Motorsport: Fernando... he's behind you

Somehow, in spite of itself and of being a motorsport where overtaking is rare, F1 may turn on a spectacular finish this year, as Michael Schumacher chases home defending champion Fernando Alonso.

The Hungarian Grand Prix is raced tonight and Schumacher's highly effective rearguard action - he has won the last three GPs - has galvanised the series in a way the on-track action hasn't.

In addition, race stewards punished Alonso for dangerous driving at practice on Friday with a time penalty that severely dented his Hungarian GP hopes. Alonso will have two seconds added to his fastest lap in qualifying, meaning he will almost certainly start from well back on the grid.

A good position is crucial at the Hungaroring, a slow and twisty circuit where overtaking is rare and where four of the last five winners have been from pole position.

Overtaking, one of the core assets of F1, is precious little seen these days anyway, with titles increasingly decided either at the start, by mishaps during the race or - most boringly - pit stops.

This is a sport that has long since lost its central premise of racing for position on the track rather than achieving it through pit-stop tactics. It is depressingly common to hear drivers say: "Well, with overtaking being impossible, I had to wait until the pit stops to see if our strategy would get me ahead."

In other words, races are being won by engineers on the pit wall for whom the most severe test of driving skill will have come earlier in the day while parking a hire car as close as possible to the paddock gate.

Alonso will be hoping that Renault's tiny tyre damper will help him make up ground during the race. It regulates tyre performance to give better all-round grip but was deemed illegal at a hot and sticky Hockenheim, where Schumacher's Ferrari rattled around at 0.3s faster per lap than the damper-less Renault. However, the device has now been approved for racing and has given a fillip to the Renault camp.

Europe's heatwave has played a part, with Renault's Michelin tyres not handling the heat as well as Ferrari's Bridgestones. Hungary is also expected to be hot, as is the next GP in Turkey.

But the Ferrari car has also been improving and Schumacher's confidence is on the rise - a dangerous situation for Renault, whose championship credentials are being examined as never before.

Schumacher is a difficult man to stop when in a winning mood. Alonso cannot coast to victory. Previously, all he had to do was finish second in each of the last six GPs and he would win the title. But Schumacher has eaten into Alonso's lead so much, the Spaniard needs to win.

Honda's Jenson Button said: "It will be very tough for Alonso now. He has a bit of a lead but not one you can sit back on."

Schumacher led Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa in what amounted to a private viewing around Hockenheim. After 30 laps the pair were 25 seconds clear of the field. Alonso said: "People are talking about Michael closing in but I was never overconfident when I was leading - and I am not panicking now. "

Alonso can point to his breakthrough victory at Hungary in 2003, when he became the youngest driver to win an F1 race, for psychological support. Yet he was lapped in last year's race and finished 11th. Schumacher is holder of the lap record and the only driver to have won four times in Hungary.

Meanwhile, Renault is looming as a serious option for Australian F1 driver Mark Webber after he failed to come to terms with the struggling Williams outfit.

The 29-year-old Webber, who has finished only four races as Williams fights mechanical problems, is weighing up his options. But the annual drivers' merry-go-round is on hold until Schumacher decides whether to retire.

-Additional reporting by Independent