Hamilton tightens grip on title
September 30th 2007 09:05
Hamilton in the Fuji mist
The Brit took ten points from the two-hour long race, which was punctuated with safety-cars while his championship rivals suffered miserable afternoons, and allowed Hamilton to extend his title lead to a healthy 12 points.
Fernando Alonso slipped and slid around, sustaining damage from other cars along the way, before a huge crash ended the McLaren driver’s horrible afternoon.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was forced to pit early for full wet tyres and managed to fight his way through the field to eventually take third, just a whisker behind Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen, who enjoyed his first ever podium.
It was an eventful race, and the first third of the race was spent behind the safety car, with drivers all spouting complaints about the state of the racing surface into their radios.
Both Ferrari’s had to pit early in order to put on the full wet tyres that the rest of the field were told to use by race director, Charlie Whiting.
Eventually the race was underway, and some drivers were caught out by the wall of water generated from the cars in front.
Hamilton and Alonso streaked away up front, while BMW’s Nick Heidfeld was hit by Jenson Button, which sent the German falling down the ladder, and the Honda driver to the pits for a new nose.
Several drivers fell off the circuit, Alex Wurz spun his Williams into turn one and just scraped Felipe Massa, who himself was running wide on occasion.
Alonso lost out heavily in the first round of stops, as he came out amidst a gaggle of feuding Renaults, BMWs and Hondas, and was struggling with a heavy car.
The Spaniard started dropping places, and was even passed by Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel, after a messy tangle that left the number 1 McLaren damaged.
All the while, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa were charging through the field.
The Finn, in particular, was taking no prisoners as he fearlessly launched his Ferrari into the misty corners on the hunt for points.
Hamilton was having a difficult time with his fuelled-up McLaren, and the McLaren garage had their collective hearts in their mouths when they saw Robert Kubica punt Hamilton off the track with an over ambitious move.
The BMW driver tried to sneak up the inside of Hamilton, but ended up touching his left rear wheel, and copped a drive-through for causing the minor collision.
The incident cost Hamilton a bundle of time, but he needed not worry, because his rivil, Alonso was having a torrid time down in 6th
Several incidents saw the reigning world champion run off the road, but on lap a championship defining moment happened.
Alonso lost control of his car and crashed heavily, all but handing the championship to his teammate.
The crash brought the safety car yet again, and Hamilton was ahead but Mark
Webber was right behind, and was actually faster than the McLaren before the safety car came out.
But the Australian’s miserable run of bad luck continued, and after throwing up in his helmet from food poisoning during the first safety car stint, this time he had Sebastian Vettel clamour into him from behind.
It took the Red Bull driver out of contention for a possible race win, and also scuppered the 20-year-old’s own promising podium place.
The bizarre incident promoted Heikki Kovalainen to second and Kimi Raikkonen, who was dispatching rivals like a man possessed to the final podium spot.
From there it finished, Hamilton way out in front with noone to challenge him, Heikki withstood immense pressure from compatriot Kimi Raikkonen until the line, whi Red Bull’s David Coulthard snuck in fourth.
Fifth place went to Giancarlo Fisichella, while Felipe Massa took sixth from Robert Kubica in a wild scrap on the last lap. The Pole took BMW’s only points after Heidfeld retired with an engine misfire on the penultimate lap from sixth place.
Perhaps as some minor consolation, Tonio Liuzzi snapped up the final point, and gave Toro Rosso their first points finish of the season.
Adrian Sutil finished a highly credible ninth place for Spyker, once again showcasing his ability in inferior machinery.
Overall it was a hectic afternoon. The rain certainly provided some thrills and made Fuji’s first grand prix in decades a memorable one.
Hamilton can almost taste the glory. Two races remain, and Alonso, with the help of some divine intervention, can still take the title. But 12 points is a very healthy margin.
Come China, we may just see the crowning of a rookie champion.
Results
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 2:00:34.579
02 H. Kovalainen Renault 8.377
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 9.478
04 D. Coulthard Red Bull 20.297
05 G. Fisichella Renault 38.864
06 F. Massa Ferrari 49.042
07 R. Kubica BMW 49.200
08 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso 55.600
09 A. Sutil Spyker F1 1:01.100
10 R. Barrichello Honda 1:28.300
11 J. Button Honda 1 laps
12 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 1 laps
13 J. Trulli Toyota 1 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW 2 laps
15 T. Sato Super Aguri 2 laps
Did not finish
16 R. Schumacher Toyota 122 laps
17 A. Davidson Super Aguri 46 laps
18 N. Rosberg Williams 18 laps
19 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 21 laps
20 M. Webber Red Bull 22 laps
21 F. Alonso McLaren 26 laps
22 A. Wurz Williams 48 laps
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