• Hamilton says he and Button will be treated the same
• 25-year-old hails ‘phenomenal win’ in Belgium

Lewis Hamilton said he will not receive preferential treatment from McLaren despite opening up a significant lead over his team-mate Jenson Button following yesterday’s Belgian grand prix.

Hamilton won his third race of the season and the 14th of his career to move three points clear of Mark Webber with six races remaining. Button was left feeling despondent after he crashed out for the second successive season at Spa.

Button was on course to finish runner-up when he was speared from his left-hand side by an out-of-control Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull who had misjudged his braking in attempting to overtake.

Yet with 150 points still available, Hamilton said McLaren will not favour himself over Button until the situation dictates otherwise.

“I get the same treatment as Jenson and that enables us both to score maximum points so I don’t feel there should be any preferential treatment,” Hamilton said. “Obviously the team do the best they can to the maximum for each of us. There’s no more they can do.”

Hamilton dismissed the suggestion the title race is now between himself and Red Bull’s Webber, who had to be content with second after starting from pole. Along with Button, Vettel and Fernando Alonso also failed to score a point, with the German finishing 15th and the Spaniard crashing out in the wet late on.

Hamilton is now 31 points ahead of Vettel yet despite the cushion he added: “You’ve seen in the last few races how quickly things can change. We still have a long way to go and there are still many points to be grabbed by any of the drivers who are fighting for the title.

“Clearly for me my closest rival in the championship is Mark in terms of points, but I still think the championship is open. Obviously we want to make sure that’s not the case after another few races.”

The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, described Hamilton as “the luckiest man in Belgium” after the 25-year-old narrowly avoided collision with a barrier. As the rain came with 10 laps to go, Hamilton ran wide on the greasy surface and on to the gravel at Rivage, coming within inches of hitting a wall.

Hamilton said: “That was the biggest moment for me. I made it all the way out to the wall and just clipped it a little with the edge of my wing. I was very fortunate to get away with that. I was very blessed. The Lord definitely had his hand over me there.”

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk

• Hamilton denies needing special help from McLaren to win title
• Button does not feel his chances will suffer because of rivalry

Lewis Hamilton says he requires no special help from his McLaren team in order to win his second Formula One world title.

While Ferrari are in the dock next week for asking their driver Felipe Massa to move over for Fernando Alonso, and Red Bull’s Mark Webber is mischievously suggesting his team should be looking to “prioritise” after yet another failure by Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton says he is happy for Jenson Button to retain joint top billing at the Woking factory.

“I’ve just got to continue doing my job,” he said, after his third victory of the season had taken him back to the top of the drivers’ table, 35 points ahead of a fading Button, the world champion who has not won a race since the first week in April and whose last podium position was in June.

“As long as my guys do their job, which they always do, then I don’t need anything else. If they’re giving you all they can, they’re giving you all then can. I don’t think, by taking the focus off the guy next to me, they can help me.

“I think if they’re giving me 100% and they’re giving Jenson 100% then we’re going improve twice as fast as a team. So as long as they’re giving us both 100% there’s no problem. It works for us now so why not continue that?”

McLaren have always insisted that neither of their world champions will receive preferential treatment. Button certainly feels that is the way to go. “I don’t fear either of us will miss out on the title by approaching it the way we are,” he said. “But if we do, we do – we are here to go racing.”

Button had targeted this race and the next one, in Monza on Sunday week, as his best chance to get his campaign back on track. But after getting a flyer and moving up from fifth to second he collided with the reckless Vettel – who has converted only two of his seven pole positions to victories – and had to retire from the race.

Hamilton’s race was excellent. It was straightforward enough – he led from virtually the start until the chequered flag. However, he also showed the race management skills which many had identified as a weakness in the 2008 champion. There was rain and there were safety cars but he showed the smoothness and control that is more readily associated with his team-mate. And the only help came from … the Lord.

