You have to hate the fact that races like Silverstone are under threat from F1 bastions like China and Turkey but you have to give it to the Chinese; they know how to build a racetrack. Now I could care less about the state of the art garages, the sumptuous hospitality facilities or the unique press center. I'm not likely to see the inside of any of them any time soon. But I do care that somebody who designs racetracks finally figured out that tight corners at the end of long straights and banked corners are conducive to passing. I don't believe there was a single F1 driver or team member who dared to make the oft-repeated claim, “blank is a very difficult track to pass on.”

Watching the two Saubers go side-by-side through turn 13, I thought for a second that I was dreaming. That F1 had married NASCAR and produced this strange offspring that allowed for high speed passing in the corners without anybody yelling “YEEEEEHAAW!”

MONTEZEMOLO'S REVENGE

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has tipped Ferrari chief Luca de Montezemolo as a future Prime Minister. I was going to make fun of this until I realized that I live in a country where they are seriously considering a constitutional amendment in order to allow The Terminator (or perhaps one of the sequels) to become President.

Besides, after Luca's antics at the end of the race, I think he has pretty effectively shown himself to be unfit for public office. As Rubens crossed the line one second ahead of Jenson Button and a few months after all the titles were decided, the Ferrari president could be seen jumping up and down like a hyperactive grasshopper much to the embarrassment of Ross Brawn. Then in Parc Ferme he gets into such a hugging frenzy that he almost hugged Ron Dennis by mistake. As he signs the paychecks, Jean Todt reluctantly allowed Luca to represent the winning constructor on the podium where he took the trophy and pretended to rock it like a baby. Maybe he was practicing for that political gig - we're lucky he didn't start kissing it.

F1 SLOWLY GAINING ON NASCAR

No, not in popularity in the USA. Don't be silly. What I mean is that F1 is slowly catching up with NASCAR technology. A mere decade or so after their American cousins, F1 has discovered not just on-screen telemetry for the TV viewer but also on-air transmission of team radio. OK, so the TV folks don't really understand what to do with it yet and they may need to implement a 7 second delay after somebody's engine blows up, but at least it's progress.

JAGUAR NOT BUILT FORD TOUGH

After five years without a win, Ford has pulled the plug on Jaguar. It's a good job the folks at Minardi are built of tougher stuff. But for Ford it's back to the roundy round stuff where you don't have to worry too much if the other cars are faster because they'll simply change the rules to make them slower. Now that's what I call racing!

It does make you wonder about the teams that have changed hands recently. Ligier was sold to Prost and folded. Tom Walkinshaw bought Arrows and it folded. Ford bought Stewart and badged it as Jaguar and now it's just so much origami. If there is anybody out there thinking about buying a Formula One team, you might want to bear in mind the old Rolls Royce adage: if you have to ask how much it is, you can't afford it.

DOES JV STAND FOR JUNIOR VARSITY?

Jacques Villeneuve is back and I for one am thrilled. Didn't you just get a thrill watching Villeneuve and Michael Schumacher dueling for all they're worth over, what was it, 13th place? I was really hoping that Villeneuve would turn into Schumacher so that we would see whether the FIA would dock him all his points for the entire season.

SCHUMACHERS TAKE THE DAY OFF