Lewis Hamilton may never again get the chance to win a world championship, his countryman and rival Jenson Button has warned. Hamilton, the McLaren rookie, looked certain to make history this year by securing the drivers’ title at his first attempt, as he entered the final races of the season with a substantial points advantage over his rivals.

But errors and problems in China and Brazil, as well as the back to back victories of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, meant the 22-year-old ultimately had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Hamilton dealt with the disappointment by telling the media that he will come back even stronger next year, but Button warned that title opportunities may never come around twice.

“He’s a great driver, but there are lots of great drivers in formula one who did not have his package,” said Button, who won his maiden grand prix last year and then fell to the back of the field in 2007 with the abysmal Honda RA107 racer.

The 27-year-old told the Evening Standard: “What would worry me is the lost opportunity. You can’t say in my sport: ‘Oh well, I only missed out by a point so next year I’ll go one better’. It doesn’t work like that.

“He should be sick as a dog because another chance like that might not come round again,” Button added.

Consoling Hamilton over the winter period, however, are ever increasing signs that he could be about to embark on perhaps the most financially-lucrative career in the history of the sport.

The Independent newspaper reports that he is considering floating himself on the London stock market, with a 10 per cent share in his newly formed company to potentially generate about $100m immediately.

Source: Button: Lewis Hamilton may never win title

I just finished reading this article on Nascar.com called Petty: ‘07 Chase would be better with different duel where Richard Petty says this years Chase would be better if it were different drivers, since Johnson and Gordon are from the same organization, there is no one for the fans who don’t like Hendrick cars to root for. He said if it was Earnhardt Jr with one of them, or Bowyer still had a shot, they could root for them against the Hendrick driver.

“It’s not good for the sport, no,” Petty said. “It’s too cut-and-dried. You’ve got no [real] competition. You’ve got competition between two teams within the same team. That don’t get it done as far as the general public.

“If one of these drivers happened to be [Dale] Earnhardt [Jr.], it might be a little different. When you get Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, they’re the same. They’ve just got different names.”

But Petty, who is tied with the late Dale Earnhardt for the all-time lead with seven driving championships and owns a record 200 wins at the equivalent of the Cup level, said the closeness of the current Chase race isn’t compelling enough. He insisted that it is so because Johnson and Gordon have similar personalities and drive for the same owner, Rick Hendrick of Hendrick Motorsports, making it difficult for the average fan to get very excited. Source: Petty: ‘07 Chase would be better with different duel

I guess it just depends on who you are. I am a Jeff Gordon fan, so if you ask me, the race is too damn close, especially considering that Gordon would be 400 points ahead when using the old points system. I think it has been very exciting, and I am certainly happy that Gordon has a shot to win his fifth championship, and, while I don’t hate Jimmie Johnson, I know plenty of Gordon fans who do, and plenty of them root for him to crash and have trouble every week, lol. He is probably right about Dale Earnhardt Jr. fans, etc, they have no one to root for, but I bet they still watch every week, just like they probably did when he won by 722 points in 1975. Okay, I know, 1975’s Nascar is a lot different than today’s, but I think you know what I mean.

I am sure the championship he won in 1979 was a lot more exciting because he only won it by 11 points, when compared to the 1975 championship, and under the old points system, Gordon would be winning by over 400 points, I think, compared to being behind by 30 points under the new system. The King does say at the end that there will always be cycles, one guy always winning or another and that there will be other people to challenge these two, because that’s life, just the way it is.

I wonder if he realizes that Gordon would be knocking on his door a lot sooner under the old system than today’s, as Jeff would’ve already locked up his sixth championship at last weeks race in Texas and would be looking for number seven next year…

Chase for the Cup, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Richard Petty

Source: The King Says the Chase Would be Better with Different Drivers

Simona Alina
Filed in: Ford | 2008 | suv | Detroit Auto Show | Ford Verve

Ford has confirmed that the Verve SUV is under production and will be launched at 2008 Detroit motor Show. The Verve SUV is the production version of the Verve Concept launched at Frankfurt Motor Show.

The 2009 Verve SUV will share the same platform with the upcoming Fiesta , which in turn is based on the same platform as the latest Mazda 2 supermini.

The SUV will have small-capacity turbocharged units giving strong performance plus decent economy and emissions.

Source:AutoExpress

Source: Ford Verve SUV to debut at 2008 Detroit Motor Show