The biggest danger to his 15th grand prix win came with 10 laps to go, when it rained yet again on a weekend in Belgium which was so wet if felt like an uncut edition of Blade Runner. Hamilton ran wide and on to the gravel at Rivage and was inches away from hitting a wall. “That was the biggest moment for me. I made it all the way out to the wall and just clipped it a little with the edge of my wing. The gravel actually pulled me out. The gravel was horrible. I was very fortunate to get away with that. I was blessed. The Lord definitely had his hand over me there.”

With six races to go it looks as though the championship will be won by either Hamilton or Webber, who made up for an awful start by producing another solid drive. “Mark’s got the experience. And it’s showing. He’s 34. He’s a very experienced and very mature man. A 24-year-old or a 23-year-old is not as wise as a man of 34. He’s been here a lot longer than myself and Sebastian, though Sebastian has got some serious pace.”

According to Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, the team have got their momentum back. “Lewis did a fantastic job. “He commanded the race and built up a buffer. He had one moment which gave us a bit of a worry, but he did a fantastic job.

“It was a bit of a strange mistake [by Vettel]. I realise it wasn’t intentional but if he was going for the inside he had about three inches to sneak down so God knows what he thought he was doing. But we’ve got our momentum back.”

Vettel, meanwhile, is adamant he can still win the title despite failing to finish for the third time this term. “I’m holding my head up,” he said. “There are still six races to come and we have all seen how quickly things can change. Everything is still possible. I can still make it happen.”

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk

• Hamilton returns to top of drivers’ standings with win
• Mark Webber says Red Bull must decide who is team’s No1

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won an incident-packed Belgian grand prix to seize back the Formula One championship lead from Red Bull’s Mark Webber.

After the race, Webber, who began on pole but finished second, called on Red Bull to choose who is the team’s No1 driver between him and Sebastian Vettel. The Australian said the decision is “still too early but not too far away. I think it depends on how hungry we are.”

On an afternoon where the fickle Spa weather played its hand to full effect the safety car was deployed twice. McLaren’s Jenson Button was forced to retire after a collision with Vettel, who was given a drive-through penalty as a result and finished 15th, while Fernando Alonso spun out of the race in his Ferrari. Poland’s Robert Kubica finished third for Renault.

“To be taken out like that is disappointing,” Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, said of Button’s retirement. Referring to Vettel’s collision with Webber at the Turkish grand prix earlier in the season, Whitmarsh added: “I’d rather he take out his own team-mate than [our driver].”

Hamilton now has 182 points to Webber’s 179 with six races remaining. Vettel is third, 31 points behind Hamilton, with Button and Alonso fourth and fifth respectively.

“It was a great weekend, a very tough race for me, the same for everyone,” Hamilton said. “I was praying it would be a race that would go smoothly, but then the rain came late on and I locked my wheels at turn eight, but thankfully I got away with it.

“We didn’t know what to expect, but fortunately I got round and changed the tyres – it was probably the best one this year.

“Again fortunately it didn’t rain any more, and in the end it was about nursing the car home, making sure it stayed in one piece and bagging the points. I’m very proud of the job the team did, and I’m so glad to be here.”

Explaining his abysmal start, Webber said: “I had a big bump on the formation lap, and although we altered the clutch, it was worse at the start. Once you have a micro-problem there it’s massively exaggerated by the performance of the other guys.

“After that it was a pretty mixed-up race, so I’m happy with second in the end. To have the top-three qualifiers on the podium after a race like that you could never have predicted, although the top two are the wrong way round for me.”

