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
