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As those who follow the sport closely know only too well, is a hotbed of rumours and gossip - some of which turns out to be true, some of which does not.

One of the many whispers that have been knocking around recently is that the future of the is not especially rosy.

The story is that its place on the calendar is vulnerable because of all the new races is determined to put on, and that it could drop off the schedule in the next couple of years, or perhaps alternate with .

Should these claims turn out to have any foundation, I would not be the only one to be concerned about an F1 calendar without Japan - many of the drivers in F1 would feel the same way.

That's because the circuit is arguably the greatest in the world, right up there with and as a place that tests the best drivers on the planet to the absolute limit.

It is also rich in history - a small but dramatic sample of which features in the latest edition of our classic F1 series.

We have four absolutely cracking races for you to choose from this time. But before I go through the options, a quick reminder of the rules.

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In one sense, the changed nothing; in reality, it changed everything.

still leads the world championship and the five contenders are still covered by the points awarded for a win. But 's victory in the first of the five deciding races of the season has fundamentally altered the dynamics of the title battle.

The biggest winner and biggest loser were the two men regarded by so many as the finest racing drivers in the world - Alonso and .

Earlier this year, Alonso's fellow drivers voted him the best in F1 and he showed exactly why with a copybook victory for in Singapore - superb in qualifying and flawless in the race under the most intense pressure from 's .

The Spaniard's second consecutive victory not only brought him level with Webber on four wins this year but also moved him up to second in the championship, just 11 points behind the Australian. Alonso, it is clear, is now a very serious contender to win a third world title.

Hamilton, by contrast, was understandably downcast after his second non-finish in a row demoted him to third in the championship. Hamilton travelled to Singapore in second place only five points behind Webber. He is now 20 points off the lead and only one ahead of Vettel and five ahead of .

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We have a special treat for the audience of our classic grand prix series this week -extended highlights of two great past races rather than the usual one.

As regular readers of this blog will know, we ask you to tell us which is your favourite of four races we choose from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport archive. We read those views and then select a race from which to broadcast the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme shown at the time.

It is not a 'vote' per se, but this time it was such a close call between two of the races that we have decided to show the 'Grand Prix' programme for both, as well as the shorter highlights we cut for all the races.

As the idea is to whet your appetites for this weekend's Singapore Grand Prix, we are also broadcasting both short and long highlights of 's victory at the Marina Bay Circuit last year.

The two classic races we have chosen are the 1982 Detroit Grand Prix and the 1985 San Marino Grand Prix. The long highlights of these are embedded in this blog, with links to the other races - the 1979 Dutch Grand Prix, 1980 French Grand Prix and Singapore last year - at the bottom.

The classic races will be brodcast on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ red button on satellite and cable television in the UK from 1500 BST on Wednesday 22 September until 1055 on Friday 24 September. They will be on Freeview from 2300 on Thursday until 0645 on Friday.

Why two? Well, when we counted up the 'votes' from respondents, there was only one in it. Both are thrilling in their very different ways, so we decided both merited the full treatment.

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next weekend, and the event shows every sign of becoming established as one of the signature races in the Formula 1 calendar.

But its novelty raises problems for our classic F1 series - there are obviously not enough past Singapore races for us to ask you to make a selection of your four favourites.

So we are whetting your appetites for the next instalment in the 2010 season - destined to become a classic itself - with a choice of four great races from circuits that are no longer on the F1 calendar, but you will be able to get your Singapore fix by watching highlights of last year's race, too.

The races are four of the greatest in F1 history and, as ever, we would like you to tell us which is your favourite. We will use those views to inform our choice of which one to pick as our main selection next week - showing the full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme produced for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ television at the time, as well as the shorter highlights package we cut for all the races.

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At Monza

There were a lot of question marks hanging over Fernando Alonso and Ferrari before Sunday's Italian Grand Prix, his first since joining the team.

He was lagging behind in the championship after crashing out of the preceding race in Belgium - .

Ferrari - and Alonso in particular - had been surprisingly uncompetitive in Spa after a strong run of form.

And the Italian race took place four days after .

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Formula 1's governing body, the , will undoubtedly be criticised for its for apparently breaking the rule banning team orders during July's German Grand Prix.

And its announcement that it will review the rule itself - which basically means it is almost certain to be removed from the statute book before next season - will also come under fire.

, some will say, have got away with manipulating the world championship - giving seven points more than he deserves by allowing him to win a race that his team-mate was leading.

Some will argue Ferrari have cheated the sport's fans by denying them the chance to watch a race to the flag in Hockenheim.

And, it will probably be claimed, the FIA is betraying the sport it is charged with protecting by removing a rule that is intended to stop teams doing what some have described as 'fixing' races.

The FIA will release the full reasons behind its decision on Thursday, at which point it may also become a little clearer why Ferrari handled the situation in Germany so clumsily.

But already, on and other social network sites, these criticisms - and others - have been widely disseminated. And they will doubtless get a further airing in other forms of media over the next few days.

They are all valid points of view. The problem is, they don't stand up to the reality of F1.

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The 1991 Italian Grand Prix is the selected race in the latest edition of our classic grand prix series.

The full 'Grand Prix' highlights programme from the time is embedded below, with the links to the shorter edits of it and all the other races we gave as options in my blog last week underneath it.

The highlights will be available on satellite and cable television in the UK from 1500 BST on Wednesday 8 September until 1000 on Friday 10 of September. Unfortunately, because of a lack of bandwidth, they will not be available on Freeview.

As regular readers will know, we make the decision about which race to highlight after reading your responses to my previous blog.

It is not a 'vote' per se - in that it is ultimately our decision which race to show the extended highlights for - but we do take your views very seriously. And this was one of the closest calls we have had to make.

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The latest edition of our classic grand prix series focuses on the , the oldest race still on the Formula 1 calendar.

It was first held at the atmospheric as long ago as 1922, making it the oldest track as well, and in that time it has hosted some of the sport's greatest races.

We have selected four from the event's relatively recent history and are asking you to select which one you would most like to watch here on the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sport website and on the red button on interactive television.

We would like you to leave your views as responses on this blog and we will use them to inform our choice of which race to highlight next week to whet your appetite in the run-up to this year's Italian Grand Prix.

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