Race standings

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 1hr 29mins 04.260secs; 2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:29:05.831; 3 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:29:07.753; 4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:29:12.524; 5 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:29:13.354; 6 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:29:16.619; 7 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:29:19.808; 8 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 1:29:20.938; 9 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 1:29:28.211; 10 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 1:29:33.717; 11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 1:29:39.091; 12 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 1:29:40.359; 13 Sébastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso 1:29:44.155; 14 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Williams at 1 Lap; 15 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull at 1 Lap; 16 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 at 1 Lap; 17 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing at 1 Lap; 18 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing at 1 Lap; 19 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 1 Lap; 20 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) HRT-F1 at 2 Laps. Not Classified: 21 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37 Laps completed; 22 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren 15 Laps completed; 23 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 5 Laps completed; 24 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 0 Laps completed

Drivers’ championship standings

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren 182pts; 2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 179; 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 151; 4 Jenson Button (GB) McLaren 147; 5 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 141; 6 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 109; 7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 104; 8 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 102; 9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 45; 10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 44; 11 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 30; 12 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 21; 13 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 19; 14 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 12; 15 Nico Hülkenberg (Ger) Williams 10; 16 Sébastien Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso 7; 17 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 6; 18 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 4; (Seven drivers on zero points)

Manufacturers’ standings

1 Red Bull 330pts; 2 McLaren 329; 3 Ferrari 250; 4 Mercedes GP 146; 5 Renault 123; 6 Force India 57; 7 Williams 40; 8 BMW Sauber 27; 9 Toro Rosso 11; (three teams on zero points)

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk

Australian magistrate orders British F1 star to pay A0 for ‘behaving like a hoon’

British motor racing star Lewis Hamilton has been fined A0 (£288) for “behaving like a hoon” and performing boy-racer stunts in Melbourne.

The Formula One driver had been caught by police executing a “burnout” and “fishtail” – tricks in which wheels are intentionally spun and skidded – in front of fans two days before the Melbourne grand prix back in March.

The 25-year-old was not in court to hear his punishment today. But his lawyer, Sandip Mukerjea, said Hamilton would plead guilty to the charge of improper use of a motor vehicle. He avoided conviction as it was a first offence, but will be forced to pay the fine.

Mukerjea said his client suffered “embarrassment, humiliation and distress” as a result of the incident. Hoon is a derogatory term used in Australia and New Zealand, to refer to a young person who engages in loutish, antisocial behaviour.

Hamilton fell foul of the state of Victoria’s so-called “hoon” laws, which target youthful loutish behaviour, on 26 March, two days before the race. The driver was in a borrowed Mercedes when he was seen performing stunts outside the grand prix track at Albert Park, Melbourne.

The car was impounded by state authorities. It marked the low point in an unhappy race meet for the British driver. Starting 11th on the grid, he made his way through the field only to be bumped off the track by Australian Mark Webber with two laps remaining. He finished the race in sixth place.

Hamilton is due to compete in the Belgian grand prix this weekend and wrote twice to the court to explain his absence.

Magistrate Clive Alsop said the British racing driver was a role model to young people and as such should have known better. “This is about somebody in a responsible position behaving like a hoon,” he added.

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk

• Hamilton optimistic that car’s potential can be unlocked
• Sebastian Vettel confident of Red Bull success in Spa

Lewis Hamilton heads to Spa this weekend hopeful that McLaren have found the key to unlocking the potential of his car. The race in Belgium is vital for McLaren after their worst weekend of the year in Budapest just over three weeks ago.

Hamilton trails championship leader Mark Webber by four points, but McLaren’s trouncing by Red Bull at the Hungaroring was a major cause for concern.

The hope is that Spa’s long straights will prove a benefit to McLaren for this weekend at least, while the belief is they will also be strong for the final European race in Italy next month.

If the team fails to revive their challenge it could leave them vulnerable for the final five fly-away races.

“Although it’s been great for the whole team to have had the factory shutdown and a well-deserved holiday, I think we’re all really looking forward to getting back into the title fight,” said Hamilton.

“The break gave us some valuable thinking time to consider how to improve our car for the remainder of the season. We head into these two races not only optimistic of some better results, but also of stronger pace for the rest of the year.”

McLaren’s team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, is convinced there are hidden secrets within the car which they have yet to tap into. “After a disappointing Hungarian grand prix we are pushing hard to regain the performance relative to our rivals that we had enjoyed earlier this season,” said Whitmarsh.

