Raikkonen wins F1 title as Hamilton chokes

SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – On a sun-splashed day in Sao Paulo, Brazil Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen has won the Brazilian GP and with it the F1 World Driving title. Felipe Massa was 2nd in the other Ferrari and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso third.

Lewis Hamilton, who appeared to have the title all wrapped up going into the race, went off course on the first lap and fell back. He recovered to finish 7th and tie Alonso for 2nd in the title, both 1 point behind Kimi. Hamilton was awarded 2nd on the tie-breaker.

Nico Rosberg in the Williams-Toyota was fourth, Robert Kubica was fifth in the BMW Sauber, Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW in sixth, Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren-Mercedes in seventh and Jarno Trulli in the Toyota finishing in the final points position.

For the first time since the title battle between Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell in 1986 the championship went down to a three-way fight in the final race of the season.

At the start Massa cut across to block Hamilton, and Raikkonen charged up the outside to take second place, while into the second corner Alonso passed Hamilton on the outside to take third place.

On the charge down the hill into the fourth corner Hamilton made an attempt on Alonso, choked, and ended up going off the circuit wide, coming back onto the track in eighth place. However, the off-course excursion may have done some damage to the car because on lap 8 Hamilton slowed, appearing not to be able to find a gear, and dropped back to 18th – the car finally coming back to life. He came back to finish 7th but it was not enough.

In some respects, if McLaren did indeed use Ferrari’s secrets gained from the stolen Ferrari design document that Nigel Stepney gave to McLaren to all of a sudden become competitive with Ferrari, then justice was served with Ferrari winning both the drivers and manufacturers championship.

Race Recap
On a hot day, with the track temperature reaching a record 64 degrees, and an ambient of 34 degrees, the circuit was packed with eager spectators. The start was crucial, as Massa took off into the lead and Raikkonen drove around the outside of Hamilton in the first corner. Into turn two, Hamilton’s teammate Alonso passed his rival and slipped into third place, but Hamilton, trying to fight back, braked on the outside of the corner at the end of the first straight, locked up his brakes, and slid wide, eventually rejoining in eighth place.

The first pit stops came on lap 19 when Kubica pitted, while Massa came in on lap 20, Raikkonen next time round, and Alonso on lap 22. Heidfeld, however, stayed out until lap 25. The gap had grown between the two Ferrari drivers and would peak at 3.7s on lap 28, while the gap to Alonso grew to 12s – and now began to grow faster.

At half distance, Hamilton had reached ninth place before making a second stop. Fourth placed Kubica made his second stop on lap 38 which promoted Trulli to fourth place. By now, Alonso was 30s behind Raikkonen.

Crucially, on lap 44, Massa lost most of his 2.8s lead to Raikkonen when he had a moment down at turn four and slid wide, suspecting there may have been oil there. He was able to pull away again over the next few laps, but he only had a 1.4s lead when he pitted for the second time on lap 50. Raikkonen, however, stayed out for a further three laps, and when he came in after several quick laps, he emerged just ahead of his teammate.

Raikkonen pulled away to 3.4s, but then the pair settled into a rhythm which they held to the checkered flag. Behind them, Alonso was 45s away, and not that much ahead of the BMW pair of Heidfeld and Kubica, having a tremendous battle with Nico Rosberg. In the end, it was Rosberg who finished fourth from the BMW pair. Next up was Hamilton in seventh place.

Raikkonen crossed the line a delighted winner, his sixth victory of the season and in his first year with Ferrari. Only Juan-Manuel Fangio had won the title with Formula One’s oldest and most famous team in his rookie year with the team. Massa was a popular second, while Alonso a philosophical third, clearly acknowledging the superior pace of Ferrari on this important day.

Late in the evening, however, there were reports that there was a fuel discrepancy with the BMW Sauber and Williams cars, which had finished fourth, fifth and sixth. As this is written we await further details. Race recap by Ferrari PR

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