. Now, the turnout will be minimal, and I don't feel hopes of the king returning will help.

2. BYE BYE NELSON PIQUET...

You just have to wonder "what if?" with Nelson.

On the one hand, Piquet was never going to get anywhere with Renault and Alonso being his teammate. Flavio is passionate for Fernando, and what Fernando wants, he gets. He wants number 1 status, and he'll get it. Piquet, fast or not, wouldn't stand a chance. He wasn't given equal opportunities that often, and one would have to wonder how much better he could've done if it was the whole time.

On the other hand was a man who could say the most stupidest things. Not only is he guilty of calling Buemi an "inexperienced rookie", but also said Briatore knows nothing about Formula One.

Flavio Briatore. The same man who lead Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso to both of their first two World Championships and made them stars. This Falvio Briatore that knows nothing about Formula One.

What I think needs to happen is Piquet needs a drive elsewhere for 2010 before we can really make a judgement on how good he really is.

Piquet, like every rookie since 2007, has fallen to the Hamilton effect. If you're not good enough straight away, you'll never become any good. Anyone else remember Felipe Massa from 2002? That Massa would've been thrown out after 3 races if he'd debuted either last year or this year. How about we give the kids a chance?

3. ...HELLO JAIME ALGUERSUARI

Heimi Al-Gay-Shwari. The new kid that beat the new kid that beat the new kid of last year. Well, the latter's not a "kid", but you get the point.

How much recognition and notice did he get for an excellent performance over the weekend? **** all. Hamilton effect again, if you're not at the front shining away, you're nothing.

For a guy who'd never turned a steering wheel in anger before the Friday, only driven an F1 car in a straight line at speed, and was to become F1's youngest ever GP racer - younger than even yours truly writing this very blog - he showed brilliance through the weekend. He paced himself, got to learn the circuit in an F1 styIe, qualified last only as a result of his Toro Rosso failing him, and beat his teammate in the race. That deserves a lot of credit. This is what rookies got praised for before Lewis showed up.

All I can say is, I hope Alguersuari reminds F1 how rookies should be given their chance in the sport and are allowed to grow. Webber took 130 races just to win and Massa 67. Longevity from rookies that were "meh" worthy to start with - excluding Webber's debut race, mind.

4. FELIPE MASSA

The boy got away lucky, and thank goodness he did.

It's been well-known that I am not a Ferrari fan, and I'm not keen on seeing much success for their drivers, but what happened to Massa is a sad sight to see with anyone, and it's a relief to know Massa should be making a full recovery in time and that he'll be back in F1 some time.

When I saw Massa in the tyre barriers from turn 4, I knew something wasn't right. No one crashes into that wallin thatway Felipe did. Then I heard it was debris into the head - and instantly thought Henry Surtees. That split second, I feared a lot for Massa, not knowing whether he was going to be ok or whether the worst had happened. That whole day, I followed the news on Felipe - the entire day and even into the early hours of the next morning. Not only to update the F1PU with the news - but also for my own comfort. When I heard his condition was improving, I took possibly one of the deepest sighs of relief I ever have.

Now, apart from the massive scarring, there seems to be no signs of problems for him at all, and all the time it looks more promising for his F1 return. Thank goodness.

5. MICHAEL SCHUMACHER

As a Jenson Button fan, I can't tell you whether this is going to be good news or disaterous.

Say what you will - Michael Schumacher, if he does all seven races, will win at least one race. Not to forget, he'll also be near the front plenty as well.

In the battle of Brawn vs. Red Bull, this could be the absolute last uncertainty we needed. Right now, Brawn are struggling and Red Bull are catching. Schumacher needs to be at his absolute best again, because that way, he can take more points off of Red Bull - meaning they score less, they can't catch up as fast, AND gives Brawn the chance to jump Red Bull again.

Alternatively - and this is what I fear - Schumi won't be up to full speed instantly. In that case, he'll fit inbetween Red Bull and Brawn - meaning Schumi only prevents the Brawn guys from scoring more, and the gap will shrink even quicker. If Jenson finished 2nd in every GP, it's enough to see him win the World Championship - only problem is, it's been nearly 5 years since Button last finished a race in 2nd place. 6 wins still aren't enough at the moment, and Jenson needs one or two more to start feeling safe.

