Posted in Formula 1 on Jun 21st, 2007 3 Comments »
If you have been watching the 2007 season of Formula One you might have heard his name being mentioned once or twice… Lewis Hamilton is currently the toast of the town. The Briton’s amazing first few races of his rookie season has clearly been a treat to watch.
There has been little mention about the Rookie in this site for more reasons than one. Firstly the hype was already too much that we felt it was better we did not add fuel to fire. The British media tabloids started most of the hype and feeling vindicated the rest of the F1 world responded.
Following is superb North American campaign, it seems only fair to talk about this lad…
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Posted in Race Results on Jun 18th, 2007 2 Comments »
Lewis Hamilton became the first ever rookie to win 2 back to back races in his rookie season with an inch perfect display at Indianapolis. The Briton was pushed to the finish by his two time world champion teammate, who crossed the chequered flag just 1.5s adrift.
The race was probably won and lost in Q3 in qualification. Hamilton’s perfect lap saw him displace Alonso from the top position and paved way for an all Mc Laren front row. The start saw the two drivers slug it out in corners 1,2 and 3 but Lewis kept his nose ahead and surged forward. Kimi in the Ferrari had a poor start probably something to do with his choice of starting with hard tyres. The choice would comeback to pay dividends later when he made up most in his third stint.
Heikki in the Renault used the opportunity to sneak past Kimi along with Nick Heidfeld. The Finn would drive a consistent race to finish in 5th. Nick on the other hand ran out of luck with a few laps to go.
McLaren chose to call in their drivers a few laps ahead of schedule fearing a safety car. The gap was enough for Lewis to drop in and out of the pits ahead of the Spaniard, a status quo that would stay till the end. There was one notable incident in lap 38 with Alonso lining up Lewis but the Briton held onto his nerves and got the job done.
In the back field, Fisichella spun early and was demoted to the back. The Italian fought hard driving a heavy car and still managed to produce some of the best overtaking at Indy. Liuzzi in the Torro Rosso was a chicane at #11 for most of the race until his retirement at lap 68.
In other retirements Ralf Schumacher ended his race at the first corner after outbreaking himself, Coulthard and Barrichello paid for the accident as it took them out of the race too. Sato spun himself into the kitty litter and beached his car out of the race, but not before he was investigated for overtaking under yellow flags. The Japanese driver will now lose 10 grid positions in France. Rosberg rounded up the unfortunate non finishers after his engine let go with just 4 laps remaining.
The ending part of the race beamed with a brilliant contest between the two Ferrari drivers. Massa held his position to finish ahead of Kimi who had a clear advantage thanks to the tyres. Unfortunately it was too close to the finish and Kimi later revealed that he did not want to stress both his and Massa’s engine before France with an unwarranted move.
Lewis now leads the World Championship with 10 points from his teammate. McLaren are a clear 35pts ahead of Ferrari. This season looks like its shaping up just right for a fight to the finish towards the end…
Race Results
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Posted in After Race Talk on Jun 13th, 2007 2 Comments »
Is there no end to Alonso’s whining? If he does not drive well, or if he makes mistakes, they are somehow his teams fault because the team shares the same nationality with his team mate who beat Alonso with a superbly flawless drive.
Alonso’s latest quote whine:
He said: “From the first moment, I wasn’t completely comfortable. I am in an English team, with an English team-mate, who is doing brilliantly.
“We knew all the support and help would go his way. It is something I understand and I’m not complaining.”
Honestly Alonso, you are starting to leave a very sour taste in my mouth. Can you just do your racing and stop blaming everything else including the air we breathe for your mistakes or for things not going your way. You are starting to sound like a spoilt child always ready to throw a tantrum.
Complete whine via BBC
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Lewis Hamilton made history by winning only his sixth Grand Prix race at the Canadian Grand Prix. The incident packed race saw 4 safety cars, 10 retirements, 6 accidents, one horrific crash, 2 black flags, 2 stop go penalties, one hilarious pitstop and loads of confusion.
Canadian Grand Prix made up for every boring race in the past 2 years simply based on the incidents that marred it. Right at the start Alonso dove into first corner alongside Lewis but right on the marbles giving him a free trip thru the grass costing him one place. The race was going downhill from there for the double world champ. Hiedfeld took advantage and was chasing Lewis to the flag.
Lewis had not much contention after the first corner. The Briton simply had to keep on track and do his pitstops fine to pick up a well deserved win. His only challenger was unfortunate to run out of fuel in the safety car period and pitted, costing him a 10 second stop go penalty. Robert Kubica was another casualty of the rule but his day was going to go from bad to worse as an airborne high impact crash left almost nothing remaining in the car.
The first safety car would have multiple casualties, this time it was Massa and Fisichella’s turn. Both entered the pits fighting for position when the pit lane was open but unfortuantely the exit was not open! Both received black flags for their negligence.
Lewis used the safety cars well to pull away at restarts without any problem. The Briton looked like a winner from the word go. Alonso in the other Mc Laren ran off as many as 4 times at corner 1… a rare sight from the flawless Spaniard. To add to his trouble he came out on 15th after the penalty… The next few laps showed some of the best overtaking from the Spaniard who rose to 8th overtaking cars right and left. He showed the true pace of his Mc Laren punching in the fastest lap on lap 46 and demolishing a 10+ sec deficit from Kimi Raikkonen in under 5 laps! But the effort was not going to be worth it another overtaking attempt pushed him onto the marbles and saw him lose places again. The champ finished the race in 7th.
Alex Wruz and Hiekki were the story of the day, starting from 19th and 22nd they fought amazing odds to pull off a one stop strategy and end up 3rd and 4th. The misfortune of the top drives helped them extremely but it was their controlled drive that clearly made them the drivers of the day.
Next big winner was Sato who did impossible overtaking both Alonso and Kimi in the very same race… A feat that will probably never be repeated. Interestingly both the maneuvers were when the top drivers were struggling for grip but none the less it was a moment for the Super Aguri driver to cherish.
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