Hamilton Falls Short
8th October, 2007
The Formula 1 World Championship has been blown wide apart with only one race remaining. British wonderkid Lewis Hamilton looked like he was on to take the title at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, however disaster struck and Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen now are very much back in contention. He would have become Formula 1’s first rookie world champion and youngest ever winner, has he not found himself beached in a small gravel trap on the entry to the pit lane.
With extremely worn tyres and slippery conditions, Hamilton could not quite take a sharp corner into the pit lane, and slid teasingly slowly into a small patch of gravel. McLaren have since admitted they left Hamilton out on the track for ‘one too many laps’ and conceded that the retirement was their fault. Hamilton had led brilliantly from the first lap throughout the lap and looked as if he would easily scoop the win in China, and take the championship.
Raikkonen and Alonso profited greatly from the mistake, finishing first and second consecutively. Hamilton now leads on 107 points, to Alonso’s 103, and Raikkonen’s 100. Hamilton remains favourite at 2/7, Alonso at 3s, and Raikkonen at 11s, all at Bet 365. Massa has admitted he will do ‘whatever he can’ to help his teammate Raikkonen at Ferrari, the question is, how far will he go – 11/1 may tempt a few punters.
Chinese Grand Prix Official Result:
1 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 1hr 37mins 58.395secs, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 1:38:08.195, 3 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:38:11.195, 4 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:38:51.895, 5 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 1:39:06.995, 6 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:39:11.995, 7 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 1:39:12.595, 8 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 1:39:19.095, 9 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 1:39:19.495, 10 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:39:22.995, 11 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 1:39:24.995, 12 Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams at 1 Lap, 13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota at 1 Lap, 14 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri at 1 Lap, 15 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Honda at 1 Lap, 16 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams at 2 Laps, 17 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker at 3 Laps
Official World Championship Standings:
1 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 107pts, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren 103, 3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari 100, 4 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 86, 5 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber 58, 6 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber 35, 7 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 30, 8 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault 21, 9 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams 15, 10 David Coulthard (Gbr) Red Bull 14, 11 Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams 13, 12 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 10, 13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota 7, 14 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Scuderia Toro Rosso 6, 15 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda 6, 16 Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 5, 17 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri 4, 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Scuderia Toro Rosso 3, 19 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker 1