For all these years I despised Schumacher destroying F1, these seven races could be the seven that either make me love him or loathe him even more.

6. BMW QUIT

Why? The currentdevelopments inmotorsport.

That's the reason BMW gave. In which case, onehas to wonder ifBayerische Motoren Werke were concerned at how competitive they would be on a limited budget. It certainly can't be based on how they're performing this year, otherwise they would look highly impatient. BMW have always hit or exceeded their targets, and one year of disappointment has to be expected at some point, and if you're going to pull out as a result of that one year, then it just shows you can't handle disappointment. Then again, with this pull-out, we now have...

7. THE SEARCH FOR F1'S THIRTEENTH TEAM

...and how many people would love to see Peter Sauber bring his team back?

I, for one, would. So it's a shame BMW set their sights too high, and now any team could take the spot. I can only hope that Sauber is still successful and brings some history back into the sport, as the old Sauber team was definately a place to drive, make your nameandhead into the spotlight, becoming a big name. Certainly helped Massa, for sure.

So seven points of discussion that could keep everyone going over the summer, and little has been heard of most of these stories. Strange but, there you go.

Another month, another blog, and whilst it's all too tempting to write about more controversies in the Formula One world, for a 2nd month in-a-row it's going to be about myself again.

The only reason this came about though is something that happened tonight.

As you may or may not know, as well as being an F1 guru, facts correcter for David Croftand potential Uni student, I'm somewhat involved in the music scene as well. This doesn't account to much serious, but I am a DJ for a local band club as well as occasionally doing radio shows, but my main interest within the music field is singing.

Since about 5 years ago, I started singing to a lot of songs that I had. Suffice to say when I started I was God awful, but over time and given time to practice I got better. About three years ago I started recording myself over songs, and they sounded ok, but still wasn't anything spectacular so to say. But I kept going, kept practicing, and eventually I thought to myself "hey, I'm not all that bad".

It was just over a year ago that I started attending Open Mic Nights at a local pub. Seeing these performers do their songs was all well and good, but I needed someone in order to actually perform - as I don't play the guitar. I tried learning, but my teacher left after just 5 weeks of working with him, and didn't persue this any further. It wasn't long enough for me to get hooked. If I get hooked on something, it becomes my life (E.G. Formula One).

My mates were part of a local band called Prospekt, which broke up after the bassist left for University. With nothing to do, they started doing their own performances. The lead singer played the guitar, and so he went on doing his own thing, but the lead guitarist does not sing - and there within was the opportunity. We decided to work together and, eventually, we started performing at these Open Mic Nights, allowing me to constantly get more practice in whilst my mate kept up his guitaring skills, I guess you call it. Eventually, a lot of people were liking my music, but there was one slight problem - a guy called Peter Parker. And no, he isn't Spiderman.

Peter, a friend of mine, is a phenomenal talent. Whilst I thought I was doing good, this guy was plain awesome, and was in a way I guess an inspiration for me to keep doing better and better. About 12 months ago though, he left for America and never returned to this pub's Open Mic Nights. This, effectively, left me to become the somewhat "star" of the show, in the matter of speaking. Once this happened and I Peter wasn't around, other people performing kept asking me to sing alongside with them, albeit I hardly knew the words to the songs they wanted to perform!

Sadly though, not long after I came back from my holiday in October, the place stopped running Open Mic Nights. This kinda ruined all the momentum I had going, because I definately felt like I was doing the best I could at the time and I was being somewhat recognised for it. For a few weeks, I resorted to karaoke but it just didn't feel right for me. Me and my mate drove down to London to do some nights there too but alas, as a Uni-based pub, nothing currently goes on there right now.

Fast forward time to tonight. A group of our friends (including the aforementioned lead singer of Prospekt and my guitarist) headed down to another bar in town, which recently started up an Open Mic Night. Turns out that not only is the host a singer himself, but also wants to get into the industry as a promoter of unsigned artists. In a unique styIe, he only approaches people who he feels have the talent to succeed in the music business, instead of advertising in newspapers or the internet. Not only was said lead singer approached by the host, but also me as well. The offer is two original songs on the CD, and having a good chance of the CD falling into the right hands (E.G. Talent scout). If they think I'm good enough, then goodness knows where I could head off to in the future.

