Hamilton Completes Weekend of English Misery
22nd October, 2007
The 'Flying Finn' Kimi Raikkonen claimed his first Formula 1 World Championship on Sunday with a victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix. After a season dominated by the McLaren team, it looked as if Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso would battle it out for the crown as the season progressed. As scandal hit the McLaren team with spying accusations, and a well-publicised rift between Hamilton and Alonso, Ferrari began to quietly improve their car and kept their mouths shut. For the second half of the season, Ferrari upped their game and began to look like challenging.
After McLaren were stripped of their Constructors Championship points, things started to go wrong, as poor decisions and worsening reliability let the Ferrari drivers back into the fray. A few months ago, nobody expected Ferrari to pick up both championships.
Hamilton started from second on the grid, and immediately lost a place to Raikkonen, whose sudden braking caused him to lose another place to teammate Alonso, putting him in fourth. This would have been sufficient for him to take the title, but after attempting a daring move he found himself back down in eight place. Whilst he still had a great chance to climb back up the standings, a gearbox problem saw him lose 30 seconds on a lap, putting him towards the back of the field in 18th place. Hamilton eventually fought back to seventh place, but this was not enough as Raikkonen took the lead from team mate Felipe Massa. Alonso's challenge fell away as the Ferraris clearly had more power on tap on the day.
Alonso called Raikkonen a ‘deserved’ champion, but the Ice Man’s celebrations will have to be put on hold as McLaren launch an appeal into a decision that could yet make Hamilton champion in his rookie year. BMW Sauber and William are being investigated for breaching technical regulations regarding fuel temperatures, which were reportedly too low, thus adding more horsepower to the cars. Alonso, as expected, does not like the thought of this and commented “it wouldn't be fair and I would be embarrassed for this sport.” Hamilton has already been installed as favourite by some bookies to be champion 2008, at about 13/8. Use our free live odds comparison service to find the best odds on next season’s winners.
