F1 Singapore GP - Race 28/09/08

The cards fall for Fernando Alonso!

The first ever Formula One night race saw Fernando Alonso take a stunning victory from 15th position on the grid on a day when a safety car and pit errors turned the tables in favour of the former champion and the Renault team.

Ironically, the fuel pressure failure on Alonso’s R28 in qualifying yesterday combined with the antics of team-mate Nelson Piquet, forced a risky strategy and a timely safety car respectively that gave the former champion the chance he grasped to claim his 20th Grand Prix win.

The 61-lap race saw Felipe Massa dominate the opening laps of the race, pulling away from championship rival Lewis Hamilton with some ease to enjoy a comfortable four second advantage. That advantage was swiftly turned into a massive deficit after Nelson Piquet planted his Renault firmly in the wall and brought out the first safety car of the race.

While the unfortunate Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg were forced to pit whilst the safety car was on track and the pit lane closes, Massa, Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen were able to wait for the pits to open before they all stopped together for that critical first stop.

Not for the first time this year there was a big error in the Ferrari team as Massa received the signal leave the pit, only to find the fuel hose still attached, crew in the way and the ever unfortunate Adrian Sutil motoring down the pit lane.
Massa came to a halt at the end of the pit lane and waited on the team to come and collect the fuel hose before he could continue.

That put Massa to the back of the field and the subsequent drive through penalty for a dangerous release, remarkably similar to Valencia where he received no penalty, effectively ended his race. The Brazilian would take the chequered flag in 13th position and lose ground in the title race.

Alonso meanwhile had opted to take the soft tyre for an aggressive first stint and had pitted ahead of the safety car. This vaulted him up to fourth position on track behind two drivers who had yet to pit at all and Rosberg who was soon to take a stop and go penalty for pitting while the pits were closed.

The race played out and Alonso duly took the lead, controlled the pace and took the chequered flag ahead of Rosberg who despite the penalty, finished just three seconds behind the race winner. Rosberg was perhaps fortunate that he was able to pull a large advantage at the restart of the race, thus nullifying to a large extent his drive through penalty.

Lewis Hamilton extends his championship advantage from Massa from one point to seven with three rounds remaining as he finished in third position. Hamilton did not seems to have the pace to challenge for the race win, but the errors from the Ferrari team handed him a nice advantage and has given McLaren Mercedes the lead in the constructors’ championship.

Timo Glock finished fourth for Toyota, gaining positions as other expected front-runners fell by the wayside. Team-mate Jarno Trulli opted for a one stop strategy but a gearbox problem in the closing stages cost the Italian further points, something the team will note now that Renault has moved fourth in the constructors’ championship.

It was a difficult race for BMW Sauber with Nick Heidfeld salvaging a sixth position but the drive through penalty for Robert Kubica while running fourth destroyed his race and he finished out of the points in 11th position.

Red Bull Renault looked to be set for a haul of points with Mark Webber running just behind Alonso before the RB4 lost gears and Webber was forced to retire. David Coulthard finished seventh in the sister machine, losing ground in his final stop as he too tried to leave the pits before the fuelling was fully complete.

The final point went to Kazuki Nakajima who drove a solid race in his Williams Toyota, holding off Jenson Button’s Honda to the chequered flag.

Heikki Kovalainen had a race to forget as he lost out at the first turn and dropped down the order before losing further ground in the first round of stops. The Finn was tenth at the chequered flag ahead of Kubica, Sebastien Bourdais, Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Apart from Piquet, other notable non-finishers included Kimi Raikkonen who threw away fifth position with four laps remaining as he bounced across the kerbs at turn ten and into retirement. Raikkonen’s fourth straight race without points ends his slim championship hopes making it a two horse race between Hamilton and Massa for the 2008 crown.

Adrian Sutil brought out the second and final safety car period 12 laps from home as he nosed the Force India into the barriers just as Massa recovered from a spin at the very same turn while Rubens Barrichello succumbed to mechanical woes just after his first pit stop.

The Formula One circus now packs up and heads to Fuji Speedway for the Japanese Grand Prix which takes place in two weeks time.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

F1 Italian GP - Race 15/09/08

Vettel dominates at Monza!

Sebastian Vettel made history this afternoon at the Italian Grand Prix as he dominated the 53-lap event taking the chequered flag 12 seconds ahead of Heikki Kovalainen. In doing so, Vettel becomes the youngest Grand Prix winner in the history of the sport and launches the Toro Rosso Ferrari team ahead of both Williams Toyota and Red Bull Renault in the constructors’ championship.

