Singapore gift puts Lewis Hamilton in driver's seat

Can Hamilton end jinx at F1-mad Suzuka? one website has been asking this week. Well, when you have just turned a 22-point deficit into a three-point lead in one race, anything is possible.

We have spoken before about momentum. Hamilton must have felt for much of the season he was a stranger to the concept, and to lady luck. How that changed in Singapore.

To win the race while your teammate and main rival is unable to sort out technical gremlins and finish the race has to put a smile on your face. Earlier in the season he spoke about perhaps rubbing a Buddha's belly for luck. There are certainly a few on offer in Singapore.

Will this be the moment Nico Rosberg's title challenge falls apart? You very much doubt it. Momentum is a two-edged sword.

This weekend in Suzuka is a fresh page, and yet the last two races in Singapore and Monza will no doubt be playing on the minds of those on Rosberg's side of the garage. There is a reason there are so many well-paid sports psychologists in the world.

The German will back himself, but there are some reasons why the smart money could be on Hamilton. Think where he might be if not for those three mechanical failures. He actually outscores Rosberg in wins by a handsome seven to four.

Rosberg knows that mechanical and electrical failures are an occupational hazard. What might be playing on his mind is the way he gifted Hamilton the win in Monza after being put under pressure. Suzuka is a less forgiving (if thrilling) track, and any deviation from the racing line could end your race there and then. That would have a big impact on the championship.

Five races to go, and this rivalry has rescued this season. Let's hope it's not all devalued by the outcome of the championship being decided by the artifice of the extra points on offer in Abu Dhabi.

Of course, double points isn't the only transient, and slightly stupid, idea brought in and then dumped by the powers that be. When you look at sports like football, which take an age to make just the slightest change to the rules, it's easy to despair at Formula One, which tinkers not just around the edges but at the heart of the sport seemingly every month.

The most recent example of the flip-flopping short-sightedness of the rule makers is the ban (and then un-banning) on radio advice during races. A whole swath of radio communication was banned by the FIA, and then unbanned following complaints by drivers and teams. Their basic beef was that the cars are so complex that engineer and driver need to be allowed to chat.

Now the rules have been pared back, so that information about the car can be shared, but not, in effect, any coaching of the driver himself. That might be some relief to the more experienced drivers, who find radio driving lessons more than a little annoying.

Jenson Button feels drivers should do their homework. He said: "The new guys coming in are told when to go faster, when to brake, how much heat, how much fuel - it is something that has annoyed me."

The good news for Button is that radio messages that coach the drivers are still banned. They should stay so.

The bad news is that a more sweeping ban is now set for 2015. Why not just let teams say what they want about the car? The one rule change they should make is that all the radio traffic should be made available to the TV broadcasters - and the other teams. It should be in real time rather than delayed as well. That should shut them up.