Lewis Hamilton took centre stage in Belgium for all the wrong reasons. Behind the scenes, Fernando Alonso was having the drive of his life after switching to wet tyres in the dying laps and slicing through the traffic to take fourth place.

A late gamble to switch to wet tyres coupled with an uncompromising overtaking manoeuvre in the final corner vaulted Fernando Alonso into fourth place in Spa-Francorchamps, as Renault bid to home in on their championship rivals.

Outspoken Former F1 Driver Eddie Irvine has launched a scathing attack on the Double World Champion Fernando Alonso by calling the Spaniard a “Clown”.

Alonso, who finished 4th at Australia on his debut return to Renault, believes that Renault and himself can go from strength to strength starting at this weekend’s Malaysian GP.

Weeks of speculation have ended with the announcement that Fernando Alonso will be racing for Renault next season. His team-mate at the French manufacturer will be Nelsinho Piquet Jr making it an all-new line-up for Renault for the 2008 season.

The driver shuffle is about to begin with the news that Fernando Alonso will be leaving McLaren. In a statement released by McLaren-Mercedes, the team has confirmed that they came to a mutual agreement to end Alonso’s three year contract early.

Fernando Alonso is giving nothing away about his future, although he has admitted that there are several roads open to him. Many teams have yet to confirm their 2008 driver line-up, with many waiting for Alonso’s decision before they decide what drivers to sign.

Fernando Alonso was at his most gracious today as he offered his congratulations to Iceman Kimi Raikkonen.

“Congratulations to Kimi,” Alonso said. “I said many times who has more points in the last race deserves the championship, so in this case, Kimi did a great championship. It was up and down for everyone – at the end, he deserves it so congrats to him.”

It seems Alonso’s departure from McLaren is inevitable and imminent if German newspaper Bild-Zeitung is to be believed.

It has been reported that the executive board of Mercedes-Benz have ruled that Fernando Alonso should not represent their brand in 2008. Mercedes-Benz are a majority shareholder in McLaren and also supply their engines, therefore a major decision such as this will no doubt have a massive effect on the decision whether to keep Alonso on-board with the team or not.

According to the Italian media, Fernando Alonso met with Italian prosecutors yesterday to discuss the Ferrari-McLaren espionage saga.

‘In chaos, there is opportunity,’ goes the saying and no where was this better demonstrated than in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton was the man to keep his cool while torrential weather conditions, whipped up by Mount Fuji, wrecked havoc with those around him, most notably Fernando Alonso who aquaplaned off the track on lap 42 gifting Hamilton a 12 point championship lead. The weekend will no doubt be remembered for Sunday’s chaotic race and the way it rocked the drivers championship. But in my view it was qualifying that marked the real turning point, not least because it revealed yet another shift in balance between Alonso and Hamilton.