It was a flawless drive from the young German racer from the pole position in tricky conditions once again. The race started behind the safety car but even at the end of the first racing lap, Vettel had pulled a two second advantage over Kovalainen in the McLaren Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton aside, Vettel never looked like anything other than a race winner.

Heikki Kovalainen was never a contender for the race win which will be a concern for the Finn on a day when he had a great chance of securing his first win on merit. Like Vettel he used a standard two stop strategy switching from full wet tyres to intermediate tyres for his final stint.

Robert Kubica drove a smart race from 11th position to finish third, just eight seconds behind Kovalainen. The BMW Sauber driver made great use of a one stop strategy to vault ahead of those stopping twice and unlike some, had enough fuel to ensure that his one and only stop was at the optimum time for the switch from wet to intermediate tyres.

Fernando Alonso ran a similar strategy to Kubica and was the second driver today to change to the intermediate rubber as the circuit started to dry from the mid-way point.
It was another excellent run from the former champion as he took the chequered flag, less than four seconds behind Kubica.

Nick Heidfeld also has a strong run in the second BMW Sauber, but lost ground to Kubica at the start and then drove a strong race and managed to fend off a sustained attack to finish in fifth position.

Felipe Massa started sixth and finished in the same position on a more traditional two-stop strategy. Massa’s undoing was the timing of his pit stops that dropped him behind the one-stopping Heidfeld, a position he would not be able to recover from. The Brazilian will not be too unhappy with the result however, as he takes another small nibble out of Lewis Hamilton’s championship lead.

Starting 15th, Hamilton had it all to do and the McLaren driver came very close to making it a major upset this afternoon at Monza. Hamilton took enough fuel on board ahead of the race to go the distance with one stop. However he did not take enough fuel to choose the ideal time for that stop. With the circuit drying, Hamilton pitted ahead of some of the other one-stoppers and took a second set of full wet tyres. Had the rain continued, he would have been able to challenge Vettel for the victory. As it was, Hamilton had to make an unscheduled stop to take on the intermediate tyres and he would finish in seventh position.

Hamilton retains the lead in the championship but now the gap to Massa is just one point heading to Singapore in two weeks time.

Mark Webber ran third early in the race in the leading Red Bull Renault, but lost out to the one stopping cars and his race was also hindered by a quick spin exiting the Ascari chicane. Webber took the final point for eighth position but that final point was not enough stop sister team Toro Rosso moving ahead in the constructors’ championship.

Kimi Raikkonen spent much of the race running in the lower mid-field and it was only in the closing laps that the Ferrari driver was able to make progress. Raikkonen took the chequered flag in ninth position after a so-so run and therefore loses further ground to Kubica, Massa and Hamilton in the championship standings.

Nelson Piquet used a one-stop strategy to finish tenth in the second Renault ahead of Timo Glock in the leading Toyota. Glock, like team-mate Jarno Trulli in 13th, paid the price for running two stops.

After much promise in practice and qualifying, it was a poor race day for the Williams Toyota team with Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg finishing a disappointing 12th and 14th ahead of Jenson Button in the leading Honda.

A clash between David Coulthard and Kazuki Nakajima cost the former as he was forced to pit his Red Bull for repairs a few laps from home. Coulthard still managed to finish ahead of the second Honda of Rubens Barrichello.

Sebastien Bourdais could well have secured a podium position this afternoon at Monza, but the Frenchman stalled his Toro Rosso on the dummy grid and then went a lap down before the team could restart the STR3. Bourdais was classified 18th a lap ahead of Adrian Sutil in the surviving Force India Ferrari.

Amazingly, given the conditions, Giancarlo Fisichella was the only driver to retire from the race. Fisichella, battling with Coulthard, clipped the Red Bull at the first chicane and at the end of the lap the front wing on the VJM01 failed sending the Italian veteran into the gravel and retirement.

It was a fantastic day for Sebastian Vettel and Toro Rosso Ferrari on what was a great day for the sport.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

F1 Belgian GP - Race 07/09/08

Drama, penalties and controversy at Spa Francorchamps!

It was a most dramatic day in the Ardennes once again and this time the action extended beyond the chequered flag. Rain ahead of the 44-lap Belgian Grand Prix and then in the final stages of the race turned the 13th round of the world championship on its head and effectively ended Kimi Raikkonen’s championship hopes. Lewis Hamilton slithered across the line to record what was to be his ninth victory of his career. However, this being Formula One, there would be a few more twists and turns before nightfall at Spa Francorchamps and Felipe Massa was later handed the race win by the race stewards.

