'Toys out of the pram' time for Alonso

Again, Lewis was absolutely amazing! Two incredible moments came the start when Alonso tried to overtake him. He braked off line exactly where he needed to brake, slowed the car to take the corner perfectly and kept Alonso behind him without any drama whatsoever. He made those two things, which are actually very difficult, look second nature. And everyone else who tried the same thing, braking down the inside, made a complete hash of it. Just look at what a mess Webber made of it. It's a really difficult discipline to master and he made it look like a piece of piss. It showed amazing special awareness.

His lap times were amazingly consistent and the only person that made a mistake was Alonso. It was absolutely, shockingly brilliant! You can't blame Alonso for being pissed off afterwards after being beaten by a rookie again but he could play it smarter with the media! Here's a guy who was supposed to win the world championship easily and is getting hammered by his team-mate. He's not expected to get out of the car and jump for joy but the things he's saying in the media is very naïve. Complaining of team favouritism and complaining about the British Press going over the top smacks of a little brat throwing his toys out of the pram.

I said in my first column of the season that I wanted Kimi to win but Lewis has got to be odds on favourite now. Kimi should have done better than he's done so far but that story's already written. Ferrari are not going to come back at McLaren now. The last three races have been a complete walk-over. Lewis has already got a big enough advantage and he only has his team-mate to beat. His two qualifying laps were within a few hundredths and that shows you what precision he's driving with at the moment.

"The 1st corner"

Apart from Lewis' brilliant defence at the start, it was a fairly incident-free race compared to Canada with a couple of exceptions. I think it's time for Ralf Schumacher should go away and grow potatoes now or whatever he wants to do - it's time for him to move on. Toyota totally need to re-structure the whole team. The money they're spending and the results they've had is a joke. Why you'd have somebody on Ralf's wages in a car that's totally uncompetitive just makes no sense.

It's Magny-Cours next up and it's a circuit I actually really enjoyed. You could really get the maximum out of the car because it is a really, really smooth surface. The first few corners are good and there are some nice, fast chicanes. But then again, the location isn't great for the fans. Formula 1 is supposed to be the pinnacle of motorsport and to have a circuit in a field in the middle of France is not good.

After what we've seen in the last couple of races, you'd be stupid to back against Lewis winning again. He's not getting these results through luck, it's all about confidence. Just because he doesn't have a lot of experience in Formula 1 makes no difference. A Formula 1 car is just a racing car. Ok, so in F1, you get more media attention but when you're in a car you're just racing and he's racing at the front, which is the easiest place to be. When you're in the midfield it's a mess but when you're at the front it's much easier to keep out of trouble. He's doing the job he's being paid to do and he's got the talent and the car, so all he's got to do is beat his team-mate! It's no easy task but if I had to bet, I'd put my money on him. He deserves to be leading the world championship on pace and lack of mistakes.

Eddie Irvine.

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18th June, 2007