THE 2007 season is rapidly...

THE 2007 season is rapidly turning into one of the most bad-tempered in the history of Formula One. It’s not only on track that the competition is fierce; it’s off track, too, where an ever-increasing number of rows are souring the action.

Perhaps the most damaging for the sport is the ongoing rumpus between Ferrari and McLaren. And now, Renault is getting involved as well. Outspoken boss Flavio Briatore thinks McLaren has benefited from the information it received from Ferrari. “I don’t believe [McLaren chief] Ron Dennis’s denials. In a team, everyone knows everything.”

Referring to Renault’s struggle to switch from Michelin to Bridge-stone tyres – a move McLaren made easily – he added: “Had I known Ferrari’s weight distribution, or the size of its fuel tank, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Niggles between McLaren and Fer-rari date back to the Seven-ties. The latest surrounds technical documents allegedly being passed to McLaren by a disgruntled Ferrari employee.

A sitting by the World Motor Sport Council wouldn’t punish McLaren as it couldn’t prove the British outfit had benefited from the papers. Ferrari responded by going to the FIA Inter-national Court of Appeal. McLaren then accused the Italians of gaining a performance advantage by using an illegal floor at the Austra-lian Grand Prix in March – claims Ferrari denied. So the case rumbles on. And it’s not the only discord involving McLaren.

The relationship bet-ween Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton has des-cended to a new low following the Hun-garian GP. According to Lewis: “He doesn’t seem to be speaking to me, so I don’t know if he has a problem.”

Alonso’s wall of silence follows his five-place grid demotion after qualifying at the Hungaroring. Stew-ards claimed that by staying at his pit 10 seconds after he had been waved out, Alonso stopped Hamilton doing a final quick lap. But Lewis had initiated the problem by exiting the pits at the start of the session before his team-mate, then refusing to drop behind him.

BMW, meanwhile, is still dealing with Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica. They’ve had a cool relationship since the Pole secured Jacques Ville-neuve’s race seat this time last year. It came to a head when they collided at July’s European GP. Heidfeld then ran into Ralf Schumacher later in the race. “Someone who crashes into two cars within 20 laps won’t last long in F1,” Kubica reportedly said. But since then, BMW boss Mario Theis-sen has been trying to clear the air.

It will take more than that to repair the rift between Scott Speed and Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost. At the Nürburg- ring, the US driver said the Austrian grabbed him by the collar after Speed had slammed the team for a poor pit-stop, then crashed out. “Franz later spent 15 minutes apologising; he was clearly out of line,” the 24-year-old explained. Unsurprisingly, Speed was sacked soon after. And this isn’t the only Toro Rosso row. Spyker boss Colin Kolles says Red Bull and Honda have broken F1 rules by supplying Toro Rosso and Super Aguri’s cars respectively.

The teams say they’ve got round this on a technicality, and Bernie Eccle- stone brokered a deal to split Spyker, Toro Rosso and Super Aguri’s TV rights. But Toro Rosso pulled out. As riv-alries heat up towards the end of the year, tempers are sure to fray further...