Monday 14 July at 11:40 : A three-way tie for the lead of the championship at the mid-point of the 2008 season may be good for the sport, but the situation has been caused mainly by driver errors.

That is the assessment of Peter Sauber, the founder of the Hinwil based formula one team that is now controlled by BMW.

"I can not remember a situation like this from ever before," the Swiss - now sporting blonde hair as a gesture for the German team's recent Montreal win - wrote in his latest column for the newspaper Blick.

Only two points behind the three-way tie between Lewis Hamilton and the two Ferrari drivers is BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica, on 46 points.

"I also can not remember when, after nine races, the leader has so few points in the bank -- 48 this season, compared with 59 to 84 in recent years," Sauber, 64, added.

"One of the reasons is the high rate of errors from the drivers -- great performances sprinkled with poor ones.

"The pendulum has been especially strong for Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton. After his dominant victory at Silverstone, the Briton is now on a high, with the Brazilian, following his orgy of spins, down low.

"At the moment none of them have convinced me they are favourite, not even Kimi Raikkonen. Nobody expected Robert Kubica to be so far at the front, but (at Silverstone) even he was caught out following eight flawless races.

"Surprisingly to me, the teams have also been fluctuating, above all, Ferrari," Sauber continued.

"At times they have been the big favourite, and then, as in Melbourne, collapsed. At Silverstone they were again inexplicably weak," he added.