Dominant Hamilton closes in on the title
Lewis Hamilton completely dominated the 56-lap Chinese Grand Prix to inch closer to the world championship on a day when Ferrari and Felipe Massa simply had no answer to the pace of the leading McLaren Mercedes. Heading to the season finale in Brazil, Hamilton leads the championship by seven points from Massa who was this afternoon gifted second position by Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.
Hamilton launched into the lead from pole position and quickly established a three second lead from the chasing Raikkonen. Running third, Massa dropped away to 15 seconds behind Hamilton by the first round of pit stops, a gap that the McLaren driver would manage to the chequered flag...
Hamilton’s fifth victory of the season at Shanghai International Circuit also marks the fifth straight winner at this venue. As Hamilton celebrates his most dominant win of the season, Ferrari can only look back on this even and admit they simply did not have the pace with the F2008 package. The silver-lining is that extend the lead from McLaren in the constructors’ championship to 11 points.
"The team have done a phenomenal job really preparing the car and making steps forward," beamed Hamilton. "We came here and the car felt fantastic all weekend and I owe so much to the guys not just at the track but back home. They have done a phenomenal job and the car is really a dream to drive.
"
"I got into turn one quite clear, I took it easy the first few corners then I started to bridge the gap," he continued. "Fortunately we were just very, very consistent and I think every lap was faster and very, very few errors throughout the whole run, therefore I was able to create a gap and from there it was pretty smooth sailing."
Raikkonen chased Hamilton hard in the first stint of the race, but lap by lap lost a little ground. Massa ran third until the closing stages of the race when Raikkonen backed off and allowed his team-mate through into second position. That pretty much is the story of the Chinese Grand Prix, a race as devoid of incident and accident as the Japanese Grand Prix a week ago was full of it.
"We saw that Lewis was a bit stronger in the beginning of the race," explained Massa. "I mean he was stronger during the whole race but in the beginning he just started to pull away, maybe two or three tenths sometimes per lap, and then this made for sure his race much more comfortable. For us we were completely driving on the limit trying to reduce the gap but it was not possible. So today unfortunately Lewis had the better car for the whole weekend..."
Massa glossed over Raikkonen backing off to allow him through for the second position. "I was quite strong and then I caught him and I passed him, so that was the good part of the race," the Brazilian stated.
Raikkonen however was a little more honest with his assessment of the situation: "I know what the team expects and I know what we want which are results," he said. "It is racing and I have nothing to lose or win in a way. I am driving for the team, so it is a normal situation."
Fernando Alonso started and finished in fourth position in the leading Renault, battling ahead of Heikki Kovalainen on the long back straight on the first lap to regain the position. Alonso’s points 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.
Nick Heidfeld led home BMW Sauber team-mate Robert Kubica to claim the fifth position. Kubica now has 75 points and drops out of the championship chase on a weekend when the F1.08 package simply did not have the pace of the ever-improving Renault or the top two teams in the sport. The decision to focus on 2009 for the second half of the season has been costly for BMW Sauber.
Timo Glock used a one stop strategy well to claim two championship points for Toyota. It was largely a disappointing day for the German-based squad as Jarno Trulli, starting from seventh, turned in on Sebastien Bourdais at the first turn and eliminated himself from the race. Bourdais himself was pushed back down the order and would take the chequered flag in 13th position after a strong recovery drive.
Nelson Piquet claimed the final point in the second Renault after using the more traditional two-stop strategy, albeit with a very long first stint. The result confirms that Renault has clinched fourth position in the constructors’ championship. After starting sixth, it was a disappointing race from Sebastian Vettel who finished ninth in his Toro Rosso Ferrari, eight seconds behind Piquet’s Renault.
Red Bull Renault leaves Shanghai with no points as well. David Coulthard ran a one stop strategy to finish tenth while Mark Webber’s aggressive fuel strategy in qualifying compromised his race and the Australian finished 14th in the sister RB4.
Rubens Barrichello does not have a very good car in the Honda RA108, but the Brazilian veteran drove a very strong race to finish 11th while team-mate Jenson Button finished his low-key weekend down in 16th position. Barrichello is fighting for his future in Formula One and based on recent events, he is the stronger of the two Honda drivers.
