217 replies to this topic

[nigel red5]

It's the perfect storm for Kimi Raikkonen & Fernando Alonso, as the world championship fight goes down to the wire in Brazil.

The race started amidst the beginnings of a rain shower. Credit to the drivers should be given for how they drove the opening laps, they were extremely well behaved in difficult, changing conditions. Hamilton held the lead and pulled away with ease in the early laps of the race. A couple of small rain showers did'nt halt the Briton's progress, and he marched away from Raikkonen, Massa & Alonso.

The circuit however caught a perfect hole in the weather and conditions improved enough for dry tyres to be taken by the brave. Alex Wurz was first to try dries and he instantly sent the timing screens turning purple, causing panic down the pitlane as more and more drivers reacted and came in for faster rubber. A few drivers however stayed out for a few more laps - as there was a simultaneous message flashed about more rain coming imminently.

Leader Hamilton was one of those to try and hang on for the shower, and he paid the price. His intermediates were completely down to the canvas, and Hamilton decided finally that it was time to pit, but the tyres gave up, he came into the pitlane too quickly, and slid off into a small gravel trap in the pitlane. This time there was no rejoining the fray.

Robert Kubica then amazingly assumed the lead of the race, but the pole was shattered by a mechanical problem and he had to retire. Kimi Raikkonen then took over a lead he was never to lose, with Alonso moving into Second place it sets us up perfectly for a thrilling finale.

Result from Shanghai....

Pos  Driver		Team					Time

 1.  Raikkonen	 Ferrari			(B)  1h37:58.395

 2.  Alonso		McLaren-Mercedes   (B)  +	 9.800

 3.  Massa		 Ferrari			(B)  +	12.800

 4.  Vettel		Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  +	53.500

 5.  Button		Honda			  (B)  +	68.600

 6.  Liuzzi		Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B)  +	73.600

 7.  Heidfeld	  BMW Sauber		 (B)  +	74.200

 8.  Coulthard	 Red Bull-Renault   (B)  +	80.700

 9.  Kovalainen	Renault			(B)  +	81.100

10.  Webber		Red Bull-Renault   (B)  +	84.600

11.  Fisichella	Renault			(B)  +	86.600

12.  Wurz		  Williams-Toyota	(B)  +	1 Lap

13.  Trulli		Toyota			 (B)  +	1 Lap

14.  Sato		  Super Aguri-Honda  (B)  +	1 Lap

15.  Barrichello   Honda			  (B)  +	1 Lap

16.  Rosberg	   Williams-Toyota	(B)  +	2 Laps

17.  Yamamoto	  Spyker-Ferrari	 (B)  +	3 Laps



Fastest lap: Massa, 1:37.454



Not classified/retirements:



Driver		Team					  On lap

Kubica		BMW Sauber		 (B)	 34

Hamilton	  McLaren-Mercedes   (B)	 31

R.Schumacher  Toyota			 (B)	 26

Sutil		 Spyker-Ferrari	 (B)	 25

Davidson	  Super Aguri-Honda  (B)	 12

[TheSaltire]

Wow!!!

KR takes the win. LH has his first retirement of the season...and his timing couldn't have been worse. Alonso keeps his hopes alive. Massa turns on the speed in the final laps. Vettel comes homne in 4th with a brillant drive. DC takes the final point.

[umapathypon]

Another great race at this track without any artificial safety car drama. Well done,Kimi.

[former champ]

Raikkonen.

[Vilenova]

Originally posted by TheSaltire
Wow!!!

KR takes the win. LH has his first retirement of the season...and his timing couldn't have been worse. Alonso keeps his hopes alive. Massa turns on the speed in the final laps. Vettel comes homne in 4th with a brillant drive. DC takes the final point.

Wow is right.

Mac must be kicking temselves wondering how badly they blew that one.

[Bloggsworth]

Major tactical error by McLaren, the last person to win a race running on canvas was Stirling Moss in Argentina in 1958.........

Oh dear, showing my age again.

[CaptnMark]

OK race.

Walter Wolf forever

[jokuvaan]

As I predicten on bets, Hamiltons luck will have to run out someday.