“While we believe our recent upgrades have given us a downforce improvement, it appears the package hasn’t yet delivered to its full potential, particularly in terms of providing the drivers with a consistent, confidence-delivering platform. As we’ve always stated, we believe there are some large areas of performance locked within the car and its recent upgrade.

“We are confident our solid-engineering approach will enable us to fully unlock them sooner rather than later.”

Hamilton, who watched last season’s Belgian grand prix from the garage after being involved in a first-lap accident that also included Jenson Button, is also hoping to avoid any more reliability issues after his gearbox failure in Hungary.

“We’ve investigated the causes [of the gearbox issue], and think we’ve identified the reason and are confident it shouldn’t happen again.

“Personally, I think Spa is one of the great Formula One tracks, and one where I’d really love to win. I’ll be going flat-out to try and get us back into the hunt again in Belgium, and it would be fantastic if we could take home another win at the end of the weekend.”

Sebastian Vettel, meanwhile, says he is feeling confident ahead of the race. Vettel remains only 10 points adrift of his team-mate Webber going into the final seven races.

“I love Spa. It has some of the best corner sections in Formula One. They’re long, fast-flowing and suit our car.

“Our weakness will be the long straights and, with uphill sections too, we know it won’t be easy for us, but I am optimistic for the race.”

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk

Suffering from back pain? Chuck out the Nurofen and buy a new Vauxhall Meriva – soon to be hated by osteopaths

Price £12,995
MPG 57.6
CO2 per km 129 grams

It’s one of the trickiest and potentially more embarrassing manoeuvres a driver has to perform – the roadside loo break. Crouching in the lee of an open door, the wind of passing traffic whistling between your bare thighs, the silent prayer a car travelling in the same direction won’t suddenly appear and leave you hopelessly exposed… Well, worry no more. The new Meriva, a stylish small family car from Vauxhall, features rear-hinged back doors which mean when you open back and front together you create a small pocket of privacy. The relief!

Much as I’d like to believe these back-to-front doors were created as the ultimate mobile comfort stop, they were designed to make access and egress to the back of the car as undemanding as possible. NHS statistics on back pain make for grim reading. Half of us will have lower-back pain this year (you may, in fact, be reading this while lying on a hard floor – in which case, I hope it passes soon); and our dodgy backs account for more sick days than anything other than, well, dodgy prawns.

Working with chiropractors, physiotherapists and design experts, Vauxhall has managed to reduce twisting and loading on the lower back by up to 58%. They have done this by creating taller doors which open wider so you don’t have to bend over as much to get in. To make that more technical: the Meriva’s rear-hinged door opens to 84 degrees – 17 degrees more than a traditional door. A grab handle on the inside of the central B-pillar also makes it easier to haul yourself out, something older passengers will appreciate. The RAC estimates that in the next 20 years there will be twice as many male drivers over 70 and three times as many female drivers over 70 – that’s a whole lot of back pain.

The sexier name for “rear-hinged back doors” is suicide doors. So named because if the door becomes unlatched at speed, the wind will snap it open. On a conventional front-hinged door, the wind forces the door shut. The Rolls- Royce Phantom and London black cab – and now the Meriva – have got round this safety problem by having a special lock that prevents the door from being opened unless the car is at a standstill. The only other cars with rear-opening back doors are currently Mazda’s RX-8 and the Mini Clubman. But they have front doors which overlap the back doors so they’re not strictly speaking suicide doors, they’re clamshell doors.

The old Meriva was the best seller in its class for seven years, so this new incarnation has a lot riding on it. It’s wider and longer than the outgoing model, but a great deal funkier. Clever cut lines around the front spotlights and below the grille give the face an expressive appeal and the wave in the window line and the stepped door panels give it a slightly zany, sculptural look.

Inside, the car follows in the soft-soled footsteps of Vauxhall’s reworked Astra and its new Insignia – it feels comfortable, contemporary and unexpectedly swanky. The car is also a compulsive hoarder’s dream. It has 32 separate storage cubbies, including a removable central console – Vauxhall came up with a list of 100 items that the typical Meriva owner would want to fit into these spaces. Engine wise, I drove the economical turbocharged diesel variant which was lively and responsive.

