Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari F2007 has won this afternoon’s Brazilian Grand Prix, and because the results further down field fell the right way, the Finn has won the World Championship!
The underdog has clinched the title for the first time in his career.
Right from the start Ferrari had the upper hand. Felipe Massa pulled across Hamilton down the straight and Kimi tried a move around the outside into turn 1. He failed and pulled in behind Massa forcing Hamilton to tap the brakes, and this allowed Alonso to force his way down the outside of the Brit.
Just laps later Hamilton was dealt another blow. This time mechanical. The first proper “mechanical” failure he has suffered. His engine thought he had spun and set in a specific electronic specification across the engine map. This switched the anti-stall on and forced the car into neutral. He cruised along with no power and everyone was passing him. He eventually managed to get the car going thanks to his mechanics on the pit wall finding a suitable engine map. However, electronics and hydraulics were damaged. He was now in 18th.
Massa and Raikkonen pulled away from Alonso in 3rd. Massa was much quicker than Raikkonen after the first stop, but as they neared their second stops the Finn who had more fuel put his foot down a bit. Massa pitted and took tyres and fuel. Kimi continued for 2 more laps and managed to sneak out of his stop in front of the Brazilian. With Alonso down the field and Hamilton still ailing Raikkonen was on track for the title.
Hamilton tried a 3 stop strategy allowing him to have a very short stint on the unfavourable super soft tyres. He over took most of the back markers as expected but when he came to more “serious” competition then he struggled. Drivers like David Coulthard appeared to let the Brit past. Others, like Barrichello, Hamilton just forced out of the way with manoeuvres that could be considered dangerous.
Alonso was never really in contention. His drive looked laboured, his only good point was passing Hamilton in the Senna-S on lap 1. Kubica overtook him at one point and looked markdly quicker, but a good strategy saw Alonso finish 3rd and get another trophy. He doesnt keep his #1 though.
Kimi Raikkonen set some storming fastest laps towards the end of the race to confirm himself as a worthy victor. He crossed the line to take an enthralling world championship which really did go down to the wire. Who would have thought after some really bad races mid season Raikkonen, and too Ferrari would scoop this double?
Nico Rosberg put in a valiant effort in the Williams. He had a good race tangling and scrapping with the BMW Sauber’s throughout, and in the final few laps he managed to pass Robert Kubica and get himself a 4th place finish. A worthy end to what has been a very good second season for the German.
Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld had a hit-miss-hit race with some sparks of brilliance and finished in the points again, 5th and 6th.
Hamilton had been in 8th for sometime behind Italian Jarno Trulli, but the Toyota racer had to pit late on and Lewis managed to steal 7th from him. Trulli did keep 8th though and took the final world championship point of 2007.
David Coulthard was only 9th for Red Bull, he tangled with Nakajima late on in the race proceedings. After team mate Mark Webber pulled off with technical problems, neither scored points so Williams was 4th in the constructors championship.
Kazuki Nakajima was 10th for Williams in an interesting debut. Starting way down he showed some sparks of brilliance, and some sparks of “oh my god, he should not have a super licence”. He mowed down 2 pit men at his first ever pitstop, leaving them with some injuries.
Ralf Schumacher was only 11th in his final ever race for Toyota, and what could possibly be his last race ever. The German had a poor race in general really.
Takuma Sato was 12th, a not so good end to what has been a significantly up and down season. Aguri came good in the middle of the season but seem to have completly dropped off towards the end. Davidson crawled round to 14th (and last) after a tangle with Sutil in the latter part of the race.
Tonio Liuzzi finished his final race with Scuderia Toro Rosso in 13th place. No points for the Red Bull satellite team.
Both Renaults retired from the race in big incidents. Fisichella went off into the Senna-S’ and rejoined the track immediatly, straight into the path of an unknowing Sakon Yamamoto who took flight off the back of the Italian. Fisichella retired with rear damage. Yamamoto had too much damage to continue. Heikki Kovalainen also retired after rear suspension damage flung him into the wall.
Classified Results:
The Santander Brazilian Grand Prix 2007
Interlagos Circuit (Carlos Pace), Sao Paulo, Brazil;
71 laps; 305.909km;
Weather: Dry and sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1h28:15.270
2. Massa Ferrari (B) + 1.493
3. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 57.019
4. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1:02.848
5. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 1:10.957
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1:11.317
7. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 1 Lap
8. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1 Lap
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1 Lap
10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 Lap
11. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) + 1 Lap
12. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 2 Laps
13. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 2 Laps
14. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 3 Laps
Fastest lap: K. Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1:12.445
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap Reason
Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 43 Accident
Barrichello Honda (B) 40 Engine
Kovalainen Renault (B) 35 Accident/Suspension
Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 34 Accident
Button Honda (B) 20 Engine
Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 14 Mechanical
Yamamoto Spyker-Ferrari (B) 2 Accident
Fisichella Renault (B) 2 Accident
PHOTOS
Congratulations to Kimi – that title has been a long time coming! He won more races than anyone else,so he definitely deserves the win!