Pressure must be immense in Brazil, career ahead or not.

Bad news for Massa, unlikely to fight for win in Brazil as Kimi has still a chance.

[pUs]

Massa. Total lack of interest when it mattered.

[kar]

Rofl at them giggling upon hearing what happened to Hamilton

[MortenF1]

Well well - his pace was commanding but a huge mistake from Hamilton and McLaren together...

Good for the championship!

Alonso is quite well in touch now.
Nice win for Räikkönen who's been very strong all weekend.
Massa could only keep up towards the end of the race, but third is nice.

Vettel gets his revenge - a nice drive but they couldn't have been luckier with the timing of their stop. Liuzzi in sixth makes it a great weekend for STR.
Same for Button and Honda, but a deserved result for them as well.

A shame that the timing of DC's first stop came at such a wrong time - put him out of sequence with the others who could just bolt on the dries. Apart from that, a very good weekend overall, even if just one point is dissapointing.

[ensign14]

Think some presents are in order.

Kimi: Edward de Bono on positive thought - seemed to perk up when LH pitted. You can go faster even if you're not leading.

McLaren: a small guide to how the world title comes down to points rather than who has the cleanest car or something. If you need 4th for the title, and have a 40 second lead over 4th, you can have 2 pit stops and still come 4th.

Alonso: a video of Hamilton dealing with the team when he retired. Not much in the way of helmet bouncing.

Vettel: Rudyard Kipling's poem "If". Especially the bit about triumph and disaster.

Rubinho: a nice comfy chair and some slippers.

Webber: a brain. Might be better to concentrate on people trying to overtake you rather than whinge about your team-mate.

Bernie: well, he can give me his lottery ticket. A 3 way fight for the title on peaktime European viewing? When your luck's in, it's in.

[Galko877]

Kimi and Alonso are back in the title race. I'm waiting to hear from the team what happened with Hamilton as it was really strange. He still has a good chance on the title though and for him luck in bad luck is that it was Kimi who won, not Alonso. All he needs to do in Brazil to finish right behind Alonso (or ahead, obviously).

[DriveFastLiveSlow]

Glad to see the WDC alive!

Kimi
Alonso
STR
Massa
Hailton

[former champ]

Originally posted by jokuvaan
As I predicten on bets, Hamiltons luck will have to run out someday.

Pressure must be immense in Brazil, career ahead or not.

Bad news for Massa, unlikely to fight for win in Brazil as Kimi has still a chance.

I'm sure Hamilton will be fine.......

As for Massa, he would be really pissed off with the way things have panned out. No doubt.

[ZZMS]

Originally posted by pUs
Massa. Total lack of interest when it mattered.

except it didn't matter for him, and he did everything to help his team win WCC. KR should fight his own fight.

[Big Block 8]

Well done Kimi and Vettel.

It currently strongly looks like that Raikkonen can thank his team for the 3rd time for losing the WDC due to inferior reliability - but let's see what's the final verdict is after the last race. He still has one race to toss away the "spiritual championship winner" title.

[kyriakos75]

Originally posted by jokuvaan
As I predicten on bets, Hamiltons luck will have to run out someday.

Thankfully someone forgot gravel somewhere in the track, and the boy managed to go exactly there

[MortenF1]

Originally posted by ensign14


Webber: a brain. Might be better to concentrate on people trying to overtake you rather than whinge about your team-mate.

So it was DC his was waving at? My commentators said Kovalainen but I thought it was DC.

[airflow]

Originally posted by pUs
Massa. Total lack of interest when it mattered.

huh?

IMHO, he did his best to help Kimi.

btw, Macca

[clampett]

Renault strategists.

No words can describe how I disgusted with this season.

Vettel was great at least.

[Louis Mr. F1]

where are the McLaren mechanics @ the podium ceremony? it seems only a handful of them are there.

[pUs]

Originally posted by ensign14
Think some presents are in order.

Kimi: Edward de Bono on positive thought - seemed to perk up when LH pitted. You can go faster even if you're not leading.