The Meriva won’t win awards for smoothness or the quietness of the engine, but this is a model determined to take some of the back (and bladder) pain out of family driving.

Talking dirty: white van slogans

Car sales have been in the doldrums recently, but vans have been a different story. The past year has seen purchases increase by almost 130%. So, plenty of fresh canvas for our streetwise and hilarious “dirt sloganeers” to display their wit on. Here’s a list of some of our favourites, compiled by the insurance specialists Hastings Direct. Why not see how many you can spot on the road? “I wish my wife was as dirty as this”; “I’m a Porsche in disguise”; “For sale: sponge and bucket, never used”; “Don’t wash me, plant something” and “Born to roam, no time for foam!”

Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or visit guardian.co.uk/profile/martinlove for all his reviews in one place

Technology: Wheels | guardian.co.uk

• Crash limits Hamilton to just 12 minutes on the track
• Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso sets fastest practice time

The championship leader, Lewis Hamilton, endured a frustrating start to his German grand prix weekend as he crashed during a rain-hit first practice and was forced to sit out almost the entire second session while his car was being repaired. But with only 12 minutes of track time at Hockenheim and in running for just 10 laps – Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari completed 48 as a contrast – Hamilton still produced a credible performance.

The championship leader managed to post the seventh-quickest time, finishing 0.739 seconds behind Fernando Alonso as Ferrari and Red Bull Racing locked out the top four places. But it is the 78 minutes of valuable running that will hurt him and the team the most as his mechanics spent four hours repairing a car that rammed into a tyre wall during the opening 90-minute session.

Rain had fallen over Hockenheim since 7.30am local time and did not relent until four hours later, 30 minutes into the session, leaving pools of standing water across the track. Despite being on wet tyres, a number of drivers were sent spinning, with the biggest casualty being Hamilton. After finally setting his first timed lap almost 65 minutes in, the 25-year-old’s session did not last too much longer.

Coming slowly out of what is now known as Bernie Ecclestone Kurve, Hamilton did nothing more than put a wheel on a damp part of the circuit that at that time was beginning to show a drier line in places. That immediately led to his McLaren getting out of shape, sending Hamilton sliding across the wet grass, and with no traction he ploughed nose first into a barrier.

The impact, although not severe, was enough to send him spinning around, resulting in a second collision with the tyres that damaged his left-rear wheel. Over the team radio Hamilton succinctly summed up the situation, saying: “The car’s in the wall and is damaged – heavily.”

McLaren then performed wonders to get him back out on track with a few minutes to spare in what was a predominantly dry session other than a few spots of rain now and again. On only his second timed lap Hamilton’s pace was enough to put him within 0.069sec of team-mate Jenson Button, who was 14th at the time.

Hamilton eventually finished with a lap of 1min 17.004sec, seven-tenths of a second faster than Button who finished down in 15th and who completed 36 laps. His time will be encouraging to McLaren, who were again testing the performance-enhancing exhaust blown diffuser that was ditched after Friday practice at the British grand prix two weeks ago.

It was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, though, who held sway with a lap of 1min 16.265sec, just 0.029sec ahead of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who had an engine change at the start of the second session. Their team-mates – Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Red Bull’s Mark Webber – were third and fourth fastest followed by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg, who required a new front wing at one stage, and Michael Schumacher.

Behind Hamilton came Renault’s Robert Kubica and the Williams duo of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg in ninth and 10th.

The drier conditions led to a “normal” timesheet for the second session as the new teams in Lotus, Virgin and Hispania Racing occupied the final six places. Hispania’s Bruno Senna and Sakon Yamamoto filled the bottom two spots, the latter 6.801sec adrift of Alonso.

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk

• German’s Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber to start second
• McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button 5th and 11th

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel has claimed pole position for the Hungarian grand prix tomorrow after today’s qualifying. His team-mate will start second, which means Red Bull have their sixth all-front row of this year’s championship.

