If there remains any doubt that grand prix motor racing is primarily a mental contest, the Belgian Grand Prix provided the perfect illustration.

In the most trying of circumstances - a mixture of wet and drying conditions round Spa's legendary mix of corners - not one of the protagonists made it through the race without some kind of hiccup...

To hear the thoughts of F1 psychologist Dr Riccardo Ceccarelli (pictured) see Clyde's latest grandprix.com column at http://bit.ly/ci2duD

Lewis Hamilton used all his skill and mental strength to dominate the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, prompting eulogies from McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh.

There was only one dodgy moment all weekend, when Hamilton went off on slicks on the wet track as he edged back for a pit stop. After the race he said 'the Lord definitely had his hand over me there as I was able to get away with it...'

With or without divine assistance, Hamilton needs to press on at Monza before the Red Bulls regain the advantage at the remaining circuits.

One week after F1's most successful team reminded us how they tarnished their mystique, F1's most successful driver reminds us why he so lacked such mystique in the first place.

The Belgian Grand Prix will now be a massive one for Michael Schumacher. After Hungary, he desperately needs to find 'the Zone' and steer clear of 'the Grip'.

To find out what that jargon means and why a multiple world champion needs to pause for thought, see Clyde's latest column at www.grandprix.com

Just when you thought Michael Schumacher's karmic debt to Rubens Barrichello could scarcely rise any further, along comes the move to make any racer wince.

For those who endured the years when the pair were together at Ferrari, what has happened this year has been curiously refreshing. While Barrichello has shown consistently strong form in the Williams, Schumacher's legend diminishes daily.

It's not as black and white as that but today's Hungarian GP move shows how Schumacher's true colours may be set fast.

"I am a sportsman. I love sport. I love the fans. But I don't consider Formula 1 any more a sport."

These were Fernando Alonso's words on the morning of the 2006 Italian Grand Prix. Hours earlier he'd been given a five-place grid penalty for 'blocking' Ferrari's Felipe Massa in qualifying - though Massa was 100 metres away. This was part of a bizarre run of difficulties he faced as he fought off the Ferrari of retiring Michael Schumacher for his second championship...

For Clyde's full grandprix.com column visit http://bit.ly/b5ZT2k

After his recovery from the horrific injuries incurred a year ago in Hungary, Felipe Massa spoke in near-messianic terms of a 'reason' behind his suffering that he was yet to discover.

The German GP showed that may not involve a Hollywood-esque return to glory. But Massa is made of strong stuff. In Overdrive he says: 'We learn from good and bad things. Sometimes we think we go down but afterwards we come back stronger.'

If Massa can use the ultimate mental fortitude that comes from a brush with death to unveil the contempt in which the general public are held by those with 'power' in sport and elsewhere, he has the chance to become an even greater hero.

Valentino Rossi's appearance at this weekend's German MotoGP six weeks after a compound fracture of his leg is, by any normal standards, miraculous. But there is a secret weapon in the armoury of all top riders: Dr Claudio Costa.

Dr Costa is not your typical GP - but a man who firmly believes in our ability to heal ourselves. He was also in charge of Alex Zanardi's recovery and his amazing attitude towards the mental power of healing is detailed in depth in Overdrive.

Sebastian Vettel spent his early F1 career fending off comparisons with his illustrious compatriot Michael Schumacher. The standard retort for any rising star is always 'No, I'm not the second X, I'm the first Y.' But Red Bull's Silverstone antics have brought the associations flooding back - sadly not with bright young Schu but with Schu the pantomime villain...

To read Clyde's full column visit www.grandprix.com/ft/ft22440.html

Mark Webber's Valencia crash drew gasps from all who saw it - but the Australian has been there before. In Overdrive, Webber speaks of how time slowed down for him both in his eerily similar Le Mans flying incident and the bike crash where he broke his leg.

'I remember everything that happened in the clearest detail,' says Webber. 'In both cases it was like slow motion. It's a strange sensation but you have a feeling of calm in spite of what's happening to you.'

Overdrive contains an entire chapter of first-hand accounts of the astonishing mental ability that crashing unleashes.

It may have been a shaky start to the season for Lewis Hamilton but he has now found the way back to his natural home in the Zone.

Following his double win in Turkey and Canada, Hamilton is establishing himself as the man to beat in 2010. He is displaying both his talent and his mental strength in this mid-season purple patch. Now all they need to do is send him to South Africa to show a bunch of other English sportsmen how you really do it.

The Turkish Grand Prix showed how results can't always mean everything in Formula 1. The sport has always had team orders, but ever since Ferrari took that to ridiculous extremes with Michael Schumacher, teams have had to disguise them by using code words over the radio.

Whatever Red Bull and McLaren were hoping to communicate (or not) to their drivers on Sunday will remain open to debate, particularly as the men behind the wheel can always plead innocence under the current rules. Long may such cockups continue for the results made for fantastic racing and the fallout over perceived favouritism may keep it that way.