The problem is, do I take it on face value that this might just end up being a bit of fun, or could I really be faced with a good chance of taking the next step into going big time? Answers on a postcard please. I honestly won't build myself up to thinking the latter otherwise I'll just become disappointed eventually if nothing does come of it. But it does beg me to question if I could be facing a breakthrough...

...if so, I couldbecome famous for reasons other than "oh, he got mentioned on an F1 practice session once".

And if anyone cares, I'd still use the nickname of "Redders" rather than my real name. As it is, I now have a hoodie with "Redders" on it!

"The world has lost one of its greats, but his music will live on forever."
Madonna

"I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy-man with a gentle soul."
Sir Paul McCartney

"We have lost a genius and a true ambassador of, not only pop music, but of all music."
Justin Timberlake

Another legend of the music industry has gone.

Whether you loved him or hated him, he sparked a reaction from all of us. But in this time, it is better to forget the "Wacko Jacko" times, and remember what he became famous for - his music.

Whether part of the Jackson 5 or going it alone, the man revolutionised the music industry. Quite simply, he is one of a rare breed who become an icon, and it is safe to say no one from our era will ever achieve such a status like he has. We just have to look nowadays: Alien Ant Farm, James Morrison, Fall Out Boy - to name a few - all artists inspired to cover Jackson cIassic songs.

Blame it on the Boogie, Bad, Beat It, Thriller, Black or White, Man in the Mirror, Earth Song - all pure brilliance, and as someone who is mildly involved in the music industry, to me the man was someone who made people want to be a part of music - Justin Timberlake and Lady GaGa themselves state they took inspiration from Michael's music.

I am too young to fully appreciate what this man did in his prime, but it is absolutely clear that the music industry today is poorer for the loss of a man who is - simply put - a genius with his music.

Usually, I'd do a monthly blog about Formula One and a current issue (for those wondering why there wasn't one last month, I had typed it up, then GS logged me out when I sent it, which meant I lost all the text and I couldn't be bothered to do it all again given the length it was), but instead I'm going to talk about myself, and my current place in life.

September 6th, 2006. My 17th birthday, and exactly one month removed from Jenson Button's first win in Hungary. I was taking my first driving lesson that day, whilst I wasn't going out with her I had a girl who loved me, and on that day I began 6th Form (or College, depending upon your preferences). It felt like a breath of fresh air - knowing we were in control of what we wanted from our future, and that I was about to meet a load of new people (our 6th Form is fairly unique in that because our school cannot provide for every subject in 6th Form, it links up with three other local schools which have the capabilities to teach those other subjects, therefore three other groups of 6th Formers to meet). Usually for an Aspie such as myself this would actually be quite a traumatic time, but, seeing how well life was going at that time, it didn't seem to bother me at all. I was looking forward to taking my Maths, ICT, Business and Physics courses and heading towards University.

The good times wouldn't last long, however.

Just a week into 6th Form and I was kicked out of my Physics course because I hadn't actually met the requirements (A C grade in Science at GCSE, whereas I had only managed a D) - I accepted this and took it as just a minor blip, and proceeded to do a re-sit for GCSE Science so I could re-take the course again. Thing was, despite these re-sit lessons taking place at a Science-specific college, my lessons were in a French room. Seeing as I was going nowhere with my studies there, I soon abandoned showing up to those lessons and just self-taught myself at home.

A few weeks in and I went on holiday to Cyprus - to which I started noticing the girl that liked me at the time was starting to act a little funny - she wasn't her usual self when I spoke to her online. She soon stated that she didn't feel the same for me anymore, and that really ruined any chances of a potential relationship with her - double whammy as she was an avid Formula One fan too.

That stab kept hitting me once I was back, because people at 6th Form knew of our closeness but didn't know she had effectively "ended" whatever it was we had. Whenever anyone asked about us, it just felt like a stab in the heart having to explain what had happened... whatever a stab to the heart actually feels like.

