Title chase on for 2010 Formula One Grand Prix

With just two races left in the formula one calendar and arguably five strong title contenders, this year’s drivers championship really will go right down to the wire, reports James Hartnett.

Just when Briton Lewis Hamilton looked the most likely contender to walk away with the trophy just last month, a steep decent in performance has seen the Stevenage-born prodigy tail off of the lead back into fourth position - just in front of compatriot Jenson Button.

Only six weeks ago, Hamilton was vying for the title against Aussie talisman Mark Webber – and it looked like his year once more with only three races left in the season. However, following several disappointing results and insurgent form from Webber, the Aussie now holds a rather comfortable 14-point lead at the head of the championship ahead of Spaniard Fernando Alonso, and a commendable 28-point lead over Hamilton.

To say Hamilton is out-of-form is an understatement. In fact, Hamilton has only managed one win – his only podium – in his last six races. In perspective, Webber has managed a win, two second places and a third in the same time.

Hamilton isn’t the only Brit struggling with form this year. With the start of a new season came new hope for McLaren’s British duo of Hamilton and Button. For more than half the season, the team led both the constructor’s and driver’s championships, and the pair looked a formidable force going into the tail-end of the season. It was only mid-way through the season at Valencia that things changed.

Although title-rivals Red Bull had a far more subdued start to the season with a string of technical difficulties and driver rivalry seeing the team slump behind fierce rivals McLaren, the team soon found blistering form just as McLaren seemed to lose theirs. The technical difficulties were no more, as all but one race since saw at least one of their drivers take a podium.

Looking further afield however it is clear that it was only a matter of time until the Red Bulls dominated. Only twice this year , once for both Alonso and Hamilton, has a non-Red Bull driver managed to take pole position after qualifying – no small feat by any means.

Meanwhile, Ferrari’s hopes rest solely in Alonso – a fact known in no small way after the controversial team orders/overtaking fiasco when teammate Felipe Massa allowed him to take the chequered flag.

Alonso is somewhat the underdog this year and largely unmentioned in the title race, yet a sequence of consistent results places him a desirable second in the driver’s championship.

Realistically, any slip-up from championship leader Mark Webber could open the door for any other of the top five to claim the crown. The driver’s championship really is up in the air, and who’ll be the one to catch it really is anyone’s guess.

AFCB - The Reunion

After a long summer on the bench, convinced I’d be dropped from the squad, I finally restarted working at AFCB (or Bournemouth Football Club as should really be known) as a barman. I’d only done four shifts way back in July before heading off northward to London for the summer. In that time, and with a holiday to Lanzarote along the way, I must have got a dozen texts and emails from my manager asking if I can work particular shifts, as well as two alarming calls whereupon I was booked in to work and didn’t turn up – I thought these would be the death of my career as a newfound barman, but thankfully I was kept on and can now rejoice in being one of only a handful of students with a job. Result.

After working two shifts this week, I feel far more a)confident behind a bar b)relaxed c)safe in the knowledge I’ve still got a job. The two wins by AFCB also helped ignite a radiant atmosphere around the stadium both days, and after every shift no-one had a bad word to say about anyone.

There are two bars at least that I’ll be lumbered to work at, and already I have a firm favourite. I was put in the Balfour restaurant on Saturday, which is kind of like the typical bar full of typical bar-folk, yet was moved to the Top Floor restaurant on Tuesday for most of the day (before heading down to Balfour when it got busy there). Fair enough, the TPR has been scrubbed up well – really well – and the people I served were polite, patient and outgoing people. However, with night-time calling and beers in free-flow, I soon found these people turned impatient and rowdy. If a beer wasn’t delivered in ten seconds it wasn’t long until I picked up a few muttered complaints about service under their breathe. It wasn’t even worth pointing out that the taps only went one speed – it wasn’t like I could notch it up a gear to keep these people happy – they wouldn’t listen.

When my manager called me to help out downstairs at the Balfour I jumped at the chance. Don’t get me wrong, I like working TFR sometimes but the Balfour is far friendlier – my hunch though is that since the bar’s small and the queues were relatively long, and I’m the one delivering the cold beers, the punters are probably trying extra hard to be known to me to get served. I know I would be.

I couldn’t believe during my break in the first shift how many people had gone and come through the door during the summer though. When I sat down for lunch, I only recognised two familiar faces from when I last worked back in July. The rest were pretty much newbies, this being their first day on the job – something I found amazing since we’d been given a huge amount of training prior to July and these guys apparently had none, only for most of the trained staff to be given the boot. (I say this not knowing why these guys got fired though, so they may well have been doing stuff they probably shouldn’t of to be honest.)

With a decent wage under my belt for the year I know I’m half way there to standing on my own two feet when my allowances from my parents lessen during university, and I can finally start saving money for once instead of burning through it like no tomorrow.

I’ve also got a second job as a student ambassador (a fancy word for a campus tour guide at uni). Most of the tour dates I was given last year I cancelled, to the extent that I don’t get offered many anymore – purely because I was absent when the training tours were given and I felt I had no idea how to conduct one.

However, thanks to my voluntary work as a fresher’s week Welcome Crew member, I was given a bit of training on how to conduct a tour so now I can’t wait to get a few of these on the go too.

What with fresher’s week nearing the close, my bank balance is looking dangerously low. A wage could not have come soon enough.