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
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