It was a pretty rotten weekend for the Williams Toyota team. Kazuki Nakajima made best of a one strop strategy to finish 12th from 17th on the grid while the reverse was true for team-mate Nico Rosberg on his two stop strategy. Starting 14th, the Singapore Grand Prix runner-up actually lost a position and finished a disappointing 15th.
Giancarlo Fisichella had a lonely race at the back of the field following the early retirement of Force India Ferrari team-mate Adrian Sutil. Something of a mobile chicane for the race leaders, Fisichella finished a lap down on Hamilton and 48 seconds behind 16th placed Button.
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One more round to go, off to Interlagos
Hamilton may have the advantage heading to Brazil as he enjoys a seven point advantage in the championship. But it is still far from over, as this was the very same advantage he took to the season finale last year. And we all know what happened on that particular day...
"It is not finished yet," Massa declared. "Until it is finished, we know that in sport many things can happen. We just need to concentrate on our job and try to win the race and then what’s happened has happened."
"That’s our concentration for the last race and that’s the way we are going to approach it knowing we are still fighting for the drivers’ championship. Then we are in a reasonably good position for the constructors’ championship. I think those are quite important for us, so we are going to do everything we can to achieve our target and then we will see what will happen..."
Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
F1 Japanese GP - Race 12/10/2008
Fantastic Fernando takes Fuji!
While the two championship protagonists made a mess of the 67-lap Japanese Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso steered clear of trouble to take his 21st career win from Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen. While it was a tremendous drive from Alonso, the race will be remembered for the lap one antics of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa...
Hamilton made a poor start from the pole position and vigorously chopped across team-mate Heikki Kovalainen on the long run to the first turn with Kimi Raikkonen challenging for the position on the outside. Hamilton missed his braking point and ran wide forcing Raikkonen to the outside of the circuit and allowing Kubica and Alonso through to take the lead.
Having dropped down the order Hamilton battled hard with Massa, taking the position into turn ten on the first lap. The Brazilian ran wide and then launched his F2008 across the chicane before making contact with the McLaren. Massa continued but Hamilton had been tipped into a spin and dropped to the rear of the field.
Massa would get a drive through penalty for running into Hamilton while the championship leader would also get a penalty for running wide and compromising Raikkonen at the start of the race. Both Hamilton and Massa did not have their finest of days...
While Hamilton choked and Massa saw red, Kubica calmly picked up the pieces and led the opening laps of the race from Alonso but it was the Renault driver that emerged from the first round of pit stops ahead and the Spaniard would then pull clear of the BMW Sauber driver to take the chequered flag with a comfortable five second margin.
It was a great result for the Renault team, who had been battling with Toyota for fourth position in the constructors’ championship, as Nelson Piquet had by far his strongest Grand Prix to date from 12th position on the grid to finish a fine fourth.
Kubica’s second position closed him to within six points of Massa and while the Pole had no answer to the pace of Alonso, it was another solid drive to keep BMW Sauber in the hunt for the constructors’ championship. The Hinwil-based team are now just seven points behind McLaren and 13 behind Ferrari.
Kimi Raikkonen pushed hard for Ferrari after losing ground on the opening lap courtesy of Hamilton. The defending champion attempted several passes on Kubica for second position in the closing stages of the race but could never complete the manoeuvre. Still, with Hamilton finishing out of the points and Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren failing whilst running third, Ferrari regain the lead in the constructors’ championship by six points with two rounds remaining.
Jarno Trulli carried the flag for Toyota today as Timo Glock was forced to retire his TF108 early in the race. Trulli lost out to Piquet in the pit stops and finished in fifth position ten seconds clear of Sebastien Bourdais in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel finished seventh in the second STR3 while Massa recovered to take the chequered flag in eighth position. The Brazilian may however lose that position as he and Bourdais made contact late in the race as the Massa turned in on the Toro Rosso driver at the first turn and subsequently placed himself under investigation. As it stands, Massa’s single point for eighth position closes the gap to Hamilton to six points in the championship chase.