(NOTE: Maybe I should add at this time, I am actually from Northamptonshire and she was from Shropshire, so it was actually quite a distant thing, but I had met her in person before 6th Form - in fact, I met her two days before Button's first win - I put it down to seeing her that my F1 dream finally came true!)

A little over a month later, and one of the friends of that particular girl then actually told me the exact truth of what was going on - whilst claiming she liked me, she was actually seeing another guy (local to her) and trying to go out with him - which would've been fair enough if she'd have actually said to me personally, I would've been upset and I would've understood, but to not even tell me is something I do not accept. She was even going to the cinema alone with him before I even got to meet her in person. Safe to say since knowing that, I have never spoken to her since. I still visit Telford occasionally to see my friends I have there, but luckily she isn't with that group.

But that truth really brought me down - and I looked for comfort in the form of socialising with my friends - which was good, but it didn't do my school work any good either. It was around this time as well I had recently joined the Formula One Passion Union as a new member, making the occasional post, but nothing too frequent.

January came, and my exams bombed. I wasn't able to focus in lessons, and everything seemed to be going wrong for me. At the start of year 7, I was predicted A's and A*'s at GCSE, and yet here I was 5 and a half years later failing all of my courses - it wasn't fun.

Soon enough, before I knew it, it was the start of exams for AS, and I had finally managed to gain my first girlfriend just days before (as I pointed out earlier I am an Aspie, and for anyone who knows about Asperger Syndrome or Autism, getting a girlfriend is quite a feat for such an individual) - times starting to peak up again? No. Literally one hour before my first exam, she dumped me - after being with me just 2 and a half days. An absolutely rotten year just got worse - not to mention Jenson's poor outings in F1 - and those exams bombed too. Another girlfriend followed after the exams, but even she could only last 8 days before dumping me. She would, currently, stand to be the last girlfriend I ever had.

Probably the only thing going right for me at the time was my rapid progression up in the F1PU - as a result of consistent news posting and giving my thoughts on topics etc. (and even giving influence for BlaZe_irl to use my "Points of Discussion" in his GP threads), BlaZe put in the suggestion to current leader Aloushi87 to promote me as an officer. He did so, and little did I realise the impact I was going to have to make immediately once I had the position.

Anyone around at the time will know the grim story of the F1PU's LeaderGate, and the ensuing battle raging on at the time. What wasn't so obvious to all of you lot at the time was I was, effectively, the peacemaker of the whole debate - I was the one that kept each other from totally destroying one another (even though that was impossible at times). Aloushi, the leader who had not been present for nearly three months, had returned offering a wave of new features into the union which he simply did not deliver on. The two most senior officers, BlaZe and kipi, took the notice of the rapid decline in members visiting/using the union, and realised the leadership of Aloushi was starting to become ineffective. I had been asked to side with kip and BlaZe but, given I had only just been promoted as an officer, knew it would be the wrong decision to side with any party in the debate, and thus I kept the level-head. The infamous "meeting" that had been mentioned was thought of, created and controlled by myself, but as you probably realise I gave up hope and just let them go at it, because I was unable to keep the peace in the end.

BlaZe and kipi left, and Aloushi again disappeared. Within a month and a half of becoming an officer, it effectively felt like I had to run the place to keep it alive.

If that stress wasn't enough, it then came to results day for AS - and I failed everything. Sink into depression time. The only shining light was finding out a week later I had gained the necessary C grade at GCSE for Science, but at that point I had no interest for Physics anymore.

Everything above happened within just eleven months. Possibly the worst eleven months of my life.

September 6th, 2007. One year had passed and I was now 18. But also a year down on all my mates - and I was considered the stright-A student out of 98% of all of them. Probably the most embarrassing day of my life, even though it was meant to be fun. By the advice of my Mother, I changed my subjects to Media, a different Business course and an Accounts course. That's where the fun all began again. There was no teacher to take the Accounts course, and it was dropped pretty quickly - therefore, leaving me no choice but to choose another subject. It meant I dropped my new business course and went back to my old one, and doing a double award for it on top of that.

