Last year

Dial your mind back to last year — what do you remember about the battle between Massa and Raikkonen at Ferrari?

You probably recall how Kimi got off to a very slow start; how he then came good over a crucial two month period in June and July, winning the French and British races; and how he spectacularly clawed back an 18 point deficit with two races to go to be crowned 2007 Drivers' Champion.

But what about Felipe Massa?

The diminutive Brazilian had a good first half of the season — he won from pole in Bahrain and Turkey, but apart from that he did nothing special. Although he was quick over a lap he struggled for race pace. He was fine leading from the front but couldn't overtake for toffee. He was also suspect at the start, having apparently been "fooled" by rookie Lewis off the line in Malaysia.

This year

After bringing home the title Ferrari watchers expected Kimi to assume leadership of the team. He was the better driver who had gained the respect of the team and, with the ban of traction control, was expected to dominate Felipe Massa.

The problem is that Raikkonen isn't a natural leader - the opportunity was undoubtedly there but he didn't take it. The Finn is the shy and retiring type. He goes about his business with minimum fuss and wants to let his driving, not his mouth, do the talking.

The thing is that in F1, Kimi's approach relies on the protagonist maintaining a winning streak — and that is something that Raikkonen has failed to deliver in 2008. Can you imagine Fernando Alonso having won the 2007 title in a McLaren giving Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh an inch of respect? Of course not. Every third day he would have been in the paper parroting on about how he is the team leader having won McLaren's first title for 10 years.

It all looked so good by round four in Barcelona. Raikkonen had won two races and was leading the Drivers' Championship. Massa had made a couple of school boy errors in Australia and Bahrain, picking up no points in either race. Sure he won Bahrain from pole but Felipe "owns" that particular track.

However, since his triumph in Catalunya, Raikkonen hasn't won a Grand Prix. It's partly bad luck — in France he was on course for victory until his exhaust broke and in Canada he was in with a shot too (although Hamilton was considerably quicker). And it was partly sloppiness — in Britain and Monaco he struggled in the wet, while in Germany and Hungary he was considerably slower than his competition.

Massa's form too has been mixed. Races like Britain and Germany were undoubted low points. But all was (almost redeemed) a couple of weeks ago when he stormed past Lewis Hamilton at the start in Hungary. The encouraging thing for the Brazilian is that he has comfortably had the qualifying edge on his team mate for the last three races.

The future

Let's not fool ourselves. Despite Kimi's sluggish form he still leads Felipe in the Drivers' Championship. That's partly because the Brazilian has no scores in four races — an unacceptable rate in the modern F1 era.

However, if he doesn't sort his qualifying problems out, Massa will beat him and Hamilton will take the Championship.

If that happens, 2009 could herald retirement for Raikkonen and the rise of a new son at Maranello. And if Fernando Alonso makes the move to Italy Massa and designs he has on becoming champion will surely disappear.