A hack looks back - On the Italian Grand Prix

By Mike Doodson

If there had been an Italian among the three FIA stewards who so perversely ruled against Lewis Hamilton at Spa earlier this week, their decision would have been a little more understandable. After all, in recent years Monza hasn't been pulling in the fans like it used to do, and the old place needs a bit of a boost in order to stem the tide of red ink.

A hack looks back - On the Belgian Grand Prix

By Mike Doodson

If Bernie ever achieves his ambition of selling all the FIA's world championship Grands Prix to publicity-seeking Asian despots and oil-rich sheikhs in the desert, the European circuit which I will miss the most is Spa-Francorchamps. I readily confess that there are personal factors involved here. It was from Spa in 1970 that my first (not very good) F1 race report was published, and Jim Clark, my second favourite driver after Fangio, won here four times.

The Mole - The Don in full flow

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a small fortune is not in want of a wife, but is instead inclined to spend his money on idle entertainments, such as drinking or cricket. Or both.

A hack looks back - On nothing in particular

By Mike Doodson

Are you enjoying the Olympics? If you happen to be British, I certainly hope so, because in four years' time it will be your tax money paying for all those athletes to descend on London and practise their peculiar trades in our fair country.

The Mole - Chinese puzzles

While The Mole was away on his sabbatical the decorators moved into the Motor Racing and Trade Development Department of the Secret Intelligence Service at Vauxhall Cross. They knocked down walls and applied new paint and a little Feng Shui.

The Mole - The Mole returns from holiday

The Mosley Scandal sent shudders through the British motorsport community in the early part of the summer. Formula 1 folk had to endure jokes about them liking a bit of spanking, which annoyed pretty much everyone. Then the British GP was sent to Donington Park.

A hack looks back - The Hungarian GP

By Mike Doodson

A peculiar thing about the Hungarian GP and its reputation for processional racing is that it has also thrown up an occasional thriller. Choose your favourite. Most recently it was the wrangle in the rain, with Jenson Button coming through after a superb Prost-style finger-tip performance.

The Man in the Pub - Rain or shine - it's Glorious Goodwood!

By Robert Sinfield

July and it may as well be October. It is raining so hard here in the Cotswolds that it looks like it’s actually raining upwards and even the cows ambling down the road outside The Amberley Inn, looking for shelter, look totally fed up.

A hack looks back - The German GP

By Mike Doodson

It's back to Hockenheim this weekend, after a two year gap now that the German GP is being alternated with the Nürburgring. I'm not so sure that this arrangement will be sustainable for much longer, given that Bernie's fees go up every year and the size of the crowd doesn't. That, my friends, is a recipe for disaster, one that the local municipality will not be willing to underwrite for ever.

Feature - What a difference a year makes

By Chris Medland

Lewis Hamilton wrestled his car to pole position at the 2007 British Grand Prix, and could seemingly do no wrong. Immediately afterwards, as dad Anthony headed down the paddock to congratulate his son, Hamilton senior was swamped by media wanting the inside track on the team's feelings.

A hack looks back - The British GP

By Mike Doodson

When you consider how popular motor racing was to become in post-war Britain, it is surprising to reflect that in its 59 runnings as part of the FIA championship, our premier event, the British Grand Prix, has been held at only three venues. Since then, the only other circuits to have promoted the BGP have been Aintree and Brands Hatch.

A hack looks back - The French GP

By Mike Doodson

If you had believed what the organisers of the French GP were saying this time 12 months ago, there wouldn't be a race to be writing about this year. Far be it from me to suggest that you should never believe a word a Frenchman says, but I am happy to report that no sooner had we all written the obituary of Magny-Cours and its race than a bout of arm-twisting by local dignitaries unlocked some secret funds, and we're all going back yet again to enjoy the farmyard smells of La France Profonde.

Globetrotter - Ove

By Joe Saward

I cannot remember when I first met Ove Andersson, but I know that we had a disagreement. I had written a lot about the error of Toyota in setting up its Formula 1 operation in Cologne in Germany. It was away from the F1 cluster in Britain, and that made it harder to attract the best F1 people. Ove disagreed.

A hack looks back - The Canadian GP

By Mike Doodson

Before starting my usual nostalgic meanderings around Montreal and its Grand Prix, perhaps I might be permitted to reflect on last week's race at Monaco. Far be it from me to attribute great visionary powers to the magnificent electronic organ to which you have just directed your browser, but having warned you all about the rapaciousness of the Principality's hospitality industry it is a matter of record that the number of fans who went there two weeks ago to urge our own young Mr Hamilton to success was well down on the usual attendance.

