So, as was pedicted by most of those in the know, Michael Schumacher has finally confirmed that he will bow out from Formula One racing after the final race of the season in Brazil; and what a perfect set of circumstances to make that announcement.

The apparent plan was for Schumacher to announce his retirement at the post-race press conference should he win the Grand Prix, and win he did, in front of the adoring tifosi. Not only that, but his championship rival Fernando Alonso suffered a rare Renault engine failure, meaning Schumacher has closed up to within two points of the Spaniard's championship lead. On top of that, Ferrari have assumed the lead of the constructors' championship for the first time in 2006, so all in all a pretty apt time to announce the end of an era.

Whatever you may think of him, he will hold legendary status in Formula One for evermore, and his name will forever be mentioned in the same breath as Senna, Stewart and Clark, like it or not.

But what of the championship? Surely the ultimate piece of choreography would be for Schumacher to retire from F1 with an 8th world title in the bag, and it's looking likely. China will be interesting, some of Schumacher's most embarassing on-track moments have occured in the last two Shanghai races, so he has some demons to rest there; and it would certainly be foolish to think that Renault and Michelin cannot get the better of Schumacher and Bridgestone in these final three flaway races.

As seen in Hungary and Turkey, a drop of rain or an untimely safety car could prove very costly for Schumacher, particularly when you consider the Bridgestone tyres' performance in the wet.

He may be bowing out of the sport, but the final chapter of his F1 career is not yet complete, will he bow out a champion, a-la Prost, or second best?

If you wanted a race that encapsulated the 2005 Formula One championship, then in many ways the Italian Grand Prix was it. Kimi Raikkonen's bad luck, which had been such a feature of the season, reared its ugly head yet again at Monza, as his team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya gave McLaren some consolation with the teams first Italian Grand Prix victory since David Coulthard took the chequered flag in 1997.

Raikkonen's bad luck story began when he was forced to change his fragile Mercedes engine prior to qualifying, meaning another engine penalty that would push the Finn back 10 places on the grid for the third time in the season, following similar angst in France and Britain.

However despite this, Raikkonen put in surely one of his best every qualifying laps by claiming pole, nearly two tenths clear of team-mate Montoya despite carrying five laps more fuel onboard - an impressive effort. The McLaren may have been the fastest thing out there, but nevertheless his qualifying effort was epic.

Trying desperately to reduce Alonso's 24 point championship lead further, Raikkonen was well in the points and on for a podium if not a shout at 2nd place when his left rear Michelin tyre began to delaminate. A big chunk of rubber flew off the tyre and Raikkonen, who had already made his one and only pit stop, was forced to come in again pushing him well out of the points.

Despite all this, and a spin in the closing stages, Raikkonen managed to finish 4th, just off the podium places. But even with all this drama going on behind him, Fernando Alonso - who battled briefly with Raikkonen as the drivers strategies unfolded - as ever maintained his consistency to finish 2nd behind race winner Montoya, who himself suffered tyre delamination dramas in the closing laps.

Giancarlo Fisichella finally got back onto the podium finishing 3rd, a full 14 races after his last visit onto the podium, which was onto the top step in Melbourne at the beginning of the year. The Toyotas of Jarno Trulli and Ralf Schumacher held up well in 5th and 6th, while Antonio Pizzonia, in for the apparently 'injured' Nick Heidfeld, worked his way up the field to an impressive 7th for Williams, having started 16th on the grid.

Behind him in 8th was Jenson Button, whose qualifying pace did not hold up. A second row grid slot only produced one point, but at least he was ahead of the Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello who gave the tifosi little joy, a rare pointless Italian grand prix for the might of Ferrari in an increasingly desperate 2005 campaign.

Alonso's championship lead was back up to 27 points with just four more races to go. The championship was looking like a question of when and not if for the young Spaniard.

One final point, the director for this Grand Prix was at times embarassingly awful. For example we were frustratingly forced to watch Montoya onboard while Raikkonen struggled to make it back to the pits as his tyre delaminated. Lets hope this years director can distinguish between the two McLarens!

With just four races remaining this season, the reality that Michael Schumacher's illustrious and often controversial Formula One career could be coming to an end is dawning.

Speculation in recent weeks has suggested that Schumacher will choose to bow out of the sport he loves so much if he manages to win his 8th world title. Racing against Kimi Raikkonen may not necessarily set fear into Schumacher, but having suffered such a baron season in 2005, the desire to go out in style, with an incredible 8th world title, would be the ideal and perhaps sensible way to culminate an incredible career.

Whether Ferrari will end the speculation on Sunday or merely announce Schumacher, Raikkonen and Massa as their pool of drivers for 2007 remains to be seen. Has Schumacher been allowed the extra time he wants to make his decision? After all, the result in Turkey has put an 8th world title in doubt, and whatever happens in Monza it is unlikely that the destination of the trophy will become much clearer.

A Ferrari 1-2 at Monza is likely, but a Renault resurgence in time for the final three flyaway races is a real possibility. As is a drop of rain or an untimely safety car, note Hungary and Turkey.

