The 2007 Formula One Championship was the first since the legendary 1986 season in which three drivers went into the final race with the possibility of being crowned champion. And not since that fateful year, when Mansell, Piquet and Prost went head-to-head, has a season so captured the world's attention and drawn so many new spectators to the sport - for reasons both on and off the track. It wasn't meant to be that way. When Fernando Alonso joined McLaren for 2007, the unspoken assumption was that the double world champion would steadily proceed to his third title in a row. He would have done exactly that, but for a development no-one could have foreseen. Carl Lewis Hamilton, a relative unknown and just twenty-two-years old, would climb into the other McLaren-Mercedes and captivate the world withconsistently brilliantperformances. Even as it welcomed this new prodigy, however, the world of Formula One was rocked by accusations of spying between McLaren and their bitter rivals Ferrari; accusations that resulted in millions of pounds in fines and an ill feeling between the teams, their drivers and the governing body that now threatens the future of the sport. Revisiting the 1986 season to contrast it with the world of F1 today, and applying his extensive experience as an award-winning motor-sport journalist for over 30 years, Maurice Hamilton provides a review of a season that will be remembered as one of the most important and unique in the sport's history. An