2007 Brazilian Grand Prix - Report

By Effwun - FOAS #65

Kimi Raikkonen put in another faultless drive to take victory in the final round of the 2007 World Championship. In doing so, he managed to achieve the near impossible (or at least the highly improbably) and became the 2007 World Drivers' Champion, after title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso faltered, and failed to capitalise on their respective points lead over Raikkonen, who went into the last round with only a slim mathematical chance of securing the title. There was plenty of drama in the race, but it was all for Lewis Hamilton - an early gearbox problem dropped him down the field, and could only manage a seventh place finish. In the circumstances, he needed at least a fifth place finish to take the championship.

The drama started early in Brazil - Friday Practice 1 was a wet session, and drivers took to the track on wet weather tyres. Raikkonen was the man to beat, with a time of 1:19.580. However, it would emerge that three drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, had used two sets of wet weather tyres during the session - an infringement of the rules. The stewards met and ultimately decided upon a $15,000 fine and confiscation of one set of wet weather tyres from the offending drivers. It amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist, and under the circumstances - in a season with so much controversy - it was probably best that the racing was not affected in any way.

By Friday afternoon, the track had dried out, and Lewis Hamilton was the fastest man in P2, with a 1:12.767 - a tenth faster than his teammate Fernando Alonso, and three tenths faster than the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen respectively. Come Saturday morning, Felipe Massa was the fastest man on track, with a time of 1:11.810, just over a tenth faster than Lewis Hamilton, with Raikkonen third, just eight thousandths slower than Hamilton. Alonso, however, languished down in 8th place, nearly eight tenths off Massa's pace.

Qualifying, then, threw up few surprises, although the elimination of Heikki Kovalainen in Q1 was one - he would line up 17th on the grid. The other Q1 eliminatees were Takuma Sato in the Super Aguri; Kazuki Nakajima, the Williams test driver, whose first F1 start was as a stand-in for the retired Alex Wurz; Anthony Davidson in the second Super Aguri; Adrian Sutil; and Sakon Yamamoto in the Spyker Ferrari. Q2 was quite familiar also - the eliminatees were Barrichello, Fisichella, Vettel, Liuzzi, Schumacher, and Button. So it was down to the final Q3 session of the year. It was thought that Felipe Massa might try for pole position in an effort to help his teammate to championship victory, and he did indeed take the pole with a time of 1:11.931. However, the real talking point was Lewis Hamilton - second on the grid with a stunning time just a tenth-and-a-half slower than Massa. It was stunning because the suspicion was that Hamilton was on much heavier fuel than the Brazilian. Kimi Raikkonen would line up third, alongside Fernando Alonso. The rest of the top ten were rounded out by Webber, Heidfeld, Kubica, Trulli, Coulthard, and Nico Rosberg.

So, the season was to come down to the result of the final race of the year. The buildup to the race could not have been more dramatic, with Hamilton's ignominious exit from the Chinese Grand Prix, followed by threats of possible stewards' action after P1. Could Hamilton pull it off and become the first ever rookie world champion? Could Alonso make it three-in-a-row? Or could Raikkonen pull of the incredible and take his first world championship? All the excitement and tension of the season was funnelled into this single race. When the lights went out, it was Massa who surged into the lead, but Hamilton got a poor start and was passed by Raikkonen into the first corner. Raikkonen then had to check up to avoid his team mate Massa, and in doing so forced Hamilton to check up also. He lost the momentum, and Alonso surged by around the outside of turn 2. Hamilton was dropped to fourth place. At turn 3 and 4, it was clear that Hamilton was rattled and pushed too hard, getting well onto the grass. The excursion dropped him to eighth place. Was his inexperience showing, and was the pressure getting to him?

Behind the leaders, Fisichella and Yamamoto had a coming together in the Senna S - Fisichella skipped across the grass, leaving Yamamoto nowhere to go, and he slammed into the Renault, spreading debris across the track (although this did not necessitate the safety car). Fortunately there were no injuries, although the stewards would later investigate the incident.

Back up front, Hamilton was pushing hard to regain the positions he lost at the start, and worked his way back up to sixth place by lap 7 by taking advantage of a mistake by Nick Heidfeld. The progress was not to last however. On lap 8, Hamilton slowed to a crawl, and the field stormed past him. He dropped to 18th place with an apparent lack of drive. After touring around to turn 5 and having lost around 30 seconds on the lap, his car finally sprang to life again - there was an apparent glitch in the gearbox, but it was able to be "cured". With a now presumably healthy car, the fight was on, but it would be an enormous task for the young Brit to secure the world title. Indeed it appeared as though he was not able to significantly better the pace of the drivers with whom he would ultimately be racing against - the drivers in 5th place.

Nevertheless, Hamilton managed to carve his way through the field. By lap 15 he was up to 15th place and on lap 16 he passed several cars, including Mark Webber - who ground to a halt with a mechanical problem - to elevate himself to 12th place. Up front, though, Massa was stretching his legs, and set several fastest laps before pitting on lap 20. This was the cue for Raikkonen to charge, and he too set fastest lap before pitting on lap 21. Hamilton pitted on lap 23 and it looked like a strategy change - a short stop of 5.8 seconds and a change to the softer of the two Bridgestone compounds. It was an aggressive strategy, but would it work?

