It’s Thursday… and POP is back!  Who will be on the Podium?  And who will be sulking in the Pits?  Read on for this week’s ups and downs in the crazy world of Formula 1.

POP will admit that it was getting a tad worried by the F1 news lull of last week.  But all its fears were allayed yesterday after the BONANZA of fantastically ridiculous news stories!

PODIUM – Michael Schumacher - ok, ok, an obvious choice for the podium this week.  But you have to hand it to the 40-year-old former world champion.  As if his retirement couldn’t get any stranger, he went and topped it by actually un-retiring himself!  Who does that!?  Madness.  But madness that fans of Formula 1 everywhere, not just those crazy Schumacher fans, will be anticipating like children before Christmas.  POP proposes Ferrari issue some sort of advent calendar counting down the days until Valencia – with little windows for each day and a picture behind of some of Michael’s 91 wins.  At this rate it’s going to be one hell of an end to the season.

PITS – BMW - what would have been the SHOCK story of the week was mightily overshadowed by the implausible-sounding Schumacher Returns! story.  But this one probably has much further-reaching implications for Formula 1.  BMW can make up any excuse they like (which they duly have), but the real one is the lack of wins.  You can read our reaction piece to the news here.  Of course, POP should have put BMW drivers Heidfeld and Kubica in the ‘PITS’ category for this week, but that would just be cruel on these two very talented drivers.  When the going gets tough, the BMW team get going…

PODIUM – charity work – Jenson Button will be competing in the London triathlon in aid of the ‘Make a Wish’ Foundation on Saturday.  He’ll have to swim 1500 metres, ride a bike for 40km, and run 10km.  The very idea of running even 5km is enough to make POP feel a little bit nauseous.  So Jenson, we salute you!  And if you’re feeling similarly impressed, guilty, and maybe a little bit nauseous… please donate to Jenson’s charity piggy bank here.  Oh, and Jarno Trulli gets a salute too for all his continuing charity work and fund-raising for the Abruzzo region of Italy which was hit by an earthquake in April this year.

PODIUM – KERS - POP has always been rather fond of the idea of KERS.  I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of a little button on your car which, when you press it, gives you a boost so great you can overtake the rather pompous-looking middle-aged man in a hairdresser’s car, I mean… Mercedes SLK, at the traffic lights and then feel smug about it all day?  The ailing technology which was only introduced this year, and which is still due to be scrapped for the 2010 season, was arguably instrumental in Hamilton’s surprise win last weekend in Hungary.  Norbert Haug, Mercedes-Benz motorsport boss, has said that the decision to scrap KERS may well be reconsidered.  Haug has also not ruled out a re-naming of the technology to KARS – ‘Kick Ass Race Switch’.

PODIUM – Teenagers – rookie 19-year-old Jaime Alguersuari did a fantastic job on Sunday at the Hungarian grand prix. He successfully embarrassed his team-mate Buemi by beating him in his maiden race.  Jaime also wins this week’s POP award for F1-Frankness: “I have learned a lot but I have to say there are some aspects of F1 which made me think, ’shit this is tough’.” We like the teenage rookie already.