Not even the rains of Fuji, where James Hunt had angrily denounced his McLaren team's pit-stop strategy in 1976 before he could be convinced that he had indeed won the world championship against all odds at the Japanese Grand Prix, could compare with the confrontation in Brazil this year that finally crowned his fellow countryman Lewis Hamilton. His fight with Felipe Massa in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix was the greatest championship climax in Formula One's illustrious history.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim and Honda team principal Ross Brawn have denied they are in talks over a potential takeover of the Formula One outfit.

Fernando Alonso has a secret agreement to join Ferrari for four years from 2011, the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport reported yesterday.

If 2007 was the most acrimonious year in recent Formula One history, 2008 marked a welcome turning point. As the FIA president, Max Mosley, found himself in the spotlight, courtesy of a sex scandal that erupted in March, Ferrari and McLaren buried the hatchet and instead indulged in a gripping sporting duel which saw the honours divided equally after a fabulous denouement in Brazil – Lewis Hamilton became Formula One's youngest world champion, at the tender age of 23; Ferrari won the constructors' championship.

Felipe Massa has rejected calls for Formula One teams to slash the wages of their drivers to try to reduce costs.