Dunno really, Kimi seemed to manage his tires really good. In fact, it made him win the race. Sure he could have gone faster behind Hamilton, but I'm not sure the tires would have coped with it.

[juary]

Nice race...

Lewis

KR and FA

Massa is not a team player....or probably the rumours about FA in Ferrari are true...

Vettel, Liuzzi and STR

Button

Fisi the Renault strategy are really **** this year....

[pUs]

Originally posted by ZZMS


except it didn't matter for him, and he did everything to help his team win WCC. KR should fight his own fight.

It was already won before today. And it is in the interests of the team to win the WDC.

[silver fan]

Originally posted by former champ


As for Massa, he would be really pissed off with the way things have panned out. No doubt.

He'll be even more pissed off in Brazil if Ferrari do the only sensible thing and use him to run interference with the Macs while hopefully giving Kimi a clear run to the flag.

[Cuba]

Brazil will be exciting ...

BMW is a crap, another time in this season gearbox failed - BMW's reliability is a joke - especially they had a huge chance for winning

[SuperDaan]

What are the weather predictions for Brazil?
Always good races with changing conditions.

After today I think Alonso will be the WDC.
Dutch reporters where saying that Lewis had to stay out that extra 3 laps with bad tyres because of the McLaren fuel tank. If he stopped earlier he had to make even another pitstop....
Still he would have finished at least 5 or 6 i think, always better the score some points then a DNF....

Bring on Brazil

[eoin]

Originally posted by silver fan



He'll be even more pissed off in Brazil if Ferrari do the only sensible thing and use him to run interference with the Macs while hopefully giving Kimi a clear run to the flag.

didn't do it last year for MS, so i can't see them doing it for kimi.

[SphereTL1000S]

Originally posted by former champ


I'm sure Hamilton will be fine.......

As for Massa, he would be really pissed off with the way things have panned out. No doubt.

I agree...Hamilton has the best chance by far...

And Massa should have more luck, but Kimi had his share of bad luck in the past too...

[philhitchings]

Originally posted by ensign14
Think some presents are in order.

Kimi: Edward de Bono on positive thought - seemed to perk up when LH pitted. You can go faster even if you're not leading.

McLaren: a small guide to how the world title comes down to points rather than who has the cleanest car or something. If you need 4th for the title, and have a 40 second lead over 4th, you can have 2 pit stops and still come 4th.

Alonso: a video of Hamilton dealing with the team when he retired. Not much in the way of helmet bouncing.

Vettel: Rudyard Kipling's poem "If". Especially the bit about triumph and disaster.

Rubinho: a nice comfy chair and some slippers.

Webber: a brain. Might be better to concentrate on people trying to overtake you rather than whinge about your team-mate.

Bernie: well, he can give me his lottery ticket. A 3 way fight for the title on peaktime European viewing? When your luck's in, it's in.

nicely put

[kar]

Was interesting hearing Whitmarsh on ITV, I wonder why no one asked him (well I know why, to ask would show it was Lewis' fault) why Lewis' tyres were shot while Fernando's and Kimi's were fine....

[SphereTL1000S]

Originally posted by eoin


didn't do it last year for MS, so i can't see them doing it for kimi.

I don't know about last year, but they should do it this year...Ferrari will do anything to payback Ron Dennis. I hope Massa embraces the team spirit.

[stevewf1]

Originally posted by former champ
I'm sure Hamilton will be fine.......

Yeah, he'll be OK. Hamilton needed a real world wake-up call at some point this season...

I had to create a new "retirement reason" on my database for Hamilton's exit: "slid off entering pits"

[airflow]

Originally posted by silver fan



He'll be even more pissed off in Brazil if Ferrari do the only sensible thing and use him to run interference with the Macs while hopefully giving Kimi a clear run to the flag.

Quite right you are. But then, again, you should not expect any sort of fair play from ferrari.

