Amazing race! As an Alonso fan, to say I'm delighted is an understatement!!! Fantastic drive from Fernando. Back-to-back wins in a Renault which is 20-30bhp down on the Merc, BMW, & Ferrari is stunning! Indeed last time in Singapore he lucked into it, but today he simply blew everyone away. How can Ferrari ingnore this guy? Get him as team leader in the mold of the Schumacher years, with a solid number 2 backing him up, and the Prancing Horse would sweep all before them again. Also, hats off to Kubica. That was on of the finest defencive drives I have ever seen. On a circut with one of the easiest overtaking spots in the sport, he held Raikkonen off in a faster Ferrari for lap after lap until the Finn's tyres went away. Given that he is only 12 point behind Hamilton in the WDC, one wonders what would happen had BMW not halted development on this years car after Canada? I just hope their plan of throwing everthing into the 2009 car payes off, becaus with Kubica's consistency, he could easily take the Title with a decent car. Hamilton. What are you doing lad? He made a bad start, but istead of tucking into 5-6 place, protecting his title lead, and giving himself a shot at a good result, he pulls an insane move into turn one, locks up everything, and almost takes half the field out! The boy has to get it into his thick head that he is ONLY racing Massa at this stage. Kimi, Fernando, Kubica, & Kova are no danger, so just let them go and cover Massa. He blew a 17 point lead last season fighting a pointless fight in China, if they don't calm him down, he could do the same. And I agree, the way he fought Alonso in the last lap was low. Weaving and lunging at a guy who is a lap ahead and cruising to victory was pointless and personal. Glad to see Alonso never took the bait and just pulled off the racing line and got the obnoxious little shit out of his hair. But Massa. Calm down! There is still a chance, but he can't keep letting Hamilton off the hook. Like at Monza, the opportunity has there to take big points out of his lead, but he let it slip through his fingers again. The move on Hamilton on the first lap was never on, with all four wheels off the track then hitting Lewis, he was lucky only to get a drive through. And I believe he was at fault when he squeezed Bourdais near the end. A good fighting drive for a point, but he really should have been on the podium. So overall a great race, with honerable mentions to Piquet, Trulli, Bourdais, & Vettel. And only 1 week until China, with BMW, Renault, Toyota, & Toro Rosso all closing the gap to Ferrari & McLaren, it should be great! BRG
Bourdais given 25sec Penalty. Massa promoted to 7th! I'm sorry, but this is complete bullshit. From what I saw, Bourdais exited the pits, and simply held his line into turn one. He is racing for position, not a lap down, so what is he supposed to do? Just park his car in the main straight and say "After you, sir." to Massa in his mighty Ferarri? And why was the incedent delt with post-race, there was quarter of the race left, surly if an infringement took place, Bourdais should have been given a drive through. This whole mess stinks. It is nonsense like this which is ruining the sport. And gives feul to the claims that the FIA are pro-Ferarri. Oh well, Massa is now only 5pts behind, so that is something I suppose. BRG
I don't think any more evidence is needed to say that Lewis Hamilton is not championship material at this point. He will be more a champion of circumstance than actual ability. All he had to do was finish 2-3 places higher than Massa. Not hard to do when he had pole position and 4 places on him. Still he makes ridiculous amounts of risky moves. The boy can drive but he has no strategy or calm. He's more of a blunt instrument. You know I wouldn't be half-mad if Kubica lifted the trophy this year. Massa has had it coming after partnering both Michael and Kimi though. Can't wait for China. BTW, I'm surprised there aren't any Lewis fans here. Hope I didn't scare you away.
I'm a Lewis/McClaren fan - but I'm not one of the rabid fanboy variety. I recognize his flaws (An ever growing ego, impetuousness at the wrong moments, and at times a seeming lack of brain...) but I do think he has talent - a talent that needs refining, of course - and as an Englishman I'm on his side. I'm not the sort of fan that enjoys partisan slanging matches like some do (The Yahoo F1 forums are atrocious...) - and I'm glad to see that there's none of that here.
