Brits on Pole

Word is tonight that Honda is on the verge of announcing its complete withdrawal from F1 - what terrible, heinous, unforgiveable sins did Jenson Button commit in a previous life that mean nothing seems to go right for him?

Jenson Button’s gone down a storm at an event in Japan designed to say thank you to Honda’s loyal motorsport fans for their support during 2008.

It was down to business on the third and last day of Barcelona testing but, even with most of the newbies on the plane home, the cars from the Red Bull stable were able to retain their dominance.

Red Bull is certainly giving its drivers wings at Barcelona this week - a Toro Rosso one-two on Monday has been followed by a complete shut-out of the top four timesheet slots on the second day of testing.

Jenson Button has won a ringing endorsement from his Honda team’s management, which reckons he could take on Lewis Hamilton with the right equipment. But they are not yet certain enough to give him a 2009 contract, it would appear…

We’ve all moaned and complained, cursed the ad breaks and laughed uproariously at the unintended bloopers. But the Brits on Pole team has thoroughly enjoyed the last 12 years of Formula One coverage from ITV - and we’d like to say thank you.

Well, that was squeaky-bum time for every Lewis Hamilton and McLaren fan in the country. But, now our powers of communication are restored, here are our six-word summaries of what happened for race, drivers and teams.

It’s now almost eight months since Lewis Hamilton cruised to unruffled victory and Felipe Massa ended up by the side of the road in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix - now the pair face off in Brazil to decide the championship.

Fans cheering on Lewis Hamilton’s title challenge face a nervous start to the Brazilian Grand Prix as the British driver was only able to qualify fourth, behind title rival Felipe Massa who took a dominant pole position.

David Coulthard has, to no-one’s surprise whatsoever, confirmed that he will be putting in an appearance at the Race of Champions event at Wembley in December - in the intriguingly-named ‘Team F1 Racing Great Britain’.