The million euro car

Adria Martin

02/11/2008: Interlagos, Brazil

Hamilton, the youngest ever world champion

Hamilton’s fifth position gave him a total of 98 points, one more than the unfortunate Felipe Massa and of course the championship.

The 23-year-old etched his name into the record books as the sport’s youngest ever world champion by claiming the fifth place he required to seal the crown, although it came in hugely dramatic circumstances with a pass on Toyota’s Timo Glock at the final corner.

Last year the whole thing was about my dream

Hamilton told

“I have got my dad here, whose really been the guy that has made this possible, and my brother here who has also been by my side and given me confidence all of the time.

“So it was just amazing.”

The drivers championship:

Adria Martin

19/10/2008: Shanghai, China

Hamilton wins in China, he closes in on the title

Hamilton first, Massa second and Raikkonen third.

Hamilton leads in a pluperfect style the championship by seven points from Massa who was this afternoon gifted second position by Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Robert Kubica home as the Pole saw his own title hopes die. His three points leave him on 75, too far behind Hamilton.
Alonso finished in fourth position and his streak now moves him ahead of the ever-unfortunate Kovalainen in the championship as the Finn saw his hopes of finishing fifth dashed as he picked up a front right puncture on lap 36 and dropped down to 17th position before opting to retire the McLaren.
Everything will be seen in the last race in Brazil on November 2

The drivers championship:

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Adria Martin

12/10/2008: Fuji Speedway, Japan

Alonso wins in Japan, he recorded his second consecutive victory

Alonso first, Kubica second and Raikkonen third.

Hamilton finishes outside the points after suffering a collision with Massa at the start of race that leads him to the last position.
Massa is just 5 points from Hamilton in the world championship. Beware Kubica, who cut the gap at the top of the driver standings!

The drivers championship:

Adria Martin

28/09/2008: Singapore

Alonso wins in the first night race of formula 1

Alonso first, Rosberg second and Hamilton third.
Crazy race! After Piquet suffered an accident on lap 14, the whole race changed with the departure of the Safety Car. Alonso happy to be the only one to be refueled. Hamilton still leading the world more than ever. The Ferrari didn’t score.

The drivers championship:

Adria Martin

14/09/2008: Monza, Italy

Vettel, the youngest winning driver in the history of Formula 1

Sebastian Vettel, just 21 years old has taken the podium in Monza, the Italian circuit and Ferrari’s homeland. He won 12 seconds ahead of Kovalainen, and Kubica came third after moving up from eleventh place.

A brief summary follows in this video:

The emotion

When we talk about Monza everyone thinks about the red Ferrari color, that’s because this circuit is the birth-place of the best known Italian formula 1 team.
An impressive red tide of fans could be seen in the stands, and although on this occasion neither Massa nor Raikkonen took the podium, the thousands of Ferrari fans weren’t entirely disappointed to see Vettel win with his Red Bull, which let’s not forget has a Ferrari engine.
Moreover, both in qualifying as well as the race itself, rain played another key factor. We were already warned that Vettel is one of the best drivers in the wet, and with his great skill at the wheel came first in the qualifying rounds to start the race in pole position.

Vettel has made a spectacular weekend, fair winner and a bright future

Fernando Alonso

The comeback

Kubica and Alonso were the two drivers who advanced most places mainly by choosing the best strategy at the right time and tacking the risk of using intermediate tires when the other drivers went with heavy rain tires. Kubica started from eleventh position while Alonso from eighth, finishing third and fourth respectively with just 4 seconds between them.

Battle of the Titans

One of the best performances we were able to enjoy for 20 of the 53 laps was the fight between Alonso, Heidfield, Massa and Hamilton whereby they all managed to maintain these positions and in this same order. All of them were very close together and sometimes one would get a nose ahead of his adversary, as for example when Alonso’s fourth place was in danger from Heidfield who stuck to him for a few laps until he was able to shake him off, and then when Massa attacked Heidfield who succeeded in defending his position, and ultimately Hamilton against Massa, perhaps the most important because they are drivers who are fighting for the championship.
At the end in these positions of championship leader Hamilton continues, but the championship is more endangered than ever because it’s only 1 point above Massa.

