An unbelievable end to the season

I’m still in shock that a miracle happened one after another. Massa’s victory in Brazil was spectacular but the way that Hamilton won the driver’s championship by 1 point is more “amazing”!

All the rain and car spins througout the race was nothing compared to the last 3 laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix. In the crucial last 3 laps of the final race of the season, everyone thought that Hamilton would hold on to fifth place to win, but not long into Lap 69, Toro Rosso’s Vettel overtook him and all hopes seemed lost for Hamilton. He was struggling to control his car in the wet weather and did not seem to be able to win back his position in 2 laps unless Vettel made a critical error.

Brazilian fans cheered in the rain as Massa crossed the finish line and took the chequered flag. Massa’s family hugged each other in joy but all was short-lived! They were told that Toyota’s Glock who was in 4th place, the only front running driver who did not pit for wet tyres, slowed remarkbly in his last lap, allowing Vettel and Hamilton to overtake him. This has ruined everything for Massa and Ferrari.

Out of pure luck, Hamilton received the crucial 1 point to take the 2008 Formula One season driver’s championship.  Both Massa and Hamilton were emtional and in tears but I certainly feel sorry for Massa. He raced in front of his home crowd, hoping to be crowned the next F1 Champion in front of his fans and this last “miracle” that happened on the last lap really crushed all their dreams.

The consolation that the Ferrari team have is winning the constructor’s championship as well as Massa’s win in Brazil. We’ll see if Hamilton can continue his luck next season. Till then, Adios Amigos!

3rd Pole in Brazil for Massa

Massa’s fans had a lot to cheer yesterday as their local hero took pole position with a lap of 1m 12.368s. The grandstands were filled with Ferrari fans cheering for Massa. Everytime he drove by, the fans stood on their feet and cheered so loudly that you could hear them on the background while the commentators were speaking.

This is the final race of the season and will decide whether Hamilton or Massa will be crowned the new Formula One winner. Hamilton has a clear advantage of 7 points. He will need to come in 5th or better to win if Massa wins the race.

Raikkonen also put in a quick time of 1m 12.825s but was knocked down one position by Toyota’s Trulli who drove brilliantly in his last lap. Hamilton and Kovalainen could only manage 4th and 5th respectively. Pit stop strategy will also be a crucial factor in today’s race. Hamilton could be carrying more fuel to run a longer first stint. Massa will have to make a clean start and build up a good lead from the front. Hopefully, Raikkonen and Trulli is able to hold Hamilton behind them and not let him gain positions because any position gained by Hamilton will decrease Massa’s chances significantly.

In fact, if all goes well, Hamilton has a big chance of winning. All will change unless there is an incident during the race that affects these 2 drivers.

The Final Race – Brazil

 

Hamilton wins from Pole

Today’s race was one of the most boring and unexciting race this season. The McLaren team had their dream come true with Hamilton finishing first, leading from start to finish with no penalties, no incidents, and no spectacular overtaking manoeuvre. Both cars from the Ferrari team were not able to keep up with Hamilton. Hamilton pulled away from the start to maintain a steady 6 seconds lead from second place’s Raikkonen. Massa was third and approximately 14 seconds behind Hamilton. Towards the middle of the race, it was almost clear who the winner would be.

The start of the race was pretty clean compared to the race in Japan last week. The only incident was when Toro Rosso’s Bourdais bumped into Toyota’s Trulli, causing Trulli to spin. Trulli was forced to retire after another 2 laps. Force India’s Sutil had a failure on his car, causing early retirement as well. The other non-finisher was McLaren’s Kovalainen. His tyre blew on Lap 35, and he had to limp back into the pit lanes for a change, losing valuable time. On Lap 50, he retired with a mechanical problem.

Also on Lap 50, Massa catches up with Raikkonen and passes him easily. With this victory, Hamilton extends his lead to 7 points over Massa. It’s going to be a tough race in Brazil for Massa in front of his home crowd in 2 weeks.

Hamilton tops again in Shanghai

Today’s qualifying session saw the top contenders fighting for pole position in tomorrow’s grand prix. Massa, Raikkonen and Hamilton all took their turns to sit on pole position througout the sessions but eventually, it was Hamilton’s last effort which got him the hot seat.

The only exception was a disappointing 11th position for BMW’s Robert Kubica who struggled with his car to squeeze into Q2 but subsequently failed to get into Q3. There were talks about him being the darkhorse in this year’s driver’s championship. He is currently 12 points away from race leader Hamilton, and could well be able to beat him and Massa with his consistent driving throughout the season. Today’s qualifying result could have ruined his chances. Then again, you never know what might happen tomorrow. Last week’s race was evident that anything can happen in Formula One.

The top 5 positions for tomorrow’s race are as follows: Hamilton (1m 36.303s), Raikkonen (1m 36.645s ), Massa (1m 36.889s), Alonso (1m 36.927s), Kovalainen (1m 36.930s).

 

Shanghai Grand Prix

Alonso triumps again

It seems like the competition between Ferrari and McLaren has benefited not any of those teams but Renault’s Alonso. In another controversial race involving incidents with Ferrari and McLaren, Alonso emerged the eventual champion despite starting  from 4th position on the grid in today’s Japanese Grand Prix.

As in most races, getting out the first corner clean and ahead is very important. Today, Ferrari’s Raikkonen made a fantastic start to put himself ahead of Hamilton down the straight into the first corner. Hamilton drove aggressively to overtake him right at the corner but braked and cut into the leader’s path, causing most of the the cars behind to run straight into the chicane together with Raikkonen. The result was BMW’s Kubica emerging ahead, followed by Alonso. Red Bull’s Coulthard got hit by William’s Nakajima and crashed heavily at the same corner, ending his race.

In the second lap, more drama continued as Hamilton tries to overtake Massa, only to be hit by the Massa who refused to give him any more space. Hamilton spins and could only recover at the back of the pack. Maybe Massa wanted to give him a taste of someone who will not give in to his aggressive driving. Go Massa!

For the 2 incidents, Hamilton and Massa both were awarded drive through penalities, effectively losing their chances at any podium finish in Japan.

Kubica had the lead until his pit stop at lap 17. The renault team went with an aggressive strategy to go very light on the first pit stop in order for Alonso to gain time ahead of Kubica. It worked well as Kubica was left behind him and had to defend against a charging Raikkonen towards the end of the race. Massa had to overtake Red Bull’s Webber to get at least 1 point today. He made a fairly dangerous move and squeezed between the pit walls and Webber to try and overtake. It succeeded but also thanks to Webber who decided to back off a little to avoid taking a hit. I guess, Massa had nothing to lose since it was either 1 point or none at all.

The race ended with Alonso first, Kubica second and Raikkonen third. Alonso’s teammate Piquet also drove well to finish fourth after a major crash in Singapore 2 weeks ago. The rest of the point finishers were Toyota’s Trulli in 5th, Sebastian Vettel in 6th, Massa in 7th and Webber in 8th. Toro Rosso’s Bourdais finished 6th but was given a 25 seconds penalty after the race as he was deemed to have hit Massa and caused him to spin as he emerged from his pit stop. He was relegated to 10th position.

With today’s result, Ferrari has regained their lead in the Construtor’s challenge as both Hamilton and Kovalainen failed to earn any points today. Kovalainen had to retire due to a mechanical failure. Hamilton’s lead over Massa in the driver’s championship has also reduced to 5 points.