Sunday 29 June at 16:34 : Martin Brundle, a British expert pundit and former formula one driver, has named Felipe Massa as the dark horse for the 2008 title.

Amid the ultra high profile of countryman Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen and the ultra-consistent Robert Kubica, Briton Brundle, 49, thinks the current leader of the drivers' standings is also very much a genuine contender.

He wrote in his latest column for the Sunday Times that Brazilian Massa, 27, who drives for Ferrari, "made major errors" at the start of the season.

But "on his day Massa is immense", Brundle added.

"We saw him deliver his almost customary victories at Bahrain and Turkey, but it was generally accepted that over the course of the season Raikkonen would be the one to put in the critical fast laps around the pit-stop window, get to the front and control the race.

"Yet Massa has apparently upped his game yet further this year."

Brundle also credits Massa's race engineer Rob Smedley with giving the driver "a more steely edge" recently.

And "Massa is impressing me in the level way in which he is handling success and failure, taking both in his stride. It is not at all inconceivable that he could be this year's world champion," he said.