In this week's column, Ann Bradshaw talks about McLaren's resurgence at the Belgium Grand Prix and the effect their success will have on a certain British journalist. She also advises Williams on their 2005 line-up and expresses her safety concerns following the tyre explosions during Sunday's race

Kimi Raikkonen made Ron Dennis a very happy man in Spa. He ended the team's 27 race win drought and in a voice still shaking with emotion as the cars were being herded into parc ferme the team boss came out with one of his unique lines that are described as 'Ronspeak' when he said: "We exist to win."

Over the years Ron has become famous for such utterances. I remember the time he told journalists that the team made history and they just reported it. I have a lot of respect for what Ron has achieved and admire the way he runs his team. I believe some of the stories about how he runs the business are a little far fetched when it comes down to his paranoia about cleanliness and a tidy operation, but am sure the run of bad results since Kimi's last and only win in Malaysia 2003 must have hurt him. He has an amazing new headquarters in Woking, a car that the design team slaved over and was heralded as the end to all the team's problems, but until this weekend there was not the light at the end of the tunnel he was hoping for.

The nice thing about this win is it gave F1 something to cheer about and, after the Hungarian Grand Prix, that made some of the strange Olympic disciplines seem exciting: the sport needed this shot in the arm. Well done to the boys in the McLaren Mercedes team and please don't stop there giving the red team a run for their money.

The press have been pretty ruthless over the past few months about the McLaren's poor showing, but one of the British journalists must be feeling particularly worried now. The one in question is Bob McKenzie from the Daily Express. Bob has been in the business a long time and so should know what he is talking or writing about. However, he felt so strongly about the McLaren's lack of performance that he went into print with the pronouncement that if a McLaren were to win in 2004 he would run round Silverstone naked. Get your running shoes ready Bob and pray the English summer starts to heat up!

While Spa was the resurrection for McLaren, it was job done for Michael Schumacher. At the track that has been the venue for many landmarks in his racing career, the Ferrari driver celebrated the team's 700th Grand Prix with his seventh Drivers' World Championship title. He admitted afterwards he would have preferred to have done it with a win, but when the history books list him as the champion for 2004 they will not really worry about that. He is rewriting history as he goes along and doesn't seem to be tiring of the task. Why should he retire when he knows he is doing the best job possible and enjoying it? He knows the day he decides to hang up his helmet there will be a crop of youngsters after his crown, but while he can still do with his Ferrari what at times seems impossible then good on him for continuing.

I was fairly sure the race was going to be interesting after qualifying. Luck with a capital "L" played a large part in what happened on the track and there was an interesting grid formation. Of course Michael was up there but this time in a Renault sandwich, as Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso had the right tyres at the right time. I remember past Spa races where the weather has played an important role. In 1994 the weather was bad and there was a small window of opportunity to get a lap in the relative dry.

Rubens Barrichello was on the track at the right time in his Jordan and so claimed the first ever pole for him and the team. Then in 1996 the weather was uncertain and I remember a conversation going on in the WilliamsF1 garage between Jacques Villeneuve and his race engineer, Jock Clear. In those days the drivers would be sitting in their cars for the entire hour waiting for the right moment to go out and try for a lap, so they had time for a bit of light banter. Jacques and Jock started discussing what the weather was going to do. In the end they had a bet with the person who was wrong about whether it would rain or not would have to have his head shaved.

Jock was proved wrong and so I remember arranging for a professional barber to come into the garage at the last race in Japan to shave his head in front of the team and the TV crews. Jock quite enjoyed the experience and obviously Jacques didn't think it was that bad an idea as immediately after the race he, David Coulthard and Mika Salo went off and did exactly the same.

Prior to the Spa race there had been a lot of discussion over the change to the famous Bus Stop chicane. The drivers had not been there for two years so had no idea what to expect. Luckily for Juan Pablo Montoya and Antonio Pizzonia they had some good advice as they got it first hand from Andy Priaulx, who raced there a few weeks ago in the FIA ETCC and FIA GT races. Andy met up with the two drivers on the Monday prior to the race at Rockingham. The Williams team were having a track day at the circuit for their principle sponsor, HP.

Andy had been invited to go along to drive the Formula BMW UK car in a speed challenge and also a BMW M3 round the track to give the guests an idea of what it is like to drive at speed. There was torrential rain for most of the day so lots of time to chatter. One of the various topics of conversation was the new corner. Andy had not liked it and when I watched qualifying from Spa it seemed as if the F1 guys thought the same. It had lost its character and the thought was that instead of creating an overtaking opportunity it would make one impossible. Luckily the latter thought was proved wrong in the race when Juan Pablo's car went round the Ferrari of Michael on the outside in this corner.

Sadly for him and Jarno Trulli, when he tried the same move a few laps later on the Renault driver it didn't work. I think this was more because Jarno didn't see him there, but ITV's commentator Martin Brundle reckoned the blame for the contact that left Jarno spinning was 70 per cent down to Juan Pablo and 30 per cent down to Jarno.

I am sure Juan Pablo Montoya will be looking forward to getting his hands on the steering wheel of the McLaren after what he saw this weekend, but the subject of who will be partnering Mark Webber at the Williams team has still to be settled. All the paperwork is still not with the contracts recognition board and Frank Williams even admitted it could go until Christmas before a decision would be handed down. The big question is if Jenson is not free to move then what does the team from Wantage do.

My suggestion is sign up Antonio Pizzonia. He had the stuffing knocked out of him by the Jaguar team and is only now getting his confidence back. He did a very good job for the team in Spa and if he had not lost all his gears near the end of the race could have been on the podium. Okay, I am biased. I have done some PR work for Antonio and met him in the old days when he was driving for the Petrobras F3000 team. He is charming and I think after three races has shown some with race-craft behind him could well be a good F1 driver. Admittedly his anxiety to do well has led him to making some mistakes in earlier races, but he has learnt from this and when you realise how much fuel he had on board for qualifying it is obvious he did a good job.

Watching Spa I was horrified how many tyres seemed to be suffering from the same problem Ralf Schumacher had at Indianapolis. Jenson Button was a very lucky man not to have been injured in the accident that saw his rear explode. If the poor Minardi driver Zsolt Baumgartner had not been alongside him he could easily have speared into a barrier at a nasty angle. Surely something can be done to stop this.

I remember back in Imola 1994 one of the suggested causes for Ayrton's accident was debris from the startline accident deflating a tyre that was already low on pressure from travelling slowly behind the pace car. Ten years on and we have learnt lots of lessons from that accident, but this still in my mind is a very important problem to solve. Hopefully the FIA will now give this some urgent attention and I am pleased that I am not the only person to believe it as after the race BMW Motorsport Director, Mario Theissen, commented: "The remarkable number of tyre failures today needs to be carefully analysed for safety reasons."

About the author:
Ann Bradshaw - Annie - began her motor racing career as a teenager, helping out her brother in local rally races in England, where she grew up. In the 1970s she organised motor racing events in England, and was later the press officer for the RAC MSA - the motorsport governing body in Britain. In mid 1980s, she became press officer to team Lotus, where she worked with Ayrton Senna. Shortly after, she moved to the Williams team and was working there for several years, when once again she found herself working with Senna. She worked with Damon Hill after the Brazilian's death, and moved with the British Champion to Arrows. She also worked with the Panoz team in the United States, before becoming a freelance press officer, now working with BMW among others. Annie joined Atlas F1 as a regular columnist in April 2002.

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