Both Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have each been penalised for blocking Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso during qualifying at Sepang and moved back five places on the grid.

McLaren gracefully accepted their punishment and released the following statement: “We accept the stewards’ decision but would like to add that neither Lewis nor Heikki impaired any of their competitors deliberately.”

The final grid positions are below for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix

1. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m 35.748s
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m 36.230s
3. Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m 36.711s
4. Robert Kubica BMW 1m 36.727s
5. Nick Heidfeld BMW 1m 36.753s
6. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m3 7.009s
7. Fernando Alonso Renault 1m 38.450s
8. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1m 36.613s *
9. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m 36.709s *
10. Timo Glock Toyota 1m 9.656s
11. Jenson Button Honda 1m 35.208s
12. David Coulthard Red Bull Racing 1m 35.408
13. Nelson Piquet Jr Renault 1m 35.562s
14. Rubens Barrichello Honda 1m 35.622s
15. Sebastian Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m 35.648s
16. Nico Rosberg Williams 1m35.670s
17. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 1m 36.240s
18. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m 36.677s
19. Takuma Sato Super Aguri 1m 37.087s
20. Adrian Sutil Force India 1m 37.101s
21. Anthony Davidson Super Aguri 1m 37.481s
22. Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m 36.388s **

* 5 place penalty given
** 10 place penalty given from last race

You can now get this Lewis Hamilton baseball cap for half price!

Our friends at Grand Prix Legends are now selling this cap for £12.49 instead of £24.99, that’s a saving of £12.50!

The cap is mainly silver but peaked with a red brim which continues around the edge and side of the cap to become an embroidered Union Jack logo. Lewis’ name is embroidered across the peak and there is a large Mercedes-Benz logo on the front. The cap has an adjustable strap on the back and is perfect for any fans of Lewis Hamilton or British Formula 1 racing.

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Lewis finished with a time of 1.35.055 seconds, 0.151 seconds clear of Felipe Massa who came in second with Kimi Raikkonen finishing a further 0.222 seconds in third.

Things are looking good for qualifying tomorrow!!

Timings from the first practice at Sepang, for the Malaysian Grand Prix:

1. Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari 1:35.392
2. Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:36.459
3. Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.556
4. Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 1:36.578
5. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.626
6. Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:37.022
7. Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault 1:37.034
8. Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:37.218
9. Jenson Button (GB) Honda 1:37.282
10. Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 1:37.540
11. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:37.649
12. Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota 1:37.649
13. Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 1:37.776
14. Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:37.782
15. Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.219
16. David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault 1:38.232
17. Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 1:38.707
18. Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:38.798
19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India-Ferrari 1:39.046
20. Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda 1:40.178
21. Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 1:40.351
22. Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari 1:41.269

Timings from the second practice at Sepang, for the Malaysian Grand Prix:

1. Hamilton 1:35.055
2. Massa 1:35.206
3. Raikkonen 1:35.428
4. Button 1:36.037
5. Vettel 1:36.474
6. Trulli 1:36.493
7. Kovalainen 1:36.512
8. Kubica 1:36.671
9. Fisichella 1:36.671
10. Nakajima 1:36.838
11. Barrichello 1:36.879
12. Rosberg 1:36.908
13. Heidfeld 1:37.106
14. Alonso 1:37.328
15. Piquet 1:37.331
16. Webber 1:37.346
17. Glock 1:37.512
18. Sutil 1:37.614
19. Sato 1:39.021
20. Davidson 1:39.361
21. Bourdais no time
22. Coulthard no time

Lewis Hamilton’s book - “My Story” has just been released for the first time in paperback.

The recommended retail price is £7.99 but Amazon are selling it for only £5.59 new, at the time of writing. Here at Lewis-Hamilton.org.uk we’ve read it and its a great account of his life and career to date. We recommend it for any serious Lewis fans!

Great news! From next season (2009) Formula One TV coverage will move from ITV to BBC. This is fantastic news as it means that the races won’t be interrupted by those annoying ad breaks at crucial moments. The 5 year deal heralds the return of the sport to BBC 12 years since ITV started showing the races. Although no official announcements have been made regarding the cost of the deal, its rumoured to be around the £200m mark.

But what we want to know here at Lewis-Hamilton.org.uk is will the BBC be showing the races in high definition? Unlike ITV, the BBC has a high definition channel  and although no official announcement has been made we can only hope that they will. We can’t imagine a sport more suited for the glorious world of high def TV, and are eagerly anticipating seeing Lewis’s McClaren blazing round the track in full screen high definition glory!

More details here.

Most importantly it has been a great year for Lewis Hamilton, regardless of any negative press. I’d be slightly annoyed about him moving to Switzerland were it not for the fact that I’d love to move abroad, for better weather, less banning of everything, and governments more honest about what thieving b’stards they are!