Mark Webber used a one-stop strategy to finish ninth in his Red Bull Renault while team-mate David Coulthard suffered a suspension failure at the start of the race and crashed heavily. With both drivers out of the points, Red Bull loses further ground to sister team Toro Rosso as they battle over sixth position in the constructors’ championship.
Nick Heidfeld finished tenth in the second BMW Sauber ahead of Nico Rosberg in his Williams Toyota. Hamilton was unable to recover from the dramas of lap one and finished 12th ahead of the one-stopping Honda duo of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. Kazuki Nakajima was the final runner in 15th position in the second Williams after contact on lap one saw the Japanese racer forced into the pits prematurely.
Adrian Sutil suffered a right rear puncture and was forced to retire while Giancarlo Fisichella was soon out of the race in the second Force India Ferrari with a mechanical problem to make it five retirements from the field of 20.
Fernando Alonso heads to the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend on the back of two impressive wins, while Hamilton retains his title lead over Massa by six points despite a costly error this afternoon in Japan.
Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
While the two championship protagonists made a mess of the 67-lap Japanese Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso steered clear of trouble to take his 21st career win from Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen. While it was a tremendous drive from Alonso, the race will be remembered for the lap one antics of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa...
Hamilton made a poor start from the pole position and vigorously chopped across team-mate Heikki Kovalainen on the long run to the first turn with Kimi Raikkonen challenging for the position on the outside. Hamilton missed his braking point and ran wide forcing Raikkonen to the outside of the circuit and allowing Kubica and Alonso through to take the lead.
Having dropped down the order Hamilton battled hard with Massa, taking the position into turn ten on the first lap. The Brazilian ran wide and then launched his F2008 across the chicane before making contact with the McLaren. Massa continued but Hamilton had been tipped into a spin and dropped to the rear of the field.
Massa would get a drive through penalty for running into Hamilton while the championship leader would also get a penalty for running wide and compromising Raikkonen at the start of the race. Both Hamilton and Massa did not have their finest of days...
While Hamilton choked and Massa saw red, Kubica calmly picked up the pieces and led the opening laps of the race from Alonso but it was the Renault driver that emerged from the first round of pit stops ahead and the Spaniard would then pull clear of the BMW Sauber driver to take the chequered flag with a comfortable five second margin.
It was a great result for the Renault team, who had been battling with Toyota for fourth position in the constructors’ championship, as Nelson Piquet had by far his strongest Grand Prix to date from 12th position on the grid to finish a fine fourth.
Kubica’s second position closed him to within six points of Massa and while the Pole had no answer to the pace of Alonso, it was another solid drive to keep BMW Sauber in the hunt for the constructors’ championship. The Hinwil-based team are now just seven points behind McLaren and 13 behind Ferrari.
Kimi Raikkonen pushed hard for Ferrari after losing ground on the opening lap courtesy of Hamilton. The defending champion attempted several passes on Kubica for second position in the closing stages of the race but could never complete the manoeuvre. Still, with Hamilton finishing out of the points and Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren failing whilst running third, Ferrari regain the lead in the constructors’ championship by six points with two rounds remaining.
Jarno Trulli carried the flag for Toyota today as Timo Glock was forced to retire his TF108 early in the race. Trulli lost out to Piquet in the pit stops and finished in fifth position ten seconds clear of Sebastien Bourdais in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari.
Sebastian Vettel finished seventh in the second STR3 while Massa recovered to take the chequered flag in eighth position. The Brazilian may however lose that position as he and Bourdais made contact late in the race as the Massa turned in on the Toro Rosso driver at the first turn and subsequently placed himself under investigation. As it stands, Massa’s single point for eighth position closes the gap to Hamilton to six points in the championship chase.
Mark Webber used a one-stop strategy to finish ninth in his Red Bull Renault while team-mate David Coulthard suffered a suspension failure at the start of the race and crashed heavily. With both drivers out of the points, Red Bull loses further ground to sister team Toro Rosso as they battle over sixth position in the constructors’ championship.
Nick Heidfeld finished tenth in the second BMW Sauber ahead of Nico Rosberg in his Williams Toyota. Hamilton was unable to recover from the dramas of lap one and finished 12th ahead of the one-stopping Honda duo of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button. Kazuki Nakajima was the final runner in 15th position in the second Williams after contact on lap one saw the Japanese racer forced into the pits prematurely.