After the pitstop cycle, Hamilton droped back to 13th place. A slow pit lane entry and exit was probably the cause - did the gearbox problem affect the pitlane speed limiter? He had even more work to do if he was going to take the title. On lap 28, Hamilton attempted a daring overtaking maneuver on Rubens Barrichello into turn 1. Hamilton came from a very long way back, and he was lucky that Barrichello - the most experienced man on the grid - saw him and avoided a collision. If it appeared as though Hamilton had a lot of work to do, Alonso had just as much - he was struggling with pace and was being challenged by Robert Kubica for position. Eventually the Spaniard succumbed and dropped to 4th place. It was looking unlikely that Alonso could mount a challenge for the title.

On lap 32, there was drama in the pitlane - Kazuki Nakajima came in for his first F1 pitstop under race conditions. It did not go well. He misjudged his braking and slammed into his mechanics, knocking several over. After the stop, two of the mechanics limped away into the garage - minor injuries were reported. Meanwhile, Adrian Sutil completed a drive-through penalty as punishment for a collision with Anthony Davidson.

Having worked his way up to 9th place, Hamilton pitted on lap 37 and took on the harder Bridgestone rubber. This would again drop Hamilton down the field, and he was now 1 lap behind the leaders. A lap later, Kovalainen had a huge off at turn 2, and backed his Renault into the tyre wall. The Finn walked away unhurt.

Up front, Felipe Massa continued in the lead until his stop on lap 50. This was again the cue for Raikkonen to up the tempo, and he again set fastest lap of the race. How long could he keep going for? Meanwhile, on lap 53 Alonso pitted, dropping him to 5th. The real race was between Raikkonen and Massa though. Raikkonen stopped on lap 53, having put in 3 stunningly fast laps. After his stop, he emerged ahead of Massa. Raikkonen was in the lead, Alonso was fourth, and Hamilton was eighth. If things stayed as they were, Raikkonen would be world champion!

Hamilton pitted again on lap 57 - his race looked to be all but run, although he did not give up - he surged past David Coulthard on lap 59, setting a new fastest lap in the process. In the closing laps, there was an exciting battle for fourth place between the two BMWs and Nico Rosberg. Whilst the other two drivers were battling, Kubica managed to leapfrog past them into turn one. Ultimately, though, Rosberg found his way past Kubica, having battled over several laps.  As the laps ticked away, it became more and more apparent that Hamilton could not do it - the gamble on the 3 stop strategy had not worked, and he could only manage 7th place.

It was Raikkonen's race. After setting fastest lap on lap 66 he cruised home to take the win and the world championship. What seemed like the most improbable of all the possible championship outcomes had happened - had Hamilton finished 5th or higher then he would have won the title. Mechanical failure, the cause of so much misery for the Finn, had finally worked in his favour, and Raikkonen took his first, elusive, world championship. Lewis Hamilton's dream was over, but Raikkonen richly deserved the championship. With six wins in the year - and three wins in the last four races - he really was the fastest man, but reliability had hurt him earlier in the season. Alonso's title hopes evaporated with his poor mid-race pace. The spaniard had always acknowledged that he stood a slim chance of taking the title.

It was an incredible race, and a fitting end to a fantastic season of Formula 1. Ultimately this was the best result for all parties - after the spying scandal, could the sport really justify Hamilton or Alonso as world champions? In the end it didn't matter - the championship was decided on track, and the fastest man won. However, just as the celebrations were beginning in the Ferrari team, politics and scandal reared its ugly head again. In the post race inspection, it was ascertained that fuel used by the two BMWs and the Williams of Nico Rosberg had been below the legal temperature limit of 10 degrees below ambient temperature. The stewards investigated, but levied no punishment. The McLaren team, however, protested. Really, they had no choice but to protest - they had been the victims of investigations and, arguably, nonsensical decisions by the FIA all year, and it was only right that they challenge the stewards' decision. The race result almost certainly will not change as a result, but McLaren might be able to salvage some satisfaction out of a difficult year.

Effwun

 

Full race results

 

Position   Driver Time    Position  Driver Time
1 Raikkonen 1h28:15.270   12 Sato + 2 laps
2 Massa + 1.493 s   13 Liuzzi + 2 laps
3 Alonso + 57.019 s   14 Davidson + 3 laps
4 Rosberg + 62.848 s   15 Sutil Lap 43
5 Kubica + 70.957 s   16 Barrichello Lap 40
6 Heidfeld + 71.317 s   17 Kovalainen   Lap 35
7 Hamilton + 1 lap   18 Vettel Lap 34
8 Trulli + 1 lap   19 Button Lap 20
9 Coulthard + 1 lap   20 Webber Lap 14
10 Nakajima + 1 lap   21 Yamamoto Lap 2
11 Schumacher   + 1 lap   22 Fisichella Lap 2

 Fastest Lap - Kimi Raikkonen 1:12.445 (lap 66)

 

The Alternative Podium Ceremony

The John Watson Award for most places gained in the race - Kazuki Nakajima (9)

The Olivier Grouillard Award for best roadblock - Nick Heidfeld (he seemed particularly difficult to overtake)

The Phillipe Alliot Award for most pointless crash - Giancarlo Fisichella (for going off then getting rear-ended)

The David Coulthard Award for outstanding achievement in the field of complaining - It's going to have to be Ron Dennis I'm afraid (it was excuses more than complaining I realise).