Lewis has achieved a remarkable first season in F1 and make no mistake by thinking otherwise. OK it would have been fantastic if he had won the season outright, but in reality, just like when all our kids get fantastic GCSE results, the critics would be out crying F1 is now all about the car, or computer simulation training would be likened to steroids. You know what the critics are like.

Hamilton coming second by a hair’s breadth shows how competitive and exciting the sport can be – and how much concentration in extended periods is needed to stay on top. Their may be a fair bit of jiggery pokery in the cutting edge cars these days, but one second’s concentration lapse, and as an F1 driver it could be the difference between first and last place in the race.

With Heikki Kovalainen and Nelson Piquet Jr. joining the fray, there will be some fresh new talent in F1 for 2008 and I’m sure it’s going to shake the sport up and make it more exciting for all the fans, bringing more and more people into following F1.

Let’s all wish Lewis good luck for the New year’s F1 season!

I’m sure Lewis’ is very happy being the toast of F1, and that all the romantic experience in the world will come his way – and we are not some tabloid gutter press here at Lewis-Hamilton.org.uk, so we try not to speculate. It’s all about the F1 usually, but hey, its Christmas, and stories are slow.

Age is such a wonderful thing, and it’s both amazing and sobering to see raw youthful exuberance; Amazing when in Hamilton’s case it gets results, and sobering when you hear a youngsters wildest dreams and know they are surely biting off more than they can chew:

Alonso has told the world press it would be crazy to expect him to win next years F1 season, as while the man himself is on top form, he knows the cars at Renault are somewhat less up to par than the ones at Ferrari and McLaren.

Nelson Piquet Jr. however, has set high goals for his debut season in Formula One, and has already told the world press that he believes he has a very good chance of winning the F1 season!

Piquet Jr. has very big boots to fill, and I’m sure he will be an interesting addition to the F1 season next year – but talk about precocious!

This year saw the likes of Michael Schumacher, David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Heikki Kovaleinen and American X-Games champ Travis Pastrana competing for the title of Champion of Champions around a temporary tarmac track on the Wembley pitch.

This year’s championship was dedicated to the memory of Colin McRae after his tragic helicopter accident in September, he won the event back in 1998 and was signed up to compete in this years race. The one kilometre track includes a bridge jump and provided plenty of opportunities for the Champions to show off their stuff.

The organisers say they are eager to arrange a way that Lewis can compete next year, it would be a great thing to see Lewis in some Rally cars for a change, cars such as Aston Martin N24, Abarth Punto S2000, Ford’s Focus WRC car that were in this years race.

I hope they can work out some contract changes. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!

Maybe another award from the British Racing Drivers Club will cheer him up. This one was the Richard Seaman Trophy which is awarded to the winner of the Club’s Gold Star points scoring system. Lewis Hamilton’s 2007 F1 debut led him to top the Club’s Gold Star table by a margin of 34 points.

Its been announced that Heikki Kovalainen is set to replace Alonso as Lewis Hamilton’s new team mate, in almost a straight swap as Alonso moves to Renault.

It will be a superb opportunity for Heikki to establish himself amongst the elite of formula one driving. Like Lewis, Heikki started out Karting in 1991, becoming Nordic Champion in 2000 and winning the Elf masters.

His Formula One debut with Renault this year has been somewhat patchy, looking somewhat ragged in his first race but he began to eventually outperform his experienced Italian team mate Giancarlo Fisichella later on in the season.

Heikki expects equal treatment from Mclaren alongside Lewis, it will be interesting to see how far Mclaren can carry this out and I really hope there’s no in fighting next year.

As a rookie driver with a far less outstanding first season under his belt, I think Heikki should keep his head down and do his best this year, If he turns heads he can then talk about equal treatment.

Not surprising then, that Lewis’ first F1 championship has provided a well deserved boost to the Karting industry, and tracks all around the UK have been upgrading their karts.

The Rooksley circuit in Milton Keynes is owned by Datona karts, where Lewis Hamilton himself used to race, and this year saw Hamilton fly in by helicopter just before the UK Grand prix to offer advice to young Karting cadets.

Daytona have just invested more than £25,000 in 160cc 4-stroke Honda
Cadet Karts. The state-of-the-art machines have adjustable seating, increased wrap-around safety bodywork, aerodynamic styling and a sleek profile.

My local circuit at Warden Law have just upgraded to 390cc Biz Thunderkarts too! Of course, if you are young and serious about following in Lewis Hamilton’s footsteps, then it’s certainly worth buying your own Kart. It’s a great way to learn and improve technique before graduating to the national or international circuits and if you’re really good - on to Formula 1.