Vettel claimed his seventh pole of the season and fourth in a row with a crushing lap at the Hungaroring of 1min 18.773sec, just over four tenths of a second quicker than Webber.

It is Red Bull’s 11th pole in the 12 races this season, but this was by far their most impressive, with Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari a staggering 1.2sec adrift in third.

“It was a very good day for us,” said Vettel. “All weekend we have felt comfortable, from the first practice session onwards, and overnight we improved it a bit.

“I said to the team over the radio that this was their moment because although Mark and myself are pushing hard to finish first and second, they have built this wonderful car. So I’m happy to be on pole again. It means a lot for us, my team and myself.”

Vettel, who has only won once this season from his six previous poles, added: “Hopefully I can have a good start and then a good race because there are no points on a Saturday.”

Webber admitted to having given it his best: “It wasn’t the cleanest lap, my first. But Seb deserves pole. It was a good lap, 18.7, and it wasn’t my day, but the guys have done a phenomenal job all weekend.

“This was pretty similar to Barcelona here. We knew it was going to be between us, and whoever did the quickest lap would get pole.”

With Alonso so far back all the Spaniard can hope for is to apply as much pressure as possible.

“There is a big gap between Red Bull and us,” said Alonso.

“We maximised our potential. We did our job, which is being the best of the rest.

“Hopefully we can make it a difficult race for them because so far it has been too easy.”

Alonso is joined on the second row by team-mate Felipe Massa, who suffered a near-fatal accident in qualifying on this track just over a year ago.

The championship leader Lewis Hamilton again performed superbly in a below par McLaren to claim fifth ahead of Nico Mercedes’ Rosberg, but will have to go some to make it three wins in four visits here.

His McLaren team-mate, Jenson Button, will start in a disappointing 11th place, making it the sixth time in the last seven grand prixs he has been out-performed by Hamilton. The 30-year-old missed out on a place in the top 10 by 0.017sec, and now faces a fight to gain any respectable points tomorrow to hold on to his second place in the standings.

Joining Button on the sixth row of the grid is his former Honda and Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello, now with Williams.

Meanwhile for the first time this season Renault’s Vitaly Petrov finally out-qualified his team-mate Robert Kubica, with the duo seventh and eighth. They are followed by Pedro de la Rosa in his Sauber, equalling his best performance of the season, and Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg.

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk

The DS of the 1950s may have been divinely inspired, but will Citroën’s new DS3 win a cult following?

Price £10,875
MPG 48.7
Top speed 114mph

For some fearful souls, danger lurks round every corner. But when I told my young daughter’s friend that there was a shark riding in the back of Citroën’s new supermini, the DS3, I didn’t expect her to burst into tears and refuse to get in. It seems being a “fun dad” is itself pretty hazardous. What I was (hilariously) pointing at was the car’s jagged B-pillar. An angular fin which breaks the surface of the window line with a plausible Jaws impression. It’s swimming towards the back of the car, so at least it’s moving away from you.

The dynamically stylish DS3 is named after the legendary Citroën DS of 1955, one of the most technically advanced and radically chic cars of all time. The divine Déesse was always going to be a tough act to follow, and a name can be both a blessing and a burden, but these days DS probably means Nintendo to most people, so maybe customers will just imagine that Super Mario is at the wheel.

The car is the first in Citroën’s new DS line, a range which will eventually consist of three distinctively styled and attention-grabbing vehicles. The DS4 and DS5 are set to launch in 2011 and 2012 respectively, though there seems to be no real reason to begin at 3. Maybe it’s like public school, where they start in the third form.

