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
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