It was Raikkonen who made the best of the tricky conditions on the first lap to move from fourth position on the grid to take the race lead at the start of the second lap as pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton spun his McLaren Mercedes at La Source.

Raikkonen took control of the race but was unable to shake Hamilton with the gap fluctuating between two seconds and six seconds throughout the bulk of the race. The turning point - in terms of racing - came three laps from home as light rain began to fall and immediately Raikkonen was forced to back off allowing Hamilton to close right in and challenge for the lead into the final turn with just over two laps remaining.


Hamilton attempted the pass around the outside of the right-left turn – formerly the ‘bus stop’ - but with no room as Raikkonen took his normal racing line, Hamilton was forced off track before rejoining on the main straight. Not deterred, Hamilton pounced and made a clean pass on the Ferrari driver into La Source.

This is the move that would later cost the McLaren driver the race victory as it was determined that he had in fact gained an advantage over his Ferrari rival on the run to the first turn.

With the rains now falling harder and the race just a lap and a half from its conclusion, Hamilton and Raikkonen pushed as hard as they dared in the conditions but both were forced to take avoiding action as Nico Rosberg’s Williams Toyota spun and rejoined in front of them. Hamilton took to the grass and rejoined while Raikkonen had a quick spin before resuming.

Seconds later Raikkonen lost the Ferrari for a second and final time and spun into the retaining wall on the approach to the final turn. Hamilton slithered around the final lap to take the chequered flag ahead of Felipe Massa . It was a sensational final few laps of the race only soured by the post race penalties.

Massa started the race from the front row of the grid but was not able to challenge leaders Hamilton and Raikkonen, but with the latter sliding into retirement on the penultimate lap and Hamilton being given a 25 second time penalty post race, the Brazilian was able to pick up ten points and keep his championship challenge on track.

Third position on track fell to Nick Heidfeld and BMW Sauber after they opted to pit ahead of the final lap and change to intermediate tyres in the tricky conditions. Lapping significantly faster than those who did not pit, Heidfeld cut through the pack to take the flag in third position, just 24 seconds behind Hamilton and 14 seconds behind Massa. Given another lap and Heidfeld could well have taken the race win. With the post-race adjustments, Heidfeld was declared the runner-up to Massa.

It was a similar situation for Fernando Alonso on the final lap as he finished in a strong fourth position for Renault beating the Toro Rosso Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel by a fraction of a second across the line to take the position.

Robert Kubica had a tough weekend in Belgium but will be relatively happy to at least pick up some points with sixth position ahead of Sebastien Bourdais who amazingly started the final lap in third position. In the wet conditions, there was no holding back those on the intermediate tyre but it remains to be seen how he lost position to Vettel and Kubica. With six points on the board, Toro Rosso Ferrari now move ahead of the struggling Honda team in the constructors’ championship.

Timo Glock finished in eighth position for Toyota but like Hamilton would later take a post-race penalty dropping him out of the points. It was a disappointing day for team-mate Jarno Trulli in the sister TF108. The Italian made a stunning getaway from the grid from 11th position, gaining more than half a dozen positions on the run to La Source. Sadly for the Toyota squad, Bourdais ran into the back of Trulli under braking and the Italian would suffer with handling issues for the remainder of the race.

Mark Webber finished ninth, eighth in the points, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen and there was some justice in that as the McLaren driver attempted a pass early in the race that sent Webber spinning down the order. Kovalainen, who made a dreadful start from third position on the grid, would serve a drive through penalty for his actions and then go off on the final lap at turn eight. Kovalainen now heads to Monza without adding to his points tally and sliding further down the points standings.

David Coulthard finished 11th in the second Red Bull Renault ahead of Nico Rosberg in the leading Williams. Adrian Sutil was 13th in his Force India Ferrari ahead of Kazuki Nakajima, Jenson Button, Trulli and Giancarlo Fisichella. Rubens Barrichello retired from the race with a gearbox failure while Piquet spun off into the barriers early in the race.

For Raikkonen, his failure to finish effectively ends his title hopes making it a two-horse race heading to the Italian Grand Prix next weekend. That race has been made a whole lot closer with Massa being promoted winner of the Belgian Grand Prix. Hamilton still leads the championship but by just two points as the Ferrari team head home to Monza...

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International