Ron Dennis ready to quit Formula One

Ron Dennis, the chairman and driving force behind McLaren Mercedes, is expected to announce today that he is standing down from all involvement with Formula One operations as part of a deal to keep Lewis Hamilton with the team.

Nelson Mandela talk drives Lewis Hamilton on

In his hour of need Lewis Hamilton, Britain’s out-of-sorts Formula One world champion, has turned to one of his great heroes, Nelson Mandela, for inspiration.

Lewis Hamilton emulates Michael Schumacher

Like a politician going before the cameras at the garden gate to confess to an illicit affair, there was something almost excruciatingly painful about watching Lewis Hamilton try to save his reputation yesterday.

Lewis Hamilton’s reputation risked by people who drove him down the road to chicanery

There are two ways that the Lewis Hamilton cheating saga can affect his future with McLaren Mercedes, which is now on a knife edge. Either Hamilton and his father Anthony, who manages him, can find a way to forgive and rebuild, or the trauma of what happened at the Australian Grand Prix will weep poison into the relationship and it will eventually fall apart.

Lewis Hamilton fastest in practice

• Briton unexpectedly tops standings at Nürburgring• Sebastian Vettel third fastest ahead of Jensen ButtonLewis Hamilton pulled off a major surprise by setting the fastest time in practice for Sunday's German grand prix. The world champion had the No1 alongside his name, to match that on his car, for only the second time in practice in what has so far been a season to forget.Hamilton had suggested yesterday that little would change in the wake of a wretched sequence of results which has seen him fail to make the second round of qualifying at the last three grands prix.With just nine points from eight races to date, Hamilton currently trails the championship leader Jenson Button by 55 points, with McLaren's focus already starting to switch towards next season. Yet the 24-year-old found himself out in front at the end of the two 90-minute sessions at the Nürburgring – the scene of the worst accident of his career two years ago when he his car ploughed nose first into a barrier at 175mph.Despite a late spin, Hamilton put up a time of 1min 32.149sec that no-one was able to better in the closing stages, pushing Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel down into second.Vettel had looked set to cheer his home fans by taking top spot, but the 22-year-old was 0.182sec adrift. Button was third in his Brawn, just 0.220sec down, whilst Mark Webber – fastest in the morning session – had to settle for fourth in his Red Bull, 0.331sec behind Hamilton.Toyota's Jarno Trulli again fared well in fifth, and with the gremlins taken care of after a truncated morning run, Adrian Sutil was sixth in his Force India. It was an up-and-down day for Force India, as Giancarlo Fisichella, who was also sixth in the morning, crashed out in the afternoon when he spun into a barrier, ripping off his nose cone.There was also drama in the paddock when German police attempted to impound the team's assets due to a contractual dispute just before first practice. The situation was swiftly resolved by Force India officials, with the promise their weekend will continue without further disruption.Behind Sutil, Button's Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello was seventh, with Renault's Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet sandwiching Williams' Kazuki Nakajima in eighth, ninth and 10th.The Ferrari duo of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 12th and 16th, with the latter's Finnish compatriot Heikki Kovalainen 17th in his McLaren, 1.575sec behind team-mate Hamilton.Formula OneLewis HamiltonJenson ButtonMotor sportSebastian Vettelguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Fine Vettel celebrates grand prix win

• Red Bull one-two gives team first formula one win• Lewis Hamilton's McLaren finishes sixth in the wetSebastian Vettel led from the off in wet conditions in Shanghai to help Red Bull to their first formula one victory, ahead of team-mate Mark Webber. Current leader of the standings, Jenson Button, had to settle for third, while Lewis Hamilton came home in sixth for McLaren.The result leaves Button with 21 championship points, six ahead of fellow Brawn driver Rubens Barichello, who finished fourth. Vettel's win sees him join Timo Glock on 10 points. Meanwhile there was more misery for Ferrari, who remain without a point after Kimi Raikkonen finished 10th and Felipe Massa retired.With the weather forcing the gird to start behind the safety car, the race came down to a tactical battle between Red Bull and this season's pace-setters Brawn. Although both Barichello and Button had been quicker in qualifying once fuel load was taken into account, Vettel in particular tore around the circuit as the teams played cat and mouse through successive pit stops.Button briefly led, but Vettel soon regained the front when the British driver went in for refuelling, and never looked like relinquishing the lead as he and Webber built a commanding advantage over the rest of the field.Lewis Hamilton fought his way up after starting down in ninth, but span on more than one occassion to allow McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen to eventually take fifth. The point-scorers were completed by Timo Glock's Toyota and the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Buemi.Button conceded Brawn GP were simply outpaced. His hopes were dealt a blow when clouds gathered for the first time this weekend before rain fell steadily a few hours before the race. Consequently, organisers decided to start the grand prix behind the safety car. That left Webber and Button vying for second."They seemed to be very strong from the word go," said Button. "It was a very difficult race today and I am so pleased that we got both cars to the end of 56 laps and scored as many points as possible."The conditions were pretty crazy with rivers of water all over the circuit which changed every time you encountered them. Mark Webber and I had a good fight for a few laps but I just couldn't stay with him. However to finish the race today is an achievement in itself and to be on the podium is fantastic. We couldn't have beaten the Red Bulls and congratulations to Sebastian and Mark on a great result."Brawn GP had been unable to do any testing in the wet prior to the start of the season and the struggle with the car's tyres in the conditions today is a cause for concern for Button. "I don't know if anyone else struggled but Rubens and myself struggled quite a bit," he added."I don't know what reason for that is. Obviously the car is working in a different way, but we will solve those problems I hope in the future because we can't have these guys that far in front. We just couldn't challenge these two guys [Vettel and Webber] today, who were immensely quick. But it is great to score six points and that's important so that we can keep the consistency."Lewis Hamilton meanwhile was left to rue what he saw as one of his worst ever drives in the wet. The 24-year-old traditionally thrives in wet conditions but struggled in Shanghai, coming off the circuit five times on his way to sixth at the chequered flag."I love racing in the wet and I would say that was one of my worst wet performances," he said. "I generally have good wet races but this was incredibly tough. I didn't have any downforce on this car and it was a real struggle but I am glad I got some points for the team.""All weekend I have been pushing that car beyond its limits but today just proved that I wasn't able to avoid the oversteer moments. It was a little bit fun at the beginning when I had some grip but as always I don't know if it is my driving style or my car, but I seem to destroy my tyres early on."Final race order1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 57mins 43.485secs2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:57:54.4553 Jenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 1:58:28.4604 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 1:58:47.1895 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 1:58:48.5876 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:58:55.3517 Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 1:58:57.9618 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:58:59.9249 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 1:59:07.79410 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1:59:15.23511 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:59:17.64112 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:59:19.31913 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 1:59:30.33814 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Force India +1 lap15 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams +1 lap16 Nelson Piquet Jr. (Bra) Renault +2 laps17 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India +6 lapsNot Classified: 18 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams +13 laps19 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari +36 laps20 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota +38 lapsChampionship standingsJenson Button (Gbr) Brawn GP 21ptsRubens Barrichello (Bra) Brawn GP 15Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 10Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 10Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 9.5Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 8.5Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 4Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault 4Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren 4Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 4Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 3.5Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1Formula oneRed BullBrawnMcLarenJenson ButtonLewis HamiltonMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds