F1 Shanghai: Alonso second – Championship decision in Brazil
Muamer Hodzic October 8, 2007
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso finished the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai in second place. Whilst his team mate Lewis Hamilton retired, when he went off and got stuck in the gravel with worn wet tyres on a drying track. Kimi Rà¤ikkà¶nen took victory, so the championship will now be decided among those three at the final race in Sao Paulo in two weeks’ time. After 56 laps in changeable conditions, 305.066 km and a total race time of 1:37:58.395 hrs, Fernando came home 9.8sec behind Rà¤ikkà¶nen’s Ferrari. Despite his first retirement in 16 Grands Prix, Lewis maintained his lead in the Drivers’ Championship after 16 out of 17 races with 107 points followed by Fernando in second position with 103 points; Rà¤ikkà¶nen is third on 100 points with 10 points available in the remaining race. For the first time since 1986, there are three drivers to fight for the title in the final race.
The start: For the sixth time, Lewis started from pole position whilst Fernando had qualified fourth fastest. Following some showers in the morning, the track was partly damp and rain began to fall during the formation lap. Lewis accelerated into an immediate lead ahead of Rà¤ikkà¶nen whilst Fernando overtook Massa in the first corner to take third; however, he dropped behind Massa again at the turn six. The rain got heavier.
The race: Lewis posted the fastest laps of the field and continuously pulled away. At the end of lap 10, he was 6.6sec ahead of Rà¤ikkà¶nen. Fernando was fourth 1.8sec behind Massa. The rain eased a little bit.
Lewis pitted from the lead on lap 15 (6.8sec), he took on fuel but kept the wet tyres. He resumed in fourth place.
On lap 18, Fernando came in for his first stop (7.7sec), his car was refuelled but remained on the same tyres. He rejoined the race in fourth place. Following Rà¤ikkà¶nen’s stop on lap 19, Lewis was back in the lead four seconds ahead of the Finn; Fernando was fourth behind Massa. The track dried out slightly.
Lewis ran wide on lap 27 but maintained the lead. Rà¤ikkà¶nen closed in and overtook on lap 29. Lewis was second. On lap 31, he again ran wide and dropped to third behind Fernando.
When Lewis entered the pits, he had an off at the pit entry due to worn tyres and got stuck in the gravel. Lewis retired, in his 16th Grand Prix, it was his first retirement.
One lap later, Fernando came in for his second stop (8.9sec). He was now second behind Rà¤ikkà¶nen. For the first time since 1986, three drivers will arrive at the final race with chances for the title win. In 1986 it were Nigel Mansell, Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost with the Frenchman eventually clinching the championship.
Comments
Lewis Hamilton
“When I got out of the car I was obviously gutted for both myself and the team. I haven’t made a mistake all year but I am over it now. There is still one race to go, so I can still do it. I made a strong start to the race and my first stop went well. Prior to entering the pit lane for my last stop, I was constantly talking to the team. Although my tyres were in poor condition, we took a joint decision to get through the last rain shower before changing to dry tyres. I was trying to be very careful and as a result was not really fighting aggressively with Kimi. It would have worked out perfectly, but I then made a mistake coming into the pitlane and that was it. We made the right decision, and it was just unfortunate. I will now focus on attacking in Brazil where I will do everything I can to bounce back.”
Fernando Alonso
“Today was a very good result for me. I had a battle with Felipe at the start, but unfortunately, I was not able to finish the first lap in front of him. As a result, I lost a lot of time behind him in the first stint because there was a loss of downforce when following him in the high speed corners. It was difficult towards the end on the wet Bridgestone tyres as they were practically slick, but we stayed out as long as possible to get through the final shower, which was the right decision as I was able to come out ahead of Felipe on my final stop. Although this result is a boost to my chances in the Championship, it is still not going to be easy. However I will not be giving up until the chequered flag in two weeks time.”
Ron Dennis
“The start of the race saw everybody being careful not to make any mistakes. Lewis pulled out a healthy lead and stopped a little earlier than both Fernando and the two Ferraris. All of these cars stayed on the same set of tyres, which was clearly the right decision. Like us, our competition was hoping to get through the last period of rain before changing to dry tyres. Lewis stopped first but a combination of tyre condition, the wetness of the pitlane and a small mistake saw him run wide into the gravel trap. Fernando’s second stop took place on the following lap and he drove an excellent race to put himself firmly back in contention for the World Championship. As always we will now focus on the next Grand Prix and with both Fernando and Lewis having a points lead over Kimi it should be an interesting end to the season in Brazil.”
Norbert Haug
“It was a shame what happened to Lewis, but no blame at all to him. He was performing very well but it wasn’t to be. Fernando finished second in a challenging race under difficult conditions and did a great job to stay in the World Championship fight. The team worked so hard throughout the season, and we will come out of this even stronger. We now set our sights on the final in Brazil where we will face a three-driver fight for the World Championship and are still in a good position to take the title there. For all of us it makes much more sense to concentrate on the final race ahead of us rather than the one today where we didn’t get the best possible result.”
