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It’s taken a little while, but finally Nelsinho Piquet appears to be emerging from the shadow of Lewis Hamilton. A second-place finish (behind Hamilton, naturally) at the German Grand Prix was the first podium finish of Piquet’s F1 career, which is ten races old. It’s hardly the headline-making, attention-grabbing impact that Hamilton made in his first season, but still. Piquet’s on his way, and it’ll be fascinating to see how the Renault man hopes in Hungary this weekend.

Piquet has been used to seeing Hamilton ahead of him. In 2006, these two contested the GP2 championship. Piquet impressed many with his ability, which secured him four race victories and two further runner-up spots, but that wasn’t enough to win him the …

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It may be lashing it down with rain over at Royal Birkdale for golf’s Open, but a different sort of weather is expected in Germany this weekend. And if the sun does shine, as expected, it could play right into the hands of Ferrari at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. Which would spell bad news for Lewis Hamilton’s title hopes.

Like many sports, weather conditions play a big part in Formula 1. It’s all about the tyres, y’see, and generally speaking so far this year the Ferraris have performed better in the dry, and McLaren better in the rain. Hence Lewis Hamilton’s struggles in Turkey, and then his excellent drive in the wet of Silverstone.

“I hope it will be hot …

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What a pasting Lewis Hamilton’s been taking recently! The flak-o-meter has been going mad with some quarters even questioning his devotion to his sport in favour of the celebrity lifestyle. But Lewis ruffled feathers by passionately suggesting that this wasn’t the case and vowed to make up for past errors.

So he has a famous singer girlfriend in Pussycat doll Nicole Scherzinger and lucrative sponsorship and endorsement deals. Surely it’s to be expected? Most of the pundits have suggested that year two is the hardest in F1, the precedent has been set and Hamilton proved that he could be a winner so living up to that has been tough. He may have shown some naivety about the points system (having failed …

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And just like that, the media has turned on Lewis Hamilton. Here in the UK we often talk about the ‘build ‘em up to knock ‘em down’ mentality of the press, and now Hamilton is getting a taste of it. The F1 golden boy could do no wrong in his debut season – but now it’s open season in 2007-08. In the last two weeks, Hamilton has driven like a disaster zone. And the press haven’t held back in their criticism. Even so, the normally ice-cool kid from Stevenage has started to sound as if he’s losing the plot.

“There’s nothing you can do that can distract me,” he ranted last week. “You can keep on giving me penalties, whatever you …

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What is Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone up to we ask ourselves? One day we receive reports that he’s trying to deny a break away happening in the F1, the next he’s saying indeed it’s a possibility. So what is it to be then Bern? Or should the real question be: is Bernie Ecclestone the keeper of the knowledge? Is he drip feeding us in some kind of sadistic rite akin to something that Max Mosley president of F1’s governing body the FIA, would allegedly pay a bunch of prozzies for?

Perhaps, but we think not. Little Bernie maybe right to have a bee in his bonnet over the son of British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley carrying on in alleged …

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Can Lewis Hamilton repeat his Monaco Grand Prix performance in Montreal this weekend? Why not, I mean let’s face it there’s not alot that this boy can do wrong at the moment. For God’s sake he drove round Monte Carlo circuit with a slow puncture for the latter part of the race - how rock and bloody roll is that!

He’s got a three point lead over world champ Kimi Raikkonen (whose not had a good few outings of late) and will be hoping to widen that gap at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on Sunday.

Lew’s arch rival Fernando Alonso is feeling sick as a dog though and might possibly have conceded that he doesn’t stand a cat in hell’s of winning …

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Yes this weekend is going to be jam-packed with the big sporting events. There’s Ricky Hatton and Juan Lazcano at it in Manchester, the beautiful people will be hot-footing from Cannes Film Festival to Monaco for posturing and rubber-burning at the Monaco Grand Prix, not to mention the Heineken Cup Final , The Championship Final Play-offs and The French Open Tennis starting. But before you wet your pants, take a deep yet whiffy breath because we have saved the best for last.

For it is time to give those moth-eaten leather-elbow patched tweed jackets their annual airing at the Cheese Rolling Festival in Gloucester? Actually it’s not posh at all and attire has nothing to do with enjoying chasing a huge …

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Who wouldn’t want to be Lewis Hamilton, eh? He drives super-fast cars for a living, gets to hang out in the world’s most glamorous cities, and ain’t bad looking to boot. And now it turns out he’s absolutely loaded. Filthy rich. Of course, that’s no surprise – F1 drivers are hardly paupers, after all – but it turns out that Lewis is minted even more than we all thought.

It’s official now – Hamilton is Britain’s highest paid sportsman, leaving even Dave Beckham in his wake. Get this; not only does Hamilton earn £75 million over five years for razzing around tracks for McLaren, he’s supposedly on the verge of putting pen to paper on a £10 million sponsorship deal with …

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Spotted this in the classified ads section of the newspaper earlier today: ‘Driver who loves to razz around corners really, really, really fast while shouting “vroooooooom! vrooooom!” seeks high-powered company who like making and running mega-quick motors. Happy to work weekends, but likes getting paid for it’.

That’s pretty much the plea coming from Anthony Davidson, the British F1 driver who has been left high and dry and without a ride after the sad collapse of the Super Aguri team. Already denied a place in the Turkish Grand Prix this weekend, the Oxfordshire-based team has since officially withdrawn from the 2008 world championship due to financial difficulties and is now under administration.

All this leaves Davidson – one of a quartet of …

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It looks like Dannii Minogue could be bagging herself another Formula 1 driver, in the shape of Lewis Hamilton. He’s been bombarding her with text messages for a while now but Kylie’s little sister has given in and agreed to meet Lewis at the Monaco Grand Prix later this month.

She was engaged to Canadian F1 racer Jacques Villeneuve a while back but seems to have developed a bit of a soft spot for Hamilton who she described as "mostly perfect in every way, shape and form.”

She added:

"I really started to follow Lewis (in 2006) and I just admired not only his driving but the way he conducted himself. He is an amazing, amazing guy."

After being linked with Pussycat Doll Nicole …

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