A positive did come early on though, as my Media teacher was a very jolly fellow who had a unique ability to socialise with the students, yet somehow get us brilliant results at the same time. I can say now he is easily the best teacher I've had.

The F1PU meanwhile was falling to pieces - with no "major" names in the union, I was effectively left to run the place until November 18th - Aloushi came back and made one post, which would turn out to be the last contribution he ever made to the F1PU. There was virtually no one left on the board, but I was determined to keep the place alive: this was a union I liked, with people I got on well with - I couldn't let it die because of people squabbling.

January came, and it was exam time for AS part 2: this time, things were a whole lot better. My coursework for business was a vast improvement, and my Media skills were as good as other subjects had been in the past - I felt as if I'd been re-born. I also passed my driving test that month despite terrible conditions and car problems throughout - what a month it had been, and it built me right back up from the slump I'd had from the year before.

To top it all off, next month the people of the Formula One Passion Union trusted in me enough to become the new leader, and to this date I still wear the green tag with pride. It was an honour to know people believed in me, and I showed my passion for the sport when it was dying by keeping the place alive.

Not much really took place over the next couple of months, which allowed me to be able to be free to finish my coursework in comfort and score very well, as well as producing brilliant exam results as well.

Once I started A2 work before we broke up for the summer holiday, that's when the stress all began again - Mum fell pregnant. I allude back to the Aspergers and remind you Iwas an only child, so when I heard the news a load of thoughts ran straight through my head: the baby was due right in my most vital part of next year, when coursework deadlines would be met and exam revision would be at its most crucial - and to have a new baby brother or sister coming in, whilst having to move out my room and into the attic for it and having to help refurbish the place so it was all possible? No way could I have dealt with that stress.

Eventually, I came to liking the thought of having a baby brother or sister... and then I get the news that there was a miscarriage. Those of you that wondered why I said I'd be taking considerable amounts of time off, and then saying it wouldn't be happening, you now know why. It was such a sad time for all of us, and I felt considerably bad for Mum - knowing that I'd be heading off to University, a new little one in the family would've allowed her to take her mind off of me and not worry so much.

Results for AS the 2nd came along, and they made me VERY happy - I had achieved an A in Media, and I was over the moon given the bitter disappointment of the previous year. It wasn't all perfect though.

The reason behind the miscarriage was found, and it required an operation to fix, scheduled for November. We let it wait until the time came and then we'd see how things went.

September 6th, 2008. I'm now 19, and started my third year of 6th Form two days ago. It's actually a Saturday on this day, and one day before the infamous "Lewis got screwed" at Spa incident. It's wet, miserable and raining, but I'm at an Open Day at Leicester de Montfort University, looking at a Media Production course to study there. Right there and then I knew there was going to be no other Uni that could offer me a course I was going to enjoy as much as that one - and as it is now, that's where I'll be looking to head this September. Fresh off doing so well the previous year, I'm looking for equal scores (but one grade to improve by one) in order to get the points I need. The year goes well, especially as (at one point) I end up three months ahead of schedule with one piece of coursework for Business. It all seems to be going well.

But, with almost every story in this blog, there is a twist. It's now November, and trusy, reliable NHS cancel Mum's operation for lack of room in the Hospital, and it gets held back to January - right before my exams, when I need the most time tomyself and the least amount of time having to do stuff around the house. Karma has something against me, I swear.

The exams pass fine, but then the stress kicks in. Despite being so far ahead with my business coursework at one point, I'm now actually behind, as well as five other pieces having to be collected in as well (with said Business and one piece of Media both being 100+ pages long). All this time, I'm also having to help my Mum around the home and making sure she's fine whilst my Dad is working throughout the day. To boot, the NHS now tell us my Mum has a weak heart, and that she's vulnerable to a heart attack. Just brilliant. Yet another downturn in tough times.

The months pass by and she recovers well, but again due to the inefficiency of our National Health Service, my Mum still isn't back at work because they continually lose/mess up results, despite her being next to 100% fully fit now. Thank God I finally got to vote on Thursday; shame it wasn't General Elections so we could get that pathetic excuse of a "leader" Gordon Brown out of power.