Adrian Sutil suffered a right rear puncture and was forced to retire while Giancarlo Fisichella was soon out of the race in the second Force India Ferrari with a mechanical problem to make it five retirements from the field of 20.
Fernando Alonso heads to the Chinese Grand Prix next weekend on the back of two impressive wins, while Hamilton retains his title lead over Massa by six points despite a costly error this afternoon in Japan.
Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International
A1GP Zandvoort - Feature race 05/10/08
France storms to victory in rain-soaked feature race
A1 Team France has claimed the first Feature race victory of the season in extremely wet conditions at Circuit Park Zandvoort in The Netherlands.
From third on the grid Loïc Duval put in a mature drive to take France's 15th win. Sprint race winner Fairuz Fauzy finished second for Malaysia, losing time in the first pit stop due to a problem with the left-rear wheel. Earl Bamber put in an outstanding performance this weekend on his race debut for A1 Team New Zealand claiming third, his second podium finish of the day.
With the rain continuing to fall the decision was made to start the Feature behind the Safety Car instead of the usual grid start due to the standing water around the circuit. The race ran this way for two laps before the Safety Car pulled off an and it was Sprint race winner Fairuz Fauzy who had the best view as the pack headed into Turn 1, with those behind having almost no visibility due to the spray.
Charlie Kimball got caught out in the terrible wet conditions spinning the USA entry at Turn 6 but continuing on track. After a couple of attempts, France made a move on New Zealand passing Bamber cleanly down the pit straight and tucking in front of Black Beauty as the pair headed into the first corner on lap four.
China also had a spin at Turn 2 under pressure from Ireland, who started in 15th after failing to finish the Sprint race.
A lap later, Adam Carroll lost the back end of the Ireland car and aquaplaned into the gravel, ending a disappointing weekend for the team after looking promising in qualifying.
Meanwhile, local hero Jeroen Bleekemolen passed Bamber for third, much to the delight of the cheering Dutch crowds. Current A1GP champion Switzerland looked to be in trouble when Neel Jani dived into the pit lane for an unscheduled stop due to a suspected gear selection problem. Up at the front, Malaysia was building a comfortable margin in the lead, now 1.760s ahead of France, making the order Malaysia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand after lap five.
With wet weather continuing to test the drivers, lap seven brought about another incident as Italy and South Africa came together. Italy's Fabio Onidi made a mistake spinning across the kerb and into Adrian Zaugg's South African car taking them both out of the race.
China dropped further back down the field after being given a drive-through penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag while Malaysia extended its lead over France to 2.4 seconds.
On lap eight the first pit window opened with race leader Malaysia making the first scheduled stop of the day but lost time due to a problem with the left-rear wheel. Bleekemolen also had a problem changing a wheel but eventually got back on track. Australia had a quick stop with France now leading from New Zealand and Portugal.
A1 Team Korea, making its A1GP debut this weekend, moved into the top ten by passing Satrio Hermanto in the Indonesian car making the order now France, New Zealand, Portugal, Malaysia, USA, Lebanon, Netherlands, Australia, Monaco, Korea.
With the rain still pouring Netherlands moved up ahead of Lebanon for sixth with the pair both managing to stay on track despite getting extremely close through Turn 13.
On lap 15 France finally came in for its first pit stop and after a quick one retained the lead, as Jeroen Bleekemolen headed back into the pits for the second time, with the team looking to replace the steering wheel. He continued but had to pit later to make the change.
Korea had a minor spin on lap 17, just before Portugal crashed out after just taking the lead. Filipe Albuquerque had a big crash at the quick final turn resulting in the Safety Car being deployed for the first time in the race. As the field closed up, the order was France, Malaysia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Australia, USA, Netherlands, Monaco and China.
After a couple of laps for the debris to be cleared the Safety Car was in and the field bunched up ready for the re-start. Korea managed to get going again after its earlier spin, being guaranteed a point on its debut event due to so many retirements.