[Deeq]

Just in.. there are Humans working in the deathstar erm paragon..I have seen him on TV stuff his WDC, I am fan but that was stoopid and one of the worst cracking under pressure i have ever seen... :

Was this some new MCFia super secret - Alonso - torture technique, just give FA enough hope.....to whine erm battle on

[Paul Prost]

It drives me bananas that ITV cut short the press conference (which doens't feature Lewis Hamilton) so that two buffoons in the pit lane can talk about Lewis Hamilton some more....

[Pep]

I'd like to think Alonso has some chance, but McLaren wouldn't allow Alonso to be crowned champion I'm afraid. Just some wrong tyre pressures or overheating of tyres as in China and Alonso will be 4th in the quali.

[GhostR]

gawd, the possible permutations for how each driver can win the WDC are doing my head in already .

Obviously easiest for Hamilton, but if Alonso wins the race then he needs to finish second as Alonso moves ahead on countback (5 wins to 4). If Alonso is second then Hamilton can afford fifth and then wins on countback (on strength of more 2nd's). If Kimi wins and Alonso is third and Hamilton 6th then Kimi wins it...

It's Hamilton's title to lose, still. But that may play in favour of the other two, who simply need to go balls out for the win and hope for Hamilton to stuff up.

[president evil]

Well done Raikkonen!!! Great drive and haha to Lewis .. silly mistake from him and McLaren. Vettel driver of the day without doubt. I cant believe Lewis tried and failed to copy Coulthard a la Adelaide 95

[dannymac]

I can't believe people are blaming the team, Hamilton's inexperience shone through massively today. Nothing more.

The next race is gonna be fun anyway

Go Jenson!!!

[Dragonfly]

Vettel!
He's what I'd call a rookie!

Kimi as always.

[SphereTL1000S]

Two weeks for Hamilton to think about this race, the stakes in play, the next race, Bernie's calls saying he believes in him, the media, etc. Tough job, but if any rookie can do it, it is him.

[Johny Bravo]

Hamilton the new rainmaster in the gravel, just priceless.

Kimi drove a solid race, he nursed his inters perfectly.

[RTX]

Wheres a good crane when you need one?
Hamilton really threw it away today and pushed too hard and destroyed his tyres while Alonso and Kimi drove smart and pounced. Amazing result. Hamilton is still favourate for the title but now anything is possible in the final race. Alonso needs to win and 1 ferrari driver to beat Hamilton.

[SphereTL1000S]

Massa just said on the press conf. that he had graining in his last set of tyres (softs), they got cold quickly (he was the first to go for the softs of the top 3 - damper track), slowly picked pace at the end when graining disappeared.

On another note, man, what a day for Toro Rosso!

Worst of the day: Rosberg, Barrichello, Ralf was doing great, until a brain fade.

[Buttoneer]

Originally posted by stevewf1


Yeah, he'll be OK. Hamilton needed a real world wake-up call at some point this season...

I had to create a new "retirement reason" on my database for Hamilton's exit: "slid off entering pits"

Did you not already have that for DC?

Pretty good race overall. The changing conditions really made the whoile thing a complete lottery as Vettel in 4th proves. Not to take anything away from him of course.

More like this please Bernie.

[ensign14]

Originally posted by pUs


Dunno really, Kimi seemed to manage his tires really good. In fact, it made him win the race. Sure he could have gone faster behind Hamilton, but I'm not sure the tires would have coped with it.

You might be right, but Kimi for some reason always seems much better when he's in the lead than when he's trying to get there.

[Umpire]

Ralf drove very well today. I don't think the collision with that car in turn 4 was his fault. His race-ending spin though, was...

Good job from top 3, good job from Hamilton too, should have pitted earlier but always easy to say in hindsight. And yes, the marshals did try to help him but the car was simply stuck bigtime.

Solid stuff from Button, Liuzzi, Vettel.

Thought Spyker would have done better - so much for their wet setup. I guess they need quite a bit of rain to function properly...lol.

[Massa_f1]

Good job by Kimi today for Ferrai's 200th win . Amazing job from Vettel to brilliant drive. Good drive by Lewis until his tyres and team let him down. Shame about Massa's last set of tyres could of been a good Ferrari 1 and 2. Alonso is not worth commenting about after his comments over the weekend.