While this season isn't quite over yet, pending the result of McLaren's appeal against the decision not to penalise BMW and Williams, let's take a look back at the past 8 months of racing.
Australia: Massa goes out of Q2 with gearbox trouble while Räikkönen dominates the race ahead of Alonso and Hamilton.
Malaysia: Alonso's turn to dominate after taking the lead from pole-sitter Massa, who slips to 5th. Hamilton makes it a McLaren 1-2 and sets the fastest lap.
Bahrain: Massa takes the pole-win-fastest lap hat trick. Hamilton takes another 2nd place, Alonso slips to 5th this time.
Spain: Massa takes another hat trick. Hamilton leads the championship after taking 2nd again, Räikkönen retires with electrical problems. Sato takes Super Aguri's first point.
Monaco: The start of a period of McLaren dominance, after Ferrari run into troubles at the windtunnel. Alonso leads a disgruntled Hamilton home as they are told to hold station. Räikkönen clips the wall too hard in Q2, qualifies 16th and salvages 8th place.
Canada: A chaotic race where Hamilton takes his first pole and win. Heidfeld and Wurz take their first podiums of the season. Kovalainen takes 4th after crashing in qualifying, Sato squeezes between Räikkönen and Alonso for 6th. Fisichella and Massa get disqualified during the race and Kubica survives a horrifying crash.
USA: Hamilton takes the pole and a hard-fought win again ahead of Alonso. Massa leads Räikkönen to the flag. Kubica's stand-in Vettel takes 8th and becomes youngest driver to have scored points.
France: Räikkönen takes the lead and win from Massa after the pitstops. Clutch troubles for Alonso during Q3 mean he starts 10th and finishes 7th. Kubica returns and finishes a superb 4th.
Great Britain: Hamilton takes a glorious pole on home turf, but Räikkönen wins - not before Alonso takes the lead between the 2 pitstop windows. Hamilton finishes 3rd for a 9th consecutive podium.
Europe: Hamilton starts 10th after tyre failure in Q3. Intermittent rain creates another chaotic race. Race is stopped after 6 laps, then resumed with Spyker's Winkelhock (the team having dropped Albers and replaced him as such) in the lead. Räikkönen retires with gearbox problems. Alonso takes victory on the last lap from Massa on a drying track. Hamilton's run of podiums/points ends in a bad tyre call and 9th place.
Hungary: New evidence in the dossier scandal emerges, which on track, Alonso blocks Hamilton in qualifying, earning himself and McLaren penalties. Massa fails to get into Q3 after fuel mix-ups. Hamilton wins, Räikkönen 2nd, Alonso 4th. Yamamoto enters rest of season as Spyker driver, Vettel as Toro Rosso driver after Speed's altercation with management and poor performance.
Istanbul: Massa wins here for the second year in a row, ahead of Räikkönen. Hamilton suffers yet another tyre failure in the race, finishes 5th.
Italy: Massa retires with engine problems, Alonso takes a hat trick ahead of Hamilton, who passed Räikkönen for the lead.
Belgium: Räikkönen leads Massa home, Alonso from Hamilton. McLaren disqualified and fined as a result of tech director's resigned.
Japan: Hamilton wins and does the hat trick in the driving rain while Alonso crashes out and Räikkönen finishes 3rd after misunderstandings between race control and Ferrari. Kovalainen takes first podium. Massa mathematically out of championship running after finishing 6th. Spyker earn 1st point at expense of penalised Toro Rosso.
China: Intermittent rain. Hamilton gets stuck in gravel trap due to excesive tyre wear and retires. Title race closes up as Räikkönen and Alonso win and take second respectively. Toro Rosso and Honda take first points of seasom. Wurz retires.
Brazil: Massa takes pole on home ground but Räikkönen wins race and WDC. Alonso 3rd, Hamilton recovers to 7th after dropping to tail-end. But it's too late, Räikkönen is world champion. Wurz replacement Nakajima crashes into pit crew. Williams and BMW are not disqualified for using cool fuel due to the lack of evidence and McLaren's appeal is thrown out.
And in general: Honda's piss-poor form
Feel free to add your thoughts, pictures and corrections.
err hamilton finished 7th at brazil
