Brazilian Grand Prix - 19.20.21 October 2007 @ Interlagos Sao Paulo

Race weekend report , Q1. Q2 . Q3 and race times click here


The Race
The Ferrari's were dominant this afternoon with Felipe Massa leading from the start until the second pit stop when Kimi Raikkonen reversed the position with his team mate to lead to the chequered flag and in doing so becoming the world champion by one point. At the start he had tucked in behind Felipe Massa, overtaking Lewis Hamilton and this upset the rookie, whose team mate Fernando Alonso moved onto the inside line overtaking Hamilton, who probably made the mistake by trying to reverse the position with an overtaking manouvre on the outside. This led to an off and a drop to seventh before he recovered. Very shortly afterwards on lap 8 Hamilton was out of luck again when a gearbox glitch lost him 30 seconds and put him down to 18th place. A spirited fight back and helped by some retirements meant that he finished in 7th place, despite a third pit stop for a short stint on the soft rubber, two place below the magical fifth place needed. The team said afterwards that this third stop had gained them 10 seconds so it was not a bad team strategy. Fernando Alonso dropped away from the two Ferraris, his 2 race engine said to be down on power. Nico Rosberg had a great race and indeed the interest probably revolved around him and the two BMW`s of Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld with Jarno Trulli always looking dangerous, who managed to take the last point. Kazuki Nakajima managed to finish tenth behind David Coulthard in his first Formula 1 race, the Japanese managing to run over a couple of the Williams mechanics during his pit stop, luckily without either of them being seriously injured. Kimi Raikkonen was probably the most appropriate winner for the world championship title this year especially in view of the infighting at the McLaren camp

Qualifying Q3
Felipe Massa gave his home crowd what they wanted, his second successive Brazilian Grand Prix pole position and a repeat of last years result will send the crowd ecstatic and would not Lewis Hamilton of the Championship crown if he repeats today´s qualifying position - second. The rookie nearly took pole when he went fastest in the middle sector, but still managed to bump Raikkonen down into third ahead of Fernando Alonso, who seemed to have ruined his chances on the out lap by graining his tyres, the Current World Champion having to put in a last minute flyer to put him ahead of the impressive Mark Webber, putting the two BMW's of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica behind him with Jarno Trulli, David Coulthard and Nico Rosberg rounding up the top ten. Once again Lewis found that perfect last lap to importantly split the two Ferrari´s. He has a new engine against Fernando Alonso´s second race engine (used in China), so he is in a strong position to be the first rookie world champion tomorrow.

2nd Practice (Friday afternoon)
This morning it was the two Ferrari's of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa setting the pace with World championship leader Lewis Hamilton learning the twisty circuit, completing 10 laps and setting the fifth quickest time, with Fernando Alonso only going out for an installation lap. This afternoon it was Lewis Hamilton (1m12.767s) that set the fastest time ahead of his team mate Fernando Alonso (1m12.889s). The Spaniard was 0.122s behind despite clocking the fastest times in sectors two and three. The "local boy" Felipe Massa (1m13.075s) was third ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (1m13.549s). Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella (1m13.549s) took a strong fifth place, edging out the first BMW of Robert Kubica (1m13.587s) with the two Williams of Nico Rosberg (1m13.655s) and Alex Wurz's replacement Kazuki Nakajima (1m13.664s) being impressive, just 0.009s slower the the German. David Coulthard (1m13.706s) continued in form with a ninth fastest time ahead of the second BMW of Nick Heidfeld (1m13.785s). Lewis Hamilton who is currently under investigation by the stewards for using one more set of wet weather tyres than permitted in the morning session and it remains to be seen if there will be a penalty for this contravention of the rules and if so what it will be, which of course could affect the outcome of this weekend. It is not over until the chequered flag on sudnay. Anything can happen between now and then.

The Race

Brazilian Grand Prix on ITV
Live qualifying Saturday 20 October 1630-1830 ITV4
Quali highlights Saturday 20 October 2350-0050 ITV1
Live race Sunday 21 October 1600-1900 ITV1
Highlights Sunday 21 October 2345-0045 ITV1
Highlights re-run Monday 22 October 1800-1900 ITV4

The Contenders

Kimi Raikkonen

“I will treat the final race the same as the last two. My aim is to win and the rest is not up to me. For me it is a similar position to 2003. Then I lost the title to Michael, but looking back it was a close call and at one point during the race it looked possible. Hamilton has seven points more than us. It is not easy to go to the last race just to get a couple of points more. We cannot calculate. We have to win. For us it is a straightforward race."

