Hamilton reigns supreme in Fuji thriller

[romephius]

It started as possibly the worst race of the season, in treacherous wet conditions, but ended as arguably the best - so long as you were Lewis Hamilton, that is, or a fan of motor racing. For behind the Englishman, who took his fourth win of the season in brilliant style, Heikki Kovalainen held off Kimi Raikkonen by a whisker for second place as they duelled wheel to wheel.

And further back Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa rubbed wheels, pushed each wide and passed and repassed in a spirited sprint to the line for sixth reminiscent of Dijon 1979 and the battle between Gilles Villeneuve and Rene Arnoux. Massa got the verdict by a hair.

If you were Fernando Alonso, however, it was a day of disaster. Blown off by Hamilton, he slipped way back after his first pit stop, had several off-course excursions, collided with Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel at one stage, and then did the job properly by crashing heavily in Turn Six.

Hamilton thus leads the title chase with 107 points to Alonso’s static 95, while Raikkonen is now up to 90 points. Massa, on 80, is now officially out of the title chase with two races remaining.

This was a strange one, for sure, running under the safety car for the first 19 laps as the heavy rain refused to abate. But after that slow start it erupted into a humdinger. Both Ferraris had to make early stops after starting on standard wet tyres against official rulings that everyone should go to the line on extreme wets. Jean Todt claimed they weren’t informed, but everyone else knew.

Thus it was fast-starting Sebastian Vettel who chased the McLarens initially, with Mark Webber’s Red Bull right behind his Toro Rosso. Both the German and the Australian (laps 29 to 31 and 32 to 35 respectively) had turns leading the race after the initial pit stops, but after Alonso’s crash on lap 41 the safety car came out again and Vettel ran into the back of Webber and took them both out.

That left the way open for Kovalainen to push up to second in Hamilton’s wake, and to drive the race of his life to keep the spirited Raikkonen at bay. Behind them, David Coulthard took a strong fourth for Red Bull, having kept Raikkonen at bay for many laps. In the second Renault Giancarlo Fisichella drove unobtrusively to fifth, ahead of the scrapping Massa and Kubica, who both benefited when Nick Heidfeld’s BMW Sauber stopped right at the end.

That retirement also opened the door for Tonio Liuzzi to score Toro Rosso’s first point of 2007. The Italian started from the pit lane in the spare car after his dry settings gamble in qualifying backfired spectacularly, exploited the team’s solid strategy, and, as a key, made up no fewer than four places as the race restarted after the second safety car period. He had a couple of offs trying to pass Spyker’s Adrian Sutil, but finally made it stick after a worthy drive.

Sutil was ninth after a decent run, while Rubens Barrichello inherited tenth from Honda team mate Jenson Button, whose car stopped on the final lap after the Briton had pitted early on to replace a nosecone damaged in a brush with Heidfeld at the start. The final finishes were Sakon Yamamoto in the second Spyker, and Jarno Trulli for Toyota.

The other retirements were Williams’ Alex Wurz who spun in Turn One and got clobbered by Massa, the Super Aguris of Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson, and Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota.

Now everyone heads immediately to Shanghai for the penultimate race, and more than ever it seems that the title will be heading Hamilton’s way.

Source: www.formula1.com

Vettel need a punch in the face.......

One unhappy Aussie...

Rom   

[SennaMan]

yeah barring a complete disaster LH will be WDC for 2007 after a masterful display today in the lottery that was FUJI 2007 and good for him; he is the real deal.

however I really feel this race should have been delayed even for a day if necessary to ensure decent conditions. GP's should be run as fairly as possible but today's one was a farce; a bloody lottery no less.

it is about time the GPDA stood up to the promoters. After all the drivers' lives were at risk today and they should insist on delays in such dangerous situations. 

[Ian]

If it had been Monaco I would agree Sennaman, but I've seen worse conditions and it proved most drivers were up to it, with a couple of exceptions.

[alan45]

As Alonso pointed rightly pointed out all the drivers were subject to the same conditions. Its a testament to the skill and professionalism of these men that the race took place in such conditions with no injuries. How long would you postpone a race for if it rained for a week

[SennaMan]

As Alonso pointed rightly pointed out all the drivers were subject to the same conditions. Its a testament to the skill and professionalism of these men that the race took place in such conditions with no injuries. How long would you postpone a race for if it rained for a week

I'd simply cancel it alan45.

I just hold the view no driver should be required to race when the track is awash; it is simply an unfair and too dangerous situation.

Many competitions do not proceed when weather conditions are such that people are placed in excessive danger or a fair race is impossible e.g. The America's Cup yacht race series so I consider the point "all have the same conditions etc" is an irrational and irrelevant one when placed against the need to protect life and limb and the integrity of the competition. 

Just my opinion mate.

[Steven Roy]

The race should have been cancelled.  Absolutely no question about it.  The low grip in the wet and the completely unsuitable nature of modern F1 cars to run in the wet I don't have a big problem with.  The utter stupidity of forcing teams to decide the day before the race how they will set their cars up when they can't possibly know what the conditions will be ruins any sporting contest but is not necessarily dangerous.