The little DS3 finds itself swimming in shark-infested waters. The market segment it has dived into already boasts some of the finest “premium” small cars around – there’s the Mini, Fiat’s 500 and Alfa Romeo’s MiTo. These three are a bunch of show-offs, so any mere breaststroker will quickly find themselves sinking. The DS3, therefore, comes with a raft of stand-out, head-turning design features that aim to give it a fighting chance. Simply having an efficient engine, comfortable seats, comprehensive active and passive safety features, a decent stereo and a bunch of doors is, like… whatevvvvvvur. So the DS3 has twinkling daylight running lights, a handsome double chevron chrome grille, those killer shark fins and a ”floating roof”. The rear pillars have been wrapped in glass to create the impression that the roof is levitating above the car’s low-slung rear end. It’s a brilliantly eye-catching device, but it comes at a cost – you can’t open the rear windows.

If the fins and floating roof have done their job and hooked you as a buyer, you’ll be faced with a blizzard of options. Citroën will encourage you to click on its bespoke “DS configurator” and give vent to your creative urges. There are 38 body and roof colour combinations to choose from – the wing mirrors, wheel caps, dashboard, gearstick, upholstery and even carpets can all be specified. And, the icing on the cake, you can even have your key fob matched to the colour of your car.

Given all the efforts to create an effervescent and strikingly different personality for this car, it will break the hearts of Citroën’s designers to hear that in the week I test-drove the DS3, three separate people asked me how I liked the “new Mini”. In a way they weren’t too far off the mark, as the vehicles do share the same engine – a super-responsive 156bhp 1.6-litre turbocharged power plant, which makes both cars great fun to drive.

Prices start at £10,875 and rise to £15,030 – but crucially Citroën says that all its models will be cheaper than the equivalent Mini. And they’ve chucked in the sharks for free…

Blankets on the ground: the best picnic spots

Your back is sticky, your legs have cramp and if you have to listen to one more radio adbreak you will SCREAM! Time to pull over and eat that delicious picnic you carefully threw together from what was left in the pre-holiday fridge (beetroot and Nutella sandwich, anyone?)

But where to stop? The usual sites are all litter-strewn nightmares. Thankfully, the RAC has launched picnicwithrac.co.uk – a site for sites, compiled by 4,000 of its members. And the best in the country is at the Ladybower Reservoir (above), off the A57. Just don’t forget the bottle opener…

Email Martin at martin.love@observer.co.uk or visit guardian.co.uk/profile/martinlove for all his reviews in one place

Technology: Wheels | guardian.co.uk

• Hamilton forced out by transmission problem with McLaren
• Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel handed 10-second penalty

Lewis Hamilton, the leader of the Formula One drivers’ championship at the start of the day, saw his world title hopes take a blow after being forced to retire from the Hungarian grand prix.

Hamilton had been losing time to the front four, as the Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber tussled with Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa of Ferrari. Following the deployment of the safety car on lap 16 because of debris on the track, Hamilton was able to move ahead of Massa – but the Briton pulled off the track on lap 24 because of a transmission problem with his McLaren.

“I went through turn one and basically lost drive,” Hamilton told the BBC. “I think the gearbox went. That’s motorsport. When you push cars to the limit these things can happen. We’ve lost a lot of points today.”

There was further drama as Vettel, who had begun the race on pole, was handed a 10-second penalty for exceeding 10 car lengths behind the safety car. Vettel, who had dropped to third behind Webber and Alonso, was furious at the decision but was told by his team over the radio: “It’s because of the restart. Hamilton’s out of the race. Stay focused.”

Nico Rosberg, who had been running sixth in his Mercedes, was the instigator of further mayhem in the pit lane after his crew failed to fit his right-rear tyre correctly. As Rosberg pulled out on to the pit lane the tyre worked loose, initially rolling and then bouncing its way through the other pit crews.

Whether it was a distraction to Renault’s pit team is unclear, but Robert Kubica was released too early by his lollipop man as he ran into the side of Force India’s Adrian Sutil just as he was about to come into the pit entry box.

The damage was too great for Sutil to continue, although Renault were able to send Kubica on his way again, only for him to receive a 10-second stop-go penalty for an unsafe release from the pits. As for Rosberg, he trundled down to the end of the pit lane on three wheels and, with his crew unable to retrieve him, that is where he retired.

Sport: Lewis Hamilton | guardian.co.uk