With racing back underway, Netherlands was now right on the back of USA and Australia, and moved ahead of USA for sixth place when Charlie Kimball slid off line at the back of the circuit. On lap 19 Lebanon was running fourth with Daniel Morad, on his debut for the team, looking to score the team's first-ever point in A1GP.
As the second pit stop window approached France held a 4.587-second lead from Malaysia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Australia, Netherlands, USA, Monaco, China and Korea.
John Martin was pushing hard to catch Lebanon, which was made easier when Morad had a 360-degree spin gifting the position to Australia as he tried to get back up to speed. The Netherlands began dropping back as Jeroen Bleekemolen appeared to be having gear-shifting problems.
On lap 27 the pit window opened, with Loïc Duval now with a 6.3-second lead over Malaysia as Fauzy came in for his second stop. Australia and Lebanon both pitted with Lebanon retaking fifth. France made a great stop and Duval retained the lead heading into the final third of the race.
With the terrible conditions causing problems for a number of teams the race was turned into a timed event with nine minutes remaining.
On lap 31 Charlie Kimball put in a fantastic run in the Andretti Green Racing-run US car to record the fastest lap of the race with a 1m 47.115s, but only a lap later he ended up in the gravel at Turn 5 making it a bittersweet end to the Californian's weekend.
With the order now France, Malaysia, New Zealand, Lebanon, Australia, Monaco, Netherlands, the clock continued to tick down but with the weather making things really tough for all the drivers there was a huge crash on the main straight. Lebanon's Daniel Morad lost control of his car, and spun into the back of China's Ho-Pin Tung. Both cars careered at speed into the tyres at Tarzan, bringing out the Safety Car for the second time.
The 17th car made an appearance in the closing stages of the race as Brazil came out for the final laps due to the repairs taking so long after the Sprint race crash.
As the time ran out the cars were released to take the chequered flag with A1 Team France taking its first victory since last February in Australia. Malaysia and New Zealand completed the podium with Malaysia and France joint championship leaders.
A1 Teams Korea and Monaco both scored on their debut, much to the delight of both teams and Daniel Morad scored the first-ever points for A1 Team Lebanon despite not finishing the race.
France's Loïc Duval said: "The weekend was really difficult, we received the car yesterday morning and we were in the car for the first time during qualifying so everything was brand new and today it was a really, really tough race. It was hard with the safety car but at the end everything went well and the mechanics did a great job."
Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy said of his two podium results: "It's been a dream start to the season for A1 Team Malaysia. We were certainly hoping to have a good performance here, and two podiums are just great. The weather conditions were treacherous today, which made it difficult for all of us, but that makes it all the more rewarding. There is something extra special when you are driving for your nation, so I'm very proud of our achievements today. It's been a real team effort and I'm delighted that we are leaving Zandvoort leading the championship."
New Zealand's 18-year-old Earl Bamber commented on his fantastic weekend: "It was always going to be a tough weekend. There is a lot more horsepower from the Powered by Ferrari car and I think it's just been a challenge for all the drivers to get around and finish the Feature race. It's been a fantastic weekend for me though, the team did a great job all weekend with the car, and we still managed to hold third position after a mishap with the wheel nut. It was a little bit slow to come off in the pit stop but the guys handled it well and we got back out and still finished on the podium."
"We had a lot of power boosts left in the bag just in case the Safety Car came out later on and we could challenge for second place," he added. "But we ran out of time on the clock unfortunately so that's the way it goes, we will live to fight another day."
The very final words on what has been a hard but rewarding first weekend of Season Four for the A1GP World Cup of Motorsport came from the Chairman, Tony Teixeira: "I have always loved the Dutch and I do so even more after this weekend. We had our dramas getting here, but I never doubted we would make it and want to say a big thank you to everyone who made this possible."
"The weather was dreadful, but this did not stop the fans coming to see the races in their tens of thousands with the patriotic orange clearly visible in the packed grandstands," Teixeira remarked. "All the teams have been working day and night to put on the show and they did us proud today."