And now through all of this, I stand here: in less than a week, I will have finished 6th Form forever. Three years with all of that going on throughout... I think I deserve a medal. But then I have 4 exams to do next week, and wait for results. It's de Montfort or bust (given my 2nd Uni choice now actually needs more UCAS points than de Montfort), and if I get there, I'll be thrilled. But it also means other issues:

- I have to become self-dependent. As an Aspie, that ain't easy;
- I'm already going to be 20 when I finally go, if I get there. I know there will be others that took a gap year, but I'll still feel odd being a year behind;
- I'm going to be away from my parents for a considerable amount of time for the first time in my life - again, not easy;
- A whole new city to learn, a whole new load of people to meet, and it'll be harder to socialise with complete strangers;
- Uni is about the fun times: how will I fit in as I'm Straight Edge?

All I wanna know is how have you guys who are already at/been to Uni coped with those issues? Any advice would really help right now, because the future confuses me a lot.

September 6th, 2009. I'll be home celebrating my 20th birthday with everyone, but will the results in August say I've done enough or will I be stuck at home, not knowing what to do?

I can only hope it's the former, because I cannot wait for a future at Uni if I can make it.

I've noticed whenever 69ANT69 looks to purchase new F1 merchandise, he sticks a picture up of what he wants to buy.

Currently, my friends and I are participating in something called "The List", which is a list of things to do during April 1st-September 1st (however I'm trying to extend it to September 6th so we can finish on my 20th Birthday). One of the items on this list is to take a picture a day, and today, I thought I'd gather up a collection of Formula One merchandise I already have and then have that as my picture.

It's a bit blurry, but I only have a webcam as a camera, so I'll explain what is in the picture (L-R):

FRONT ROW: Formula One (PlayStation game, 1995 season)
SECOND ROW: Formula One World Grand Prix (N64 game, 1998 season), Formula One World Grand Prix II (N64 game, 1999 season)
MIDDLE ROW: F1 2003 (PS2 game), F1 2004 (PS2 game), F1 2005 (PS2 game), F1 2006 (PS2 game)
FOURTH ROW: Formula One 2004: Michael Does It Again! (DVD), Formula One 2005: Fantastic Fernando! (DVD), Formula One 2006: Once Again! (DVD), Formula One 2007: Kimi Made It At Last! (DVD), Formula One 2008: Luck Does Not Come Into It... (DVD)
BACK ROW: B.A.R.-Honda Jenson Button cap (2004), Red Bull Racing-Cosworth David Coulthard cap (2005), Honda Jenson Button cap (2006), McLaren-Mercedes Lewis Hamilton British flag cap (2007), McLaren-Mercedes Rocket Red cap (2007).

NOT FEATURED: B.A.R.-Honda Jenson Button "Button Up" T-Shirt (2004), Honda Jenson Button "Blast Off" T-Shirt (2006), Honda Jenson Button "EarthDreams" T-Shirt [2008], McLaren-Mercedes Lewis Hamilton T-Shirt [2008], Mercedes-Benz Kimi Raikkonen poster (2003), Jenson Button montage poster (2005), Mercedes-Benz Lewis Hamilton Canadian GP poster (2007), Mercedes-Benz Lewis Hamilton profile poster (2007), Mercedes-Benz Fernando Alonso Monaco GP poster (2007), Mercedes-Benz Fernando Alonso profile poster (2007), The Sun newspaper cut out tribute to Lewis Hamilton [2008], Daily Telegraph cut out of Honda's 2007 Car Launch (2007), The Sun cut out of Massa's messed-up pitlane accident [2008], Race of Champions ticket [2008]

...slightly big list there eh? And only being 19, that list is gonna grow over time...

Seems odd having what now appears to be a monthly blog so early this time.

Let's face it: Nowadays, it appears that a quintessential part of Formula One is at least one meeting with the WMSC or ICAduring a season. Whilst we were able to escape any last year, we still had a court case regarding Mosley and his off-track doings. In 2007, we had three meetings alone regarding stolen data (two between Ferrari and McLaren, and one between McLaren and Renault). And now, in the space of just 15 days, we're going to have two in one month.

The first and, probably least important of the two, is the diffuser row.

Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams are all running a "double-decker" diffuser to which the other 7 teams do not, under their interpretation of the rules. The FIA have already cleared the design, and both the Australian and Malaysian stewards have cleared the design too. So, we're going into a case to which the affected party has been found "not guilty" on THREE occasions already.

Ferrari, Renault, Red Bull and BMW-Sauber have all put in for this case to be looked at yet again, and, at least in the former two cases, maybe their accounts could be found a little more understanding than the latter two.

At the end of the day, diffuser or not, Red Bull and BMW are already close enough to the Brawn, Toyota and Williams cars as it is.

In fact, even at this stage, Renault and BMW have more points than Williams.

So in my judgement, the case will be dismissed on April 14th, because it's not only an issue which has been cleared three times before, but not to forget that Ross Brawn himself actually had a meeting with the other teams in order to get this loophole thrown out, and the other teams rejected it.

Therefore, Ferrari, Renault, BMW and Red Bull have shot themselves in their own feet.

The case everyone is talking about though is LiarGate.

It seems at this stage everyone is saying "It's disgusting/dispicable what they've done", and, quite frankly, are entitled to that opinion because it's true, it was a terrible thing to do. But said comments directed to Hamilton aren't. Here's why:

Once the race was complete, Hamilton told his account of the race to the press so they had their stories to write up. 4th place in a car as good as Honda's last two attempts is pretty special. Then, he and Dave Ryan were called up to the Race Stewards regarding the Safety Car incident between himself and Jarno Trulli.

Trulli was called in first to give his account of what happened. Whilst waiting, Dave Ryan then informed Hamilton to tell the stewards that he had not been informed by the team to let Trulli past - which, as we all now know from the team radio, was the case.

Hamilton himself already knew better - he knew after letting Trulli past he didn't have to do it, and that an opportunity had gone amiss. But this was a team who had backed him up for 13 years - he feared that if he didn't comply, he could be in trouble with the team, despite having 5 points in the bag already. It was an impossible position for him to be in, and because he loved the team so much, he went ahead and did what Ryan asked.

This itself is one of the crucial aspects to the story. The FIA have accepted that Hamilton was put in a place where he couldn't win, and so have stated that there will be no further action taken on the British driver himself.

When called again for another meeting regarding the issue, now the Race Stewards had the recordings of the press interviews and the team radio, the duo still said they had not discussed to let the Italian pass - and then they found they were done for.

As a result, we now have a World Champion who, for the first time, is in a highly negative mood, and a team manager who has left the McLaren team. And to top it all off, are being taken to the WMSC to answer 5 counts of bringing the sport into disrepute.

When it goes bad for McLaren, it goes HORRIBLY wrong. Considering the FIA wish to take no further action on Hamilton leaves me the problem of wondering what exactly the McLaren boys could face as a punishment. A hefty fine will definetly be somthing the Woking team can look forward to, but as to any race suspensions could be questionable. It could end up being the case that McLaren do not score constructors points again, ala 2007. We can only find out later.

My point is though, we haven't had a clean season since 2004, and quite frankly, to get the reputation of Formula One being a racer's sport again, we need all these issues to go away.

2005 - B.A.R. untruthful to race stewards about "unusual" car in San Marino: Lose points from race and banned from competing in the next two GP's.

2006 - Schumacher parks up car in Monaco qualifying to impede other drivers. Renault's Mass Damper is banned halfway through the season, ironically when Michael Schumacher starts climbing back up to Alonso in the Championship. Alonso also given grid penalty for impeding Massa, despite the closest Massa ever getting to Alonso was 93 metres - still not close enough to disrupt an air flow.

2007 - SpyGate: McLaren handed £100m penalty and DQ'ed from constructors championship. "Illegal fuel" debate ruled out which, if accepted, would've taken the title from Raikkonen and given to Hamilton after the season ended.

2008 - Numerous dodgy calls by race stewards, including Spa (Hamilton/Raikkonen) and Japan (Massa/Bourdais).

2009 - Diffusers, Misleading Stewards.

Five seasons in-a-row with some sort of row corrupting the sport. We just want the racing to determine the championship, please?