Not quite sure if that was tongue in cheek or not. Ah, I am unfortunately quite a rabid tifosi. Still, one must be civilized and I promise to calm myself in future.
Believe me, the tone of this thread is wonderfully mellow compared to some of the sub-TNZ name-calling childish catfights that I've seen on the internets regarding F1!
Qualifying for the Chinese GP, and Hamilton sticks his McLaren on Pole again! Massa a wee bit off in 3rd, and Kubica had a disaster, not getting out of Q2 and ending up 11th. Kimi looking on-it again this week, 2nd for him, and he pushed Lewis hard. Alonso a great 4th, and Kovalainen a dissapointing 5th. Also poor displays by the other two Brits, both Botton & Couthard never made it out of Q1. Lewis is stunning in Qualifying. He reminds me of the great Mika Hakkinen, Mika could alway pull a perfect lap out of the bag right at the death, giving Schumacher, Coulthard, Irvine, and Barrichello no chance to respond back in the late 90s/early 00s. Lewis has the same thing going, he seems to dial the car in all session, then right on cue with his last run, BOOM! He sticks it on Pole with Kimi, Massa, & Kova left reeling! Well, its advantage Hamilton for tomorrow, with Massa on the back foot and Kubica needing divine intervention! Once again, I belive the teamates could swing it in the race, Kimi is well placed to help Massa, while Kova still looks out of his depth. This could swing it back Massa's way. And look out For Alonso, he has been mouthing off in the Spanish press about helping Massa, he could be the Joker in the pack. BRG
I was really looking forward to watching the quali especially since I was in a hotel room with a 40" TV. :P But alas, I silenced my alarm and slept through it. The start is going to be intense! Our best hope is that Kimi gets the jump on Lewis and slows him to allow Felippe past. Thankfully Heikki iss behind Alonso who has pledged to help Massa!
Unfortunatly China served up a pretty dull & unspectacular Grand Prix. However, it was an oustanding victory for Lewis Hamilton, who simply blew the opposition away. Really, Lewis was in a class of one all weekend. Pole Position, a lights-to-flag victory, and the fastest lap! A brilliant display, outpacing the Ferarri pair and putting himself within reach of his first WDC. The Ferarri was just no mach for the McLaren in Hamilton's hands. Raikkonen gave his all, and for the second race in a row he put his teammate in the shade. Has Kimi finally ound his mojo? While not at his blistering best, I still think he has laid down a marker for Massa next season, 2009 Kimi will lead Ferrari and fight for the title. Massa looked off-the-pace all weekend. Kimi handed him 2nd place at the end, but he now needs a miricle to take the crown. With Hamilton opening up a 7pt lead, Massa will have to hope for him to crash out or suffer technical failiure in the last round. It's possible, but very unlikely. Of the rest, once again Alonso stood out. He beat Kovalainen in a early fight, and eased to a solid 4th. I just hope Fernando has the car he deserves next year, and has a shot at the title. Glock continued his excellent form of late with a strong drive to 7th. Barrichello also impressed, although his Honda was nowhere near good enough for a points finish. And both BMW drivers put in their usual solid drives to bring home good points, but alas, Kubica is now out of the title hunt. And the not so good, Kovalainen once again had a poor race. In a car good enough for hamilton to win by a country mile, Kova could not live with Alonso's Renault! This boy needs to pull his socks up. And Fisichella seemed to spend all race getting in the way of everybody & anybody! Oh well, after a series of excellent & incedent packed races from Belgium right through to Japan last week, we were due a poor one. But up next is Brazil! Interlagos is a real old school circut, it is fast, bumpy, and dangerous! And with unpredictable weather, a vast hardcore crowd, and a local boy going for the title, this should be a classic! Miss this one at your peril! BRG
Well at least we can go to interlagos knowing that Massa is blisteringly quick there every year. I can only hope that Hamilton's engine goes or he "presses the wrong button" again. I knew that the start would be key in China and sure enough. Once the first lap was over, so was the action for the most part.
