F1: the drivers did it, not us, Ferrari will tell stewards

The only reason that Hamilton is not already world champion is because of dubious stewards' decisions favouring Ferrari, one as Spa and two in Hungary. And there is little doubt that Raikkonen was not happy at the prospect of being told to give way - by the second pit stop, when a small delay should have been enough to swap the places, Raikkonen had dashed off and was too far away for the pit crew to hold him without it being obvious that they were doing so.

But there's not much chance that the stewards will investigate the place-swapping. They are very unlikely to take points off Ferrari even if they do - the art of inventing reasons to get the red cars to the last race in a position where their driver could win the championship would mean that they would almost certainly impose a swap-back and then a financial penalty.

But there's a loophole. The ban on team orders (which incidentally, I don't agree with: F1 is supposed to be a team sport and team orders are an integral part of that) arose because of a blatant swap by Ferrari drivers which upset gamblers who didn't understand the sport. Here's the loophole: it applies to the team, not to private arrangements nor even "tacit understandings" between drivers.

So all Ferrari need to do is say "we didn't tell them to do it: if you think we did, prove it."

So, Hamilton won a flag to flag victory with the two Ferraris second and third. Alonso had a storming race until his last pit stop which appeared to compromise his handling. But as Raikkonen's Ferrari slowed (with no signs of concern in the Ferrari pit) he put in some hard charging to finish just two seconds behind.

Kubica's stealth challenge for the Championship came to an end when he finished sixth behind team mate Heidfeld. Kubica had crept up the championship table in the past few races having slipped from his early season performance which had seen him an equal contender at the half-way stage.

Up and down the field, there was some serious racing going on but mainly in pairs for positions that would not pay points.

There was some nervousness in the McLaren pit when Kovalainen's front right tyre delaminated causing him to drag the car back to the pits where, after a couple of laps at the back of the field, it was retired. The broken tyre was not the one everyone expected problems with: last year, Hamilton's right rear wore out faster than the other tyres, resulting in a pit-lane slide into the gravel and out of the race. But it's the front left that takes most of the battering in being loaded up for some very high-speed right hand bends - including one of the most banked bends in modern racing.

So, it's off the Brazil for the race that will decide this year's drivers' championship.

Both Ferraris will have to do badly and McLaren to do very well for McLaren to win the constructors' championship but so long as Hamilton finishes, and finishes better than fifth, he will beat Massa given the points standing after today of 94 to Hamilton and 87 to Massa.