One week after his dominant victory in Spain, Mark Webber showed he is a serious contender in 2010 by repeating the feat at the ultimate driver circuit, Monaco.

Webber described it as 'the greatest day of his life', expressing his delight at joining the likes of Ayrton Senna. This came a day after his stunning pole lap described as the greatest of his life by Red Bull team boss Christian Horner, who added he was really 'in the Zone'. No kidding...

The all-British McLaren team proved the class of the field at a wet Chinese Grand Prix. Jenson Button showed just what an inspired move his much-criticised switch to McLaren was, jumping back to the head of the world championship with his second win of the year.

Lewis Hamilton had yet another stunning race too, charging through the field for the third time in a row after two extra early pit stops en route to a fine second place.

While Michael Schumacher continues to struggle on his return to F1, it is easy to overlook the impressive performances of his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Rosberg has made full use of the chance fate has thrown his way. Everyone had Schumacher penned in as a dead-cert number one at Mercedes but the main effect of his difficult start has been to fill his young countryman with confidence. It is still too early to rule out a turnaround for such a great of the track but so far Nico has been showing Schu the way to the Zone.

The most spectacular difference to F1 in 2010 will be lightning-fast pit stops. With refuelling outlawed, the guys changing the tyres will no longer have a nice cushion of time in which to remove and replace the four wheels.

In training some of the teams have broken the two-second barrier. As Overdrive reveals, when time pressure is so extreme anyone can have a Zone experience. The mechanics should prepare to fly...

Alex Zanardi's inspirational story continues apace. The Italian may have swapped his high-speed machines for the rather more leisurely-sounding hand cart - but it hasn't made him any slower.

Zanardi kept up his preparations for the London Paralympics in 2012 by winning the Rome Marathon at the weekend. His amazing recovery since losing his legs in a racing car is detailed with a full-length interview in Overdrive.

Sebastian Vettel finally earned the reward his impressive early-season form has deserved by taking a commanding win in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Vettel made good use of the open door kindly provided to him by team-mate Mark Webber at the first corner and he never returned the favour. The Red Bulls were so dominant that they won this race at a canter. They can thank McLaren and Ferrari for their schoolboy error in qualifying yesterday but it was still an ominous one-two.

Ayrton Senna would have celebrated his 50th birthday on March 21, 2010. Senna may not have survived that long on the planet but his legend lives on - thanks to his outrageous talent coupled with his extraordinary humanity and spirituality.

Senna's day of days during qualifying for the 1988 Monaco Grand Prix was the inspiration for Overdrive - leading to many long hours trawling the F1 paddock for all the current heroes who have gone through anything similar. As Lewis Hamilton says, that was 'beyond' the Zone...

Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix after he kept the calmest head of all during a frantic race on a drying track. Moments after being passed by team-mate Lewis Hamilton, Button made a brave call to switch from intermediate tyres to slicks. It proved inspirational as he jumped up through the field, eventually inheriting the lead when Sebastian Vettel suffered a brake failure.

Hamilton also looked like he was back in the Zone after his trying weekend with some stunning passing moves. But he ultimately lost it when McLaren called him in for a superfluous extra stop, a call Hamilton described over the radio as 'terrible'.

Lewis Hamilton's qualifying performance in Melbourne has given ample indication of the importance of finding the right mental state for racing. Hamilton's run-in with the Melbourne traffic police on Friday - and the predictably OTT media fallout - was enough to take him out of the Zone on Saturday.

In the wake of last year's Liegate at the same event, which similarly blew up out of all proportion, Hamilton said he had learned from the experience and become a stronger driver and man. He has the perfect chance to show how true that is from 11th on the grid for tomorrow's Australian Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso looked like the first driver to find the Zone in 2010, leading home team-mate Felipe Massa in a Ferrari one-two at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Alonso inherited the lead from Sebastian Vettel when the German's Red Bull suffered a spark plug glitch late on. Vettel still limped to 4th, just behind Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. Nico Rosberg pipped Michael Schumacher to 5th in the Mercedes, with Jenson Button and Mark Webber next up.

Felipe Massa pointedly thanked God for his recovery from injury during the televised press conference after returning to racing with second place in Bahrain.

The Brazilian driver, like so many of his sporting countrymen, has always had a strong faith. This part of the mentality of sport is explored at length in Overdrive - with quotes from Massa, Rubens Barrichello, Kakà, Cafu and others.

After a desperate winter of waiting and worrying, Bruno Senna has finally been confirmed as a driver with the renamed HRT F1 team.

The Brazilian, nephew of Ayrton, whose exploits are so crucial to Overdrive, will make his F1 debut in Bahrain. The addition of yet another famous name adds further to the astonishing line-up of stars for 2010.

India's Karun Chandhok has been confirmed at the newly renamed HRT team (formerly Campos) for 2010.

Chandhok joins the rest of the current grid who feature in Overdrive - check out his description of finding the Zone in last year's GP2 sprint race at Monaco: 'You just know when you're having one of those days but it's a very personal thing and only you can know. None of the engineers can tell you because it's not something you can tell from outside...'