Raikkonen virtually no chance in the championship

It seems that the Fin, after not getting any points in the last three races, will have to be satisfied with the present given to him by Ferrari, a one year extension of his contract until 2010.
The only thing that made Kimi stand out, and what he does in almost all races, is the fast final lap, but that didn’t gain him any points, it only shows that Ferrari is very fast. Right now he is 4th in the overall rankings and may lose more positions to Heidfield and Kovalainen.
So ends the formula 1 championship in Europe. We now jump over to Singapore where we will be for the next race on September 28.

Adria Martin

7/09/2008: Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium

The best end of the season!

Hamilton wins after an unforgetable fight in the final laps with Kimi who retired from the race after colliding with the security fence. Massa came second, and an unexpected third place for Heidfield.

A brief summary follows in this video:

The Race Begins

3, 2, 1… The lights turned green and the Belgium Grand Prix started.
A spectacular start for Raikkonen. Trulli came from behind to advance many positions, and at the first bend had to almost stop and was hit from behind by Bourdais, pushing him off the track. Bourdais broke his front aerofoil, and Trulli’s exit caused some drivers like Alonso and Kimi to leave the track to avoid being struck running a few metres along the security lane, outside the track.
On returning to the track Kimi was positioned alongside Massa, but the Finn came off well in this fight, overtaking his teammate.
Alonso overtook the Red Bull and was in fourth with Massa chassing close behind.

Trulli came off in a curve and without thinking twice didn’t wait for a small group of advancing cars, getting back on to the track ahead of them and on the verge of causing an accident.

The Duel Begins: Hamilton vs. Kimi

Hamilton and Raikkonen led the race.
Hamilton in a situation without pressure as he had a fairly comfortable margin lost control of his vehicle and spun, he recovered stability but Raikkonen was now very close and unforgiving, he overtakes! Applause in the Ferrari pit.

Issues of the race

After a terrible start Kovalainen was in a mammoth overtaking phase, such as overtaking Kubica without any problems.
The downside is that so much adrenaline and emotion can play tricks on you… Kovalainen had reached that point when he was just about to overtake Webber and hit him from behind as he was protecting his route, sending Webber to the back of the race.
A few laps later the race commissioners announced Kovalainen’s punishment for the incident that affected Webber.

Hamilton entered the pits on lap 11 and left behind Kovalainen and Kubica - an advantage for Kimi who came in for refueling ahead of them, but not for long because Kovalainen had to comply with the Drive Through requirement of completing 3 laps before passing through the pit lane.

As for Renault, Piquet once again had to abandon a race, his seventh time this season. This time it was due to over-braking and hitting the security barrier.

20 laps from the end, Raikkonen came in to refuel. Hamilton entered the pits on the same lap. That was the time that Massa would take advantage of his lower fuel load knocking off a few seconds between himself and Hamilton in second place.

The Renault meteorologist announced rain in 20 minutes, about 6 laps from the end.

Alonso was racing to the max and almost hit the wall on his second pit stop.

With each lap Hamilton was gaining tenths of seconds on Raikkonen, giving the expectation of a dramatic ending! Also, Massa was catching up to Hamilton.

Alonso push on because you may need to use wet tires

Renault to Alonso

End of the Race: The great duel - Hamilton vs. Kimi

5 laps from the end Hamilton was riding Raikkonen’s coat tails. 4 laps from the end it started raining heavily and Kimi tried to avoid the wet borders so as not to skid, but on the other hand lost crucial time.
Hamilton blasted forward to be parallel at the bus stop, but Kimi held his line forcing Hamilton into the security lane for a few meters and coming out just ahead of Kimi. Hamilton had to let him go past because the rules do not allow overtaking off the track. After Hamilton let Kimi pass he put his foot down in his McLaren and overtook on the inside. Amazing overtaking from Hamilton, spectacular! But then, Kimi collided with Hamilton on the same curve.
It didn’t end there. So impressive, there hasn’t been such an awesome ending for many years! The air crackled with excitement!
The rain hadn’t stopped and the soil was water logged, only three curves were left in the lap for more action. The McLaren skidded and Nakajima who was off track crossed ahead of Hamilton who had to escape over the grass while still skidding and Raikkonen had to dodge on the other side and fortunately was in first place, but this was short lived as a few meters later… he spun and struck the wall! He was just 2 laps from the end and now wouldn’t get any points.