Zandvoort - Feature race results:
Pos Driver A1 Team Laps Time Gap
1. Loïc Duval France 36 11:58.723 -
2. Fairuz Fauzy Malaysia 36 12:01.011 +2.288
3. Earl Bamber New Zealand 36 12:01.432 +2.709
4. John Martin Australia 36 12:05.052 +6.329
5. Jeroen Bleekemolen Netherlands 36 12:06.996 +8.273
6. Clivio Piccione Monaco 34 12:03.356 +2 Laps
7. Jin Woo Hwang Korea 33 12:28.432 +3 Laps
8. Daniel Morad Lebanon 32 03:15.216 +4 Laps
9. Ho Pin Tung China 31 03:14.803 +5 Laps
10. Charlie Kimball USA 30 59:04.806 +6 Laps
11. Filipe Albuquerque Portugal 15 29:34.235 +21 Laps
12. Satrio Hermanto Indonesia 12 26:14.548 +24 Laps
13. Adrian Zaugg South Africa 5 11:00.955 +31 Laps
14. Fabio Onidi Italy 5 11:01.706 +31 Laps
15. Felipe Guimaraes Brazil 5 12:03.879 +31 Laps
16. Adam Carroll Ireland 4 09:17.297 +32 Laps
17. Neel Jani Switzerland 4 09:52.638 +32 Laps
Fastest lap: A1 Team USA set the fastest lap (1m47.115s) of the Feature race with a speed of 155.5 kph on lap 30.
2008/09 A1GP points standings:
Pos A1 Team Points
1. Malaysia 22
2. France 22
3. New Zealand 18
4. Netherlands 11
5. Australia 8
6. Monaco 5
7. Switzerland 4
8. Korea 4
9. South Africa 3
10. USA 3
10. Lebanon 3
12. Italy 2
13. China 2
Next race: A1GP Chengdu, China, 7-9 November 2008.
D.B. © CAPSIS International
A1GP Zandvoort - Sprint race 05/10/08
Malaysia takes first victory of new season
A1 Team Malaysia has won the first race of the 2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport season at Circuit Park Zandvoort in The Netherlands. In a rain-soaked Sprint race, Fairuz Fauzy came from fourth on the grid to take the team's first victory since Season Two, which was 27 races ago.
After initially taking the lead from The Netherlands, Earl Bamber put in a great drive on his race debut for A1 Team New Zealand to take second place with Loic Duval storming through from 11th on the grid to take the final podium position for A1 Team France.
Pole-sitter Jeroen Bleekemolen struggled in the extremely tricky conditions finishing fourth as the red flag came out to end the race.
In a thrilling start to the new season, the drama began before the cars even crossed the start line after doing two laps behind the Safety Car due to the atrocious conditions. On an extremely wet track, Ireland spun in the final corner with Monaco's Clivio Piccione running into him, so putting the pair out the race before it had even started.
As the new Powered by Ferrari cars came down the pit straight for the rolling start, the action behind gave the front row duo of the Netherlands and New Zealand a comfortable gap as they came across the start line for the first time.
Lebanon's Daniel Morad ran wide in the first corner, narrowly avoiding USA's Charlie Kimball, as both drivers made their race debut for their respective nations.
A lap later, Korea's Jin Woo Hwang collided with John Martin at the first corner while making an ambitious move down the inside of the Australia car which left both in the gravel and Korea out of the race, with a fine and a drop to the back of the grid for race two for causing an avoidable accident and trying to overtake under a yellow flag.
Malaysia and Switzerland battled it out for third with Neel Jani getting ahead of Fauzy on lap four. From 16th on the grid, and having only done a few laps this weekend, China's Ho Pin Tung was putting in a stunning drive to challenge Italy for seventh by lap five. China claimed the position taking the inside line through turn 11 and began chasing down South Africa.
Out at the front the race was really on with newcomer Bamber pushing the Netherlands for the lead. On lap seven the 18-year-old made a great move trying to go around the outside of Bleekemolen through the chicane. The Netherlands ran off the circuit while trying to defend the position but with a better run out the corner Bamber grabbed the lead.
As the rain continued to fall, Malaysia were flying, re-taking third from Switzerland before passing local hero Bleekemolen for second. Fauzy then set about closing the gap to New Zealand who was still in the lead. France moved up to fourth as Loic Duval took advantage of a mistake from Switzerland.