Fernando Alonso
“For a championship chance I think it’s still very difficult to recover four points in a normal race. We know how difficult it will be. I will be very optimistic for Brazil, but knowing it will be difficult.” Concerned about whether he had the team’s full backing? “I think that is still a worry, no doubt, but at the end of the day I think both cars are the same and with the same performance, so it’s up to me to do a little bit better. But for sure it’s not easy with the relationship with the team has with me.”

Lewis Hamilton
“We’ve still got one more race to go, and don’t worry we can still do it. Obviously when I got out of the car (Chinese GP) I was just gutted, because I haven’t made a mistake all year and to do it on the way into the pits is not something I usually do. But you can’t go through life without making mistakes, and I’m over it. Now I’m looking on to Brazil and I know the team will be working hard to make sure the car’s quick enough there. We’ve still got the points in the bag.”

Felipe Massa (Last years winner)
“You never know. (Brazilian GP) For sure if Kimi has a chance during the race to win the championship, I think it’s very good for the team and I would also be very happy to help the team. If maybe Lewis or Fernando are in the middle and we have no chance, I will try to win the race.”

Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix - 05.06.07 October 2007 @ Shanghai International Circuit

Race weekend report , Q1. Q2 . Q3 and race times click here

The Race

Lewis Hamilton's luck finally ran out in Shanghai on today, as he spun out entering the pit lane on worn tyres and ending up in the gravel trap. He had built up a good lead against the favourite this weekend - Kimi Raikkonen who after both drivers had made their first pit stop, not electing to change rubber on lap 19 the Finn overtook the rookie and went on to dominate the race, having stayed out for another 4 laps. This means that Lewis, Fernando and Kimi head to the season finale in Brazil with a shot at the title. Alonso made a good start from the second row overtaking Massa on the outside line but had to concede to the Brazilian until after the first pit stop finally managed to overtake Felipe on lap 27. Lap 31 was the end for Alonso´s team mate the marshals not being able to push him out of the gravel trap this time. The admitted that they had kept Lewis out for one lap too long and maybe it was his attitude and not the tyres that caused the off as he could have let Raikkonen pass, preserving his rubber, in the knowledge that he could still win the championship here today. Alonso and Raikkonen switched the dry tyres, the Spaniard electing for hard compound and the Finn for the soft. Towards the end Alonso was starting to catch Raikkonen, whilst behind Sebastian Vettel, punished for the Fuji incident (Lewis Hamilton not) drove the race of his life to finish 4th and was nominated "driver of the day". Makes you wonder what would happen if you had Sebastian and Lewis in the same chassis! He achieved this from 17th place on the grid. Felipe Massa had the consolation of setting the fastest lap on his final tour. Jenson Button sandwiched the two STR drivers in a season high fifth, enjoyed his race, he commented afterwards and Tonio Liuzzi ran strongly into sixth place giving this "ex Minardi" team valuable points. BMW's Nick Heidfeld finished a difficult weekend, with seventh at the chequered flag, his team mate Robert Kubica having to retire from the race lead before his second pit stop. David Coulthard´s weekend was rewarded with the final point. It could have been more than that had the rain not returned just after he had switched to dry tyres at his second pit stop.

Comments

Fernando Alonso - “My retirement in Japan has not made it easy for me in the championship, but there are still 20 points to be won and I am going to fight hard for each one of them. There is always a lot of talk of pressure and distractions at this time of the year; all I think about is racing and winning at Shanghai and Interlagos. We are all focused on this aim and giving the maximum over the next few weeks.”

Lewis Hamilton - “We are going into these races with a really tight drivers’ battle with only 12 points between me and Fernando. Anything is still possible but I am feeling confident and very determined and I hope we will have another couple of exciting races. There has been a lot of talk over the last couple of days about the championship, but I just push that to the back of my mind. I am only focused on the next two races and doing the best I can in China and Brazil with the team.”

Chinese Grand Prix on ITV
Live qualifying Saturday 6 October 0630-0820 ITV3
Quali re-run Saturday 6 October 1140-1310 ITV1
Live race Sunday 7 October 0600-0905 ITV1
Race re-run Sunday 7 October 1130-1330 ITV1
Highlights Sunday 7 October 2345-0045 ITV1
Highlights re-run Monday 8 October 1800-1900 ITV4