If earlier reports indicated that Michael Schumacher will be with riding under the Mercedes F1 team flag for only one year, we just caught wind that the German racer actually intends to be with the team until 2012. After 91 grand prix wins and a 16 year long career, Schumacher returns to the circuit being persuaded by his former Ferrari technical director, Ross Brawn.

It will take time to get over the Ferrari hang as Michael Schumacher won 5 titles with the red devils over a period of 14 years, prior to becoming an advisor for the Italians. Schumacher could end up as a brand ambassador for Mercedes once he is finished racing for the team in 2012. He also clarified that his number one driver status talks were a hoax as it was always up to the team management to decide his status and it will be no different while being on the new team. [via WCF]

A fifth place at the Brazilian Grand Prix was good enough to ensure the 29 year old Jenson Button and team Brawn-Mercedes, the 2009 Formula One Champion title. Button who started the race 14th on the grid, drove like a deserving champion although he did not manage a podium finish this time. This race also gave Brawn the constructors’ title outshining Red Bull by 9.5 points.

A the Brazilian GP it was Mark Webber who stood first followed by Robert Kubica from BMW Sauber and Lewis Hamilton who managed a third position on the podium. RBR-Renault driver Sebastian Vettel’s fourth place ensured that he stood second in the overall tally surpassing Rubens Barrichello (who stood 8th) but even if Vettel manages to win the Abu Dhabi edition, it will still be Button who will win the title by 5 points.

It’s official, Honda‘s CEO Takeo Fukui confirmed today that they’re withdrawing from Formula One ahead of the 2009 season. But what caused them to pull out? Apparently the economic downturn and the fact that they’re trying to reduce spendings and protect the main core instead. And considering that last month Honda saw a decline of more than 30 per cent in its biggest market, the US, the reason is pretty good. More to the whole deal, Honda also said that they’re not even going to supply other teams with engines, which may have interesting consequences. Meanwhile, we’ve been briefed that there are interested buyers who’d like to take over. – via Autosport

Those jerks guys at FIA are trying to push a new regulation starting with the 2010 F1 championship and that is standard engines for all teams. I’m not going to ramble on why I think that’s a very very very bad decision because you probably feel the same. However, I plan on telling you that hearing rumors that such a major rule might be in place from next year, Ferrari and Toyota already made up their minds. They’re going to pull out unless those brainless guys that rule F1 change their minds. I’m hoping for an alternative solution to spiraling costs associated with engine development, because standard engines is not yet a viable one. – via F1-live

This year’s 2008 Monaco Grand Prix was a real challenge as bad weather continued to change the race. Even the winner Lewis Hamilton and Mclaren were dominated by the weather on lap 5 when Hamilton’s Mclaren hit a barrier puncturing his right-rear tyre forcing him into an early pit stop. He managed to come back and win the shortened event, after his 76^th lap, BMW’s Kubica coming in 2^nd and Ferrari’s Massa 3^rd..

The race was wet at the start and saw many mistakes and errors take place, however these conditions did not continue and we saw the track start to dry, the weather kept looking like it was going to rain but it just never happened. As the drivers and manufacturers didn’t have the privilege of time, travel they had to decide what tires to use, intermediate or dry. Most drivers went with dry tyres and this decision ended up paying off.

Because Lewis had an early pit stop it meant he had enough fuel to gain the lead while the others had to have pit stops during the middle of the race. Eventually he had a good 40 second lead, which was all undone by Nico Rosberg’s bad crash on lap 61. The safety car came out for a few laps and then the race continued. On lap 69 Kimi Raikkonen ran into the back of Adrian Satu who was sitting in comfortable fourth and then disqualified. This is being looked into. The race was then continued with Lewis Hamilton and Mclaren taking the win. This was a great race to watch! Can’t wait till the Canadian Grand Prix starts!

The Formula One race of Malaysia has ended. The big winner was Kimi Raikkonen that managed to lead Ferrari on top over the three days of the Grand Prix and if it wasn’t for Felipe Massa to spin out on lap 30, Scuderia was probably going to win the first and the second places. But it happened and Kubica from BMW went on 2nd place.

McLaren managed to secure the 3rd place with Kovalainen and the 5th place with Lewis Hamilton that had to start the race from the 9th spot in Malaysia. Here are the results:

Malaysia F1 results

1 Kimi Räikkönen
2 Robert Kubica
3 Heikki Kovalainen
4 Jarno Trulli     Toyota
5 Lewis Hamilton
6 Nick Heidfeld

Team classification

1. McLaren-Mercedes      24
2. BMW     19
3. Ferrari     11
4. Williams-Toyota     9
5. Renault     6
6. Toyota     5
7. Red Bull-Renault     2
8. STR-Ferrari     2
9. Honda     0
10. Force India-Ferrari     0
11. Super Aguri-Honda     0

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen has outperformed his team mate and shattered the pace of the McLarens this afternoon as he cruised to a fine win in the Ardennes forest. Felipe Massa brought home his Ferrari in second place, and the Scuderia have now officially sealed the 2007 constructors championship following McLaren’s exclusion. The loosing of the point over his team mate now means that Massa is unlikely to be pushed ahead for the title. Instead, Jean Todt will have to put the majority of resources behind todays winner as the season progresses away from Europe and into Asia.

The start of the Belgian Grand Prix was always going to be watched closely as the circuit tends to narrow going down into the impossibly tight La Source hairpin. The remodeled corner though has a slightly wider exit, and more importantly perhaps, is the large flat run-off area, penalising less if you overcook it. And it was this new area that saw some action on lap one after McLaren drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton attempted to prove their worth to each other. As the red lights faded, Alonso moved across from third to defend his position from Hamilton. The pair went into La Source very close to one another, Lewis on the outside and Alonso on the regular line. As the pair squeezed the throttle Alonso moved towards the outside and just kept moving. Hamilton was forced off the circuit and onto the run-off area. Not one to shy away though, Hamilton kept his foot in it and came back down alongside Alonso. They went into the fast Eau Rouge corner together, but as Alonso was on the inside, Lewis backed off and conceded the position.

From here on in, the Belgian Grand Prix simply became a tour and ultimately, proved to be very boring. Perhaps the lack of changeable weather (something we have come to expect from this spontaneous track) took the edge off the race. Perhaps it was the sheer dominant pace of the Ferrari’s that led to the race becoming dull, and although there were many other battles down through the field, we really wanted to see a battle between the top four.

A two week interval now allows the teams to ship every thing over to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix at the end of the month.

Results after the jump (more…)