At the start of lap nine the order at the front was now New Zealand, Malaysia, Netherlands, France, Switzerland, China, South Africa and Italy.
Fauzy, whose car was working really well in the wet conditions, was right on the gearbox of Bamber and on lap nine made his move, snatching the lead through turn eleven. Meanwhile, France stole the final podium position from Netherlands.
China's tremendous charge came to an end on lap ten when the back end got away from Ho Pin Tung and he spun coming out of the final corner, crashing out of fifth. With Brazil also crashing the red flag was brought out, taking the final race classification back to the end of lap 10.
Race winner A1 Team Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy said: "I am so happy to take this win. It was very difficult on the track today and made even more challenging with the lack of experience we have with this new car, but we have worked really hard as a team and now we have a fantastic win. We start from pole position for the next race as well, so I hope we can have more success, but if the weather stays like this it will be another huge challenge for everyone. I'm looking forward to it!"
A1 Team New Zealand's Earl Bamber said: "Its pretty atrocious conditions this morning. We got a good start and then managed to get past the Netherlands. He (Bleekemolen) got on some oil which made him have a slow exit so I got down the outside into the chicane and then as he out-braked himself he ran wide and I managed to get in front. It was a good pass, but pretty close. We held the lead for quite a while but then Fairuz was just a little bit quicker and got past me on the infield. I think second is good and hopefully we can make some changes for this afternoon and see what happens with the weather."
Third-placed Loic Duval driving for A1 Team France said: "It's very difficult to see anything but I'm really happy. We received the car yesterday, but just ran in the qualifying session so to finish on the podium today its great for us. Everything is possible for this afternoon so I am confident now. We lost a lot of laps yesterday morning, so this morning we had the chance for an extra test. We managed to work on the car and I think it's been quite fair with the amount of laps everybody has had."
Jeroen Bleekmolen was disappointed not to be on the podium in front of his home crowd: "When you start from pole you want to win the race, so it didn't go to plan. The first few laps were alright but then I lost a lot of grip and people passed me on the outside, inside and everywhere so we need to find more grip and hopefully we can do better the second race. It's really great to see the fans and even with this weather they are still here enjoying it so I hope I can give them a good result this afternoon."
With this afternoon's Feature race grid determined by the Sprint finishing order, Malaysia is in pole position to aim for a double victory in the opening weekend of the new season.
Zandvoort - Sprint race results:
Pos Driver A1 Team Laps Time Gap
1. Fairuz Fauzy Malaysia 10 19:44.533 -
2. Earl Bamber New Zealand 10 19:48.007 +3.474
3. Loic Duval France 10 19:50.803 +6.27
4. Jeroen Bleekemolen Netherlands 10 19:57.966 +13.433
5. Neel Jani Switzerland 10 20:01.429 +16.896
6. Adrian Zaugg South Africa 10 20:05.458 +20.925
7. Fabio Onidi Italy 10 20:06.747 +22.214
8. Charlie Kimball USA 10 20:08.683 +24.15
9. Filipe Albuquerque Portugal 10 20:13.960 +29.427
10. Daniel Morad Lebanon 10 20:23.462 +38.929
11. John Martin Australia 9 21:12.004 +1:27.471
12. Ho Pin Tung China 9 18:09.652 +1 Lap
13. Felipe Guimaraes Brazil 9 19:24.409 +1 Lap
14. Jin Woo Hwang Korea 3 07:27.249 +7 Laps
15. Satrio Hermanto Indonesia 2 05:27.400 +8 Laps
16. Adam Carroll Ireland 2 05:58.094 +8 Laps
17. Clivio Piccione Monaco 1 02:48.422 +9 Laps
Fastest lap: A1 Team France set the fastest lap (1m45.939s) of the Sprint race with a speed of 157.2 kph on lap six.
2008/09 A1GP points standings:
Pos A1 Team Points
1. Malaysia 10
2. New Zealand 8
3. France 7
4. Netherlands 5
5. Switzerland 4
6. South Africa 3
7. Italy 2
8. USA 1
D.B. © CAPSIS International
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