Globetrotter - Call the commissioner!

By Joe Saward

The Agence France Presse story this morning about Max Mosley going to court in Paris against the News of the World over its allegations of a Nazi-style sex orgy sums up the problem that F1 is facing with the Mosley Scandal.

Globetrotter - The glamour of Monaco and some curious stuff about Milton Keynes

By Joe Saward

Reading Mike Doodson's article about his first visit to the Monaco Grand Prix transported me back to my first visit to the principality as a motor racing reporter. It was 1984 and I was covering the Formula 3 event.

A hack looks back - The Monaco Grand Prix

By Mike Doodson

So it's Monaco this weekend, and good luck to everyone who's going there. Unless you're one of the fans who come in by train on Sunday and grab the free but rather precarious positions on the cliff face overlooking the exit from the Rascasse, you can be sure that you'll have had your pockets emptied by the rapacious hotel and restaurant owners, most of whom - like all the genuine Monégasque residents - are descended from a long line of Italian pirates.

The Mole - F1 going to the dogs?

They were in the middle of their post-Turkish GP briefing when Penelope (Benenden), the quiet one in The Mole's office, mentioned what she had been doing on Saturday night.

A hack looks back - The Turkish GP

By Mike Doodson

This weekend's Turkish GP will be the country's fourth, which seems surprising when you recall what happened after the race two years ago.

The Mole - The power of intelligence

With the French doing rather badly in Formula 1, The Mole has not seen much of Isabelle, his beautiful spy within the Renault empire. He thought of her suddenly on Sunday afternoon as he was walking on the grid in Barcelona, glad-handing and checking out the grid girls.

Interview - Martin Whitmarsh on Heikki Kovalainen and the Spanish Grand Prix

The Spanish Grand Prix was a bitter-sweet race for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team. On the one hand Lewis Hamilton returned to form, finishing third and adding to his score in the Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship, but on the other hand, Heikki Kovalainen crashed heavily.

The Mole - When the chips are down

"Right," said The Mole. "Rule number one: we are not going to mention the word Mosley. No jokes about whips, chains, hookers or whatever. We are here to talk about motor racing, and that business has got nothing to do with motor racing."

A hack looks back - On despots and elsewhere

By Mike Doodson

What with Robert Mugabe defying the wishes of the Zimbabwean people and clutching fast to his country's discredited presidency, not to mention Vladimir Putin's dubious plan to stay in charge of Russia, dictators are much in the news right now. A curse on them all.

The Man in the Pub - The German we should be talking about

By Rob Sinfield

Sunday’s during the winter are, it has to be said, generally rather pleasant affairs. They are the high point of the week and during the dark months they usually follow the same pattern.

Globetrotter - Sex and the single seater

By Joe Saward

There may be dancing in the streets outside the headquarters of the Latvijas Automobilu Federacija (LAF) in Riga as a result of Danica Patrick's first Indycar victory, in Japan last weekend.

The Mole - The value of a good nanny

Miss Pringle-Featherby (of the Berkshire Pringle-Featherbys) looked rather worried. She was holding the telephone a good three inches from her ear and The Mole could hear noises suggesting that someone on the other end of the phone was shouting at her.

Interview - The force behind the Force

By Joe Saward

Vijay Mallya says that his mother told him that the first word he ever uttered was not "Mama" or "Papa" like the rest of us. Apparently the bouncing young baby Vijay came up with the word "car". Since his days in nappies, Mallya has been passionate about cars.

Feature - Putting the X into F1?

By Joe Saward

These are exciting times in Dubai. The entire emirate seems to be under construction. Buildings rise from the ground with alarming speed. The more one looks, the more amazing it all seems.

Feature - A hack looks back on ... Australia and Malaysia

By MIke Doodson

So, it's a late start to the season for this column, the first edition of which was written in plenty of time before the Australian GP but somehow failed to get itself published.

Globetrotter - Me and my passport

By Joe Saward

My passport is a bit beaten up. It has done 10 years of hard labour, and has been to almost as many exciting places as I have. Every page is filled with stamps and visas, which is impressive in these days of Europe "sans frontieres". The photograph of me looks like me, but I was just a little skinnier then, without as much grey hair.

The Mole - The need for divine intervention

Churchmen do not always spend enough time on the street with the barrow boys, the dodgy car dealers and the hookers. Their world is too often that of coffee mornings and wealthy suburbanites, pretending to be angelic.