So will Schumacher get to bow out of F1 with another world title, will he choose to race on irrespective? Whatever the case, enjoy these final races of 2006, because they may be his last, and in years to come we will be envied for having witnessed a racing legend applying his craft.

The Turkish Grand Prix witnessed Felipe Massa's first ever Formula One victory in his 67th race. More interestingly however, Massa's triumph came off the back of Jenson Button's own maiden win at the previous race in Hungary. Given the Alonso, Schumacher stranglehold on the championship, this double maiden triumph would surely have garnered long odds at any bookmakers if such an eventuality were considered back in July.

The last time two consecutive F1 races witnessed maiden winners was early in the 2003 season, when Kimi Raikkonen won his first Grand Prix in Malaysia, and Giancarlo Fisichella (eventually) claimed glory in the rain hit Brazilian grand prix a fortnight later. Interestingly since then, and prior to Button's victory, only Alonso and Jarno Trulli had added to the list of Formula One winners.

Even more incredibly than any of this however, is that you would have to go back to the 1980s to find the previous double maiden triumph before Malaysia, Brazil 2003.

How many years then before Button, Massa 2006 in repeated? Place your bets

First he called Michael Schumacher a cheat who will never have "hero" status in Formula One, now he's been telling F1 Racing Magazine that BMW need a proven race-winner like him if they are to succeed in 2007.

Having been unceremoniously dropped be BMW after the German Grand Prix, Villeneuve seems to be getting a lot off his chest. His fued with Schumacher is one of the longest running in Formula One, and his criticisms show just what the two men, who fought tooth and nail for the 1997 championship, think of each other.

Schumacher recently suggested Villeneuve should stop racing and stick to his newfound music career.

You can understand Villeneuve's chagrin at being dropped by BMW; he was having a pretty strong season, though his race pace was in question. Though consistently qualifying ahead of Heidfeld, he would often find himself behind his team-mate come the race end.

Bitter? Probably, but you can't deny him the chance to step atop his soapbox. His Formula One career is almost certainly over, and whatever you may think of his driving, the man will be missed.

Formula One racing returned from its three week break to be greeted by yet another Hermann Tilke designed racetrack in the August of 2005. But this track proved to be a roaring success, receiving paudits from all sides. In the championship, Fernando Alonso's lead was cut by two points, down to 24, thanks to a dominant Kimi Raikkonen victory, he led every lap (although that feat didn't look likely exiting turn one on lap one). But with team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya gifting Alonso 2nd place late on, the Spaniards mountain of points still remained as daunting as before.

After the race McLaren boss Ron Dennis was asked just how significant the loss of those two extra points that Montoya's second place finish would have given the team and Raikkonen was. His reply? "Ask me at the end of the championship," a typical throw-away reply that hid the realities. Those extra two points would have given Raikkonen greater hope of clawing back Alonso's vast championship lead, it would have also given the team their first 1-2 finish for five years.

Montoya's final laps drama played out when the Colombian came round to lap the Jordan of Tiago Monteiro, as Montoya moved back onto the racing line, Monteiro nurfed the back of the McLaren under braking, spinning him out. Montoya rejoined the track now barely two seconds ahead of a chasing Alonso with little over two laps to go. Up at turn eight, the quadruple apex left hander, Montoya ran wide, Alonso nicked the place, and somehow Renault were the team left smiling and gloating, and not McLaren as it should have been.

The McLaren's were in a class of their own. Once Raikkonen got past Fisichella after the Italian ran wide halfway round lap one, Raikkonen controlled the race, and his considerably bigger fuel load compared to the Renault's (Raikkonen ran nine laps longer than Alonso in the first stint) comfortably gave him the breathing space needed to complete the pole to flag victory. But once again their was a 'but'...

Behind the McLaren's and Renault's was Jenson Button in fifth. His BAR impressively working its way up from 13th on the grid. Had he started nearer the front as he should have done without an uncharacteristic qualifying error, he may well have challenged the Renault's at the sharp end such was the pace of the BAR in Istanbul.

Toyota could not hold off Button, but Trulli claimed a creditable sixth place finish. The Red Bull's of Coulthard and Klien in seventh and eighth respectively rounded out the points, an impressive showing for the team.

For Ferrari Turkey was a disaster. Michael Schumacher tangled with Mark Webber who was trying to unlap himself, both unltimately retiring. Barrichello could only manage tenth. Mark Webber's problems did not there, both he and Heidfeld suffered from multiple Michelin rear tyre failures. Indinapolis this was not however, the problem was on Williams side of the operation and both drivers were pulled from the race as the team struggled to understand the reasons for the four failures that occured on their cars during the Grand Prix.

The first Turkish Grand Prix was a resounding success, and the quadruple apex turn eight being compared to Spa's Eau Rouge and Suzuka's 130R was indeed high praise for a debuting circuit. For McLaren the weekend was bittersweet, for the Formula One calendar, a great new venue had been found.

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