Formula 1: Round 11, Hungary - Boring ?

The Championship is simmering nicely now, and we still have a very tight situation at the top of the table. Back-to-back wins for Lewis Hamilton have given him a four-point lead.

The wins were nothing ordinary. The first, a majestic victory on home soil in the rain, saw him take the win by over 1 minute and 22 seconds ahead of second-place Nick Heidfeld.

The second win was almost taken away from him by a rare strategic hiccup from McLaren. Lewis had 15 laps to overtake three cars, which he managed to do in emphatic fashion to the disbelief of both Lewis lovers and haters.

Over the course of these two races, it has become apparent that McLaren have the pace and the impetus to compete in not only the driver’s championship, but also the constructor's.

With some good finishing from both drivers, McLaren have managed to get to within 19 points of Ferrari. That is a relatively small gap, considering there are another eight rounds of racing to go.

With BMW all but out of the running to concentrate on being the pace car for the 2009 season, many are predicting a two-horse sprint finish.

Drivers and Constructor Standings after Round 10:

Drivers World Championship

1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) – 58
2. Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari) – 54
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari) – 51
4. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) – 48
5. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) – 41
6. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren Mercedes) – 28

Constructors World Championship

1. Scuderia Ferrari – 105
2. BMW Sauber – 89
3. McLaren Mercedes – 86
4. Toyota – 25
5. Red Bull Renault – 24
6. Renault - 23

The week prior to round 11 has seen the final summer testing period for all constructors at Jerez, Spain. That's right folks, the FINAL testing session, there will now be no more testing until Aug. 27, when the guys go to Monza for three days.

So it’s back to the factories to stretch the computer models and wind tunnels to see what these cars can really do.

Worrying times to follow for Ferrari maybe, who after the four-day session seemed very off the pace of McLaren.

Yes, I know we can’t read too much into this, as it is only a testing session. Granted, the majority of the teams where testing the 2009 updates on their cars including KERS, slicks and new aero downgrades.

But even with all this, the Ferrari still remained half a second behind and at times a whole second off the pace of the MP4-23.

But on a final note of the testing, you would be naive to think Ferrari are down and out just yet. They will be back on the pace on Friday morning in Budapest when the first practice session gets underway, that is, unless they encounter any monumental disasters.

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