Sensational end to a sensational season! WOW!!! That was an unbelievable end to F1 championship! Both drivers must have been at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum, only for it to be flipped on its head in the last seconds as Glock's dry tyres finally gave out in the rain, Many congratulations to Lewis Hamilton on what will surly be the first of many World Titles. He never looked his usual racey self all weekend, but played a clever, cautious game which would have easily gave him the glory if not for the dramatic weather change. I have said before, I am not a fan, I find him arrogant in the extream and he just rubs me the wrong way. But he is one of the most exciting drivers I have ever seen, and a worthy WDC. Poor Filipe Massa. What more could the boy have done? As good as Lewis has been, Massa has matched him all year, had to best his team leader and defending champion, and overcome a hostile media who just did not rate him as top drawer. Yet in the end it was his team that let him down, the engine failure in Hungary and the pit-stop disaster in Singapore robbed him twice of certain victory, and would have given him an easy title. He did benifit from some very dubious decisions by the FIA, but even the most ardent Hamilton fan must have felt his heartbreak at the end of his home GP, told he had won the title, only for Glock to fall apart on the home straight at hand it back to Lewis. Fine race for Alonso & Vettel, who were excellent all year. Good to see Kimi back fighting, hopefully a title challeng by him next season. And Glock again continued his fine season, who was blameless as he fell away at the death. So once again well done Lewis Hamilton, our 9th British F1 World Champion and first since Damon Hill in 1996, and McLaren's 6th World Champin drive, and the first since Mika Hakkinen in 1999. And also congratulations to Ferarri who again won the WCC, just a pity the champion team let down Massa in his quest for the WDC. Roll on 2009! BRG
Re: Sensational end to a sensational season! Yay, I can actually watch the next race, cos it's back on the BBC...
Re: Sensational end to a sensational season! talk about heart in mouth stuff, vettel takes hamilton then glock just disappears, the look on the faces of the ferrari guys when they realised victory had been snatched from them at the last second! Roll on next year
Go Lewis! In the space of 45 seconds, my guy lost, then won the World Championship. I was rolling on the floor laughing with glee. I think my cat thought I was having a nervous breakdown. In 25 years of watching motorsport, that was probably the most amazing last corner of a season I have ever seen. One for the ages. Lewis!!!!
One of the most amazing races I have ever seen. Lewis won the Championship by 5 seconds! I was an emotional wreck thinking he won then lost then won. Wild. Many congrats to him. And Massa I hope gets another crack at it next year because he's a Gentleman in Victory and Defeat as the commentators said.
One of the best races I've seen in a while and yet one of the saddest. Glock couldn't make it 500 yards further at race pace? This was Massa's championship and for 2 laps he almost had it. That bloody Hungary engine screwed everything up for us. 2009 will be his year. I know it. Domenicalli should have the team's shit together for it. Less mistakes and oversights. Vettel could quite possibly get himself into any cockpit he wants for 2009. The boy is brilliant. Hopefully Red Bull don't let him down. I really want to see him in a red car for 2010. Vettel-Alonso '10? Also, just goes to show you how good Torro Rosso is as a team too. It would be a terrible shame to see them go. Hopefully they can keep the customer car thing going. Poor DC. Last race and he gets double teamed by the Williams cars on lap 1. Really sad way to end a great career. Also this is the end of the road for Rubens Barrichello. I will be very surprised if he returns in 2009. Honda has far better prospect on the market (eg. Sato). I don't expect to see Piquet Jr. next year either. His run in F1 has been downright pathetic (save 1 podium). I'm stunned Fisi will be back in '09. I hope Bourdais keeps his seat. He's shown a lot of improvement of late and I think he can be Torro Rosso's beacon next year. Anyway, I'm off to watch a recording of Brazil 2007. That should cheer me up.
In fairness, both Glock and Trulli posted terrible final lap times. Looks like the Toyota had no grip at all on the last part of the track.