In an F1 car on a track with that amount of water on it the drivers cannot see anything around them.  They are driving completely blind.  That is not a test of skill that is complete and utter stupidity and potentially a complete waste of a life.  Formula one should not race in extreme wet conditions.

Too many drivers in the past have been hurt or killed because they drove into a ball of spray and didn't know where the car that was causing it was. 

Watch the following clip and tell me that it is sane to race in these conditions.  Let alone safe.

[johnbull]

A couple of points spring to mind.

F1 raced at Suzuka for years. Everybody liked it.

Fuji has a tradition of unpredictable weather. Look at the last time F1 raced there. Nobody prefers to race in a downpour when they can race in the dry.

So why did Bernie give Suzuka the boot in favour of Fuji?

The second point is one already mentioned by Steven. What sense is there in making a rule that makes drivers go out in torrential conditions on a dry set up and vice versa. Who invents these pathetic rules?

What difference is it going to make to anyone if they are allowed to make certain alterations to spring rates, damper rates, wing angles, roll bars, ride height etc in the interest of safety? Why such a stupid rule?

[Ian]

Tell that to Kovalainen for a start and he'll tell you where to go

[Steven Roy]

There are winners and losers in any situation  This time Kovalainen amongst others won.  We, the race fans lost.  We had a championship on a knofe edge with two drivers in identical equipment.  That has now been ruined for no reason other than TV schedules. 

I am not at all unhappy that Lewis won and Fernando crashed out but there are good ways and bad ways of achieving that result.  Had there been a dry-ish race where the same result happened I would have been happy about it.  But what happened was only narginally better than drawing lots to decide the outcome.

[Ian]

I never thought I lost out, enjoyed it immensely, as did most of us

[Scott]

Great race in my opinion...too bad we didn't have the drag race to turn one, but aside from that I think it had a bit of everything, and who can complain about the last lap battle with Massa and Kubica?  Had Alonzo been taken out by another car, I would have been dissappointed, but he lost it himself, and that was a failure in his judgement, something that didn't happen to Lewis the entire race.  

Without starting a new thread, I think it's time to state some obvious things.  People have complained recently about Lewis going on in the press about Alonzo.  Really, he has simply responded, especially since Alonzo has been subtly and not so subtly criticizing him all season long, and until very recently Lewis didn't stoop to that sort of thing.  It may be also that (as someone already said) McLaren is using Hamilton to put the pressure on Alonzo and make him mad enough to leave on his own (costing McLaren nothing, or maybe even making them some decent money if he is forced to buy out his own contract), but I doubt it.

But my real point is that so much focus has been on him as if he has been part of the F1 circus for a long time and so any deviant behaviour is criticized.  First of all, he's a rookie!  Considering his age, I'd say he's bahaved remarkably well this season and I'm a bit surprised he hasn't gone after Alonzo in the garage considering the way he's been treated by him.

As a rookie, he came into a great team, but a team with a two-time WC in the sister car - and he's essentially blown his doors off in all but the last few races.  It's not quite the same as when Jacques moved to Williams and had Damon as a teammate...he was easy prey.  I don't think (and you F1 history buffs can correct me if I'm wrong) a rookie has ever been so dominant in F1, especially with a multiple WC as a teammate.

Now that WC is behaving like the baby (blackmail, not talking whatsoever to Lewis, trying to run him off the track in Spa, screwing his Q lap in Hungary), but people are suddenly criticizing Lewis because he is finally had it up to his eyeballs with Fernando and decided to battle back a bit in the press.

I dunno, but if he was a stock offering I'd be buying in right away, 'cause he's the next Google, for sure.

[Steven Roy]

I don't think (and you F1 history buffs can correct me if I'm wrong) a rookie has ever been so dominant in F1

No rookie has come remotely close to this performance over a season unless you include Jaques Villeneuve but he was hardly a rooki in the sense that Lewis is. 

[raindancer]

OMG the adulation continues..............

[Dare]

While I'm not one of Hamilton's biggest fans I admit
he's the real deal.Why is it your so anti-Hamilton
raindancer?

Considering all the sidetracking this season,just
maybe the adulation showed  to rookie Lewis is
deserved

just the thoughts of a unbiased f1 fan

[SennaMan]

There are winners and losers in any situation  This time Kovalainen amongst others won.  We, the race fans lost.  We had a championship on a knofe edge with two drivers in identical equipment.  That has now been ruined for no reason other than TV schedules. 

I am not at all unhappy that Lewis won and Fernando crashed out but there are good ways and bad ways of achieving that result.  Had there been a dry-ish race where the same result happened I would have been happy about it.  But what happened was only narginally better than drawing lots to decide the outcome.

exactly SR - totally agree with you. The "race" was a lottery and the extreme conditions made it farcical for me. I feel cheated!

However, returning to the thread's subject, LH deserves his lead and certainly is the "Real Deal". In fact I consider we are looking at a driver who will be in the very best group of gifted drivers and he may even be the best!

The way he has performed off and on track, stamps him already as an extraordinary talent. The comparisons with Tiger Woods are obvious - he has the aura of a "natural winner" in abundance whereas FA has slipped and lost credibillity with many which is a pity for such a fine F1 driver.