Flood on the Final Lap!

Hamilton who now wasn’t pressured, left the track in due to the dangerous water. It would be better to lift his foot from the accelerator.

Behind, Alonso made a stop on the last lap to put on wet tires! Why? Why? – The commentators asked – he had secured a third position and in exiting the pits was 8th.
The reason was that on the last laps he was losing control and had skided on more than one occasion. And moreover Heidfield who had rain tires had overtaken to snatch third place. For his part, Alonso advanced positions from the eighth to fourth place.

At the finish line Hamilton took the chequered flag first, Massa second and Heidfield third.

Cheers to Kimi and Hamilton for the ending that they gave us!

A nail-biting race!
See you next week in Monza, Italy.
By the way, I traveled to Italy this week for few days holiday.
Will there be any news from Ferrari? They always announce big news in Monza, their homeland.

Adria Martin

24/08/2008: Valencia, Europe

The world’s most disputed post-victory for Massa

Felipe Massa wins the first Grand Prix of Europe, or Valencia Street Circuit, Hamilton came second after a race in which he suffered a series of particularly demoralizing setbacks, and Kubica started and finished the race in third place.

A brief summary follows in this video:

Abandonment of Alonso in the 1st lap

Alonso on the other hand had no luck, after a severe rear collision caused by Nakajima which destroyed the whole aerofoil except for the gearbox and suspension before end the first lap. So he had to come into the pit lane and hope to rejoin the race 3 laps later, which didn’t serve any purpose, because the team announced that the car was in too critical a situation to be repaired. A big disappoint for the Spanish driver, who as in the GP of Barcelona (in his home country) abandoned the race due to technical problems.

With any more bad luck this year I won’t fight for the title

Fernando Alonso

Hamilton second after a blow to his morale

A very satisfied Lewis Hamilton, after all the setbacks he suffered, he came in second place! …and continues as world leader with six points ahead of Massa. These setbacks he was burdened with were a flu that caused Ron Denis to change plans warning test driver, Pedro de la Rosa, that he might have to race with the McLaren. And a second setback, a psychological blow from the robbery a few days earlier at a hotel in Malaga where he had hoped to enjoy a few days with his girlfriend.

Kimi ran over a mechanic and his engine broke

At the start Kovalainen overtook Kimi, going from fifth to fourth place. After the first refueling, Kimi caught up with Glock who held him up until the second pit stop.

It was precisely at this refueling stop when Kimi knocked down one of his team’s mechanics by exiting too soon while there was still a red light, an unimaginable accident for Ferrari, the most technical team for pit stops. The mechanic who suffered this spectacular accident is responsible for the refueling hose, and before getting the go-ahead Kimi left with the hose plugged in and ran over the mechanic. And it didn’t end there because a few laps later, when battling for fifth place with Jarno Trulli, the F2008 engine broke. A serious concern for Ferrari as their other driver, Massa, had his engine brake in the last race. With the abandonment of the race of Raikkonen didn’t gain any points and left Hamilton, his rival, ahead of him by 13 points in the overall results.

The FIA is considering whether to remove the lead from Massa

Massa led throughout the race splendidly, but rather a dangerous act and inappropriate since there was no need to take the risk of overtaking when he had a very comfortable lead over Hamilton who was second. On lap 38 when performing the second refueling Ferrari gave the go ahead to exit just when Adrian Sutil was passing through pit lane resulting in the two cars almost touching.

This FIA investigation has generated a public dispute since normally the driver would be penalized by a drive through after the infraction, but now the most probable thing is that the team will be fined.

The cirucit

In general the race didn’t have many overtaking or incidents, besides those already mentioned, Trulli overtook Vettel at the first pit stop and exchanged positions, Trulli fifth and Vettel sixth until the end of the race. Regarding the circuit, as the formula 1 tycoon Ecclestone said:

It’s the best urban circuit

Ecclestone (F1 chairperson)

The Valencia Street Circuit has passed the test with very good marks. Although the stands weren’t filled there weren’t many empty seats. The organization complied with all details, the perfect setting, with the huge yachts and the sea on a sunny day that was a great accompaniment for the first European Grand Prix.

The next F1 appointment of 2008 will be the Belgium Grand Prix, September 7, see you there.