Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen takes the 2007 Formula One World Championship against all odds by beating Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso in a dramatic race in Sao Paulo.
It was a thrilling Brazilian Grand Prix from start to finish. Kimi Raikkonen deserves the championship and it was a great result for the Iceman after so many years of trying. What a shame that Lewis Hamilton lost out in the final race in Brazil. He was the favourite to win after qualifying an excellent second position, but in the race he had problems…
On the first lap, Kimi Raikkonen accelerated off the starting grid to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton into the Senna S. Lewis lost momentum behind the two Ferraris which allow Fernando Alonso to slip through on the inside at Curva do Sol. The championship leader tried to retaliate into the Descida do Lago corner, only to lock a brake and run wide onto the run-off area, falling to eighth place.
Eight laps later, his hopes of winning the title came at the worst possible moment when his car suddenly slowed. Exiting Descida do Lago, he flicked the gearshift paddle on his steering wheel to change up but found a boxful of neutrals…
As his McLaren stuttered to find a gear, car after car went by. Lewis managed to get going again after making some urgent radio instructions to the pits on how to fix it. But by now, he was down to 18th position and was more than 40 seconds behind the race leader Felipe Massa…
Hamilton was in a desperate situation as his two title rivals Alonso and Raikkonen were ahead of him on the track. He had to charge through the field in order to score some points to keep his championship hopes alive… alas, this wasn’t to be. Even though he pulled off some spectacular overtaking passes to move up the leading board, including on Rubens Barrichello’s Honda into the first corner, Lewis simply lacked pace compared to the Ferraris. It was a cruel blow to lose the title after sixteen rounds of this epic season of Formula One racing in the final race. To finish seventh was a disappointment, but Lewis should be proud by his achievements in his first season, including those nine consecutive podium finishes and four Grand Prix victories.
As for Fernando Alonso, the double world champion struggled to be on the same lap times as the two red cars. He made the decisive move on his McLaren team-mate on the first lap to take third, but then on, failed to make any progress. The Spaniard even dropped to fourth at one point, when Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber overtook him into the Senna S. He regained third when Kubica made his pitstop. Alonso lost the championship by a single point to Kimi Raikkonen after finishing in a distant third…
For Felipe Massa, the crowd favourite didn’t win his home race but the Brazilian should be satisfied by his performance in Sao Paulo. Led from pole position. Lapped consistently without any mistakes and to finish a close second behind the 2007 champion was a fantastic result for Massa and Ferrari.
Finishing in fourth goes to Nico Rosberg in the Williams. The German drove a great race and he was lucky not to get involved in a shunt with Nick Heidfeld with 11 laps to the chequered flag. Both cars went wide into the first corner, which let Heidfeld’s BMW team-mate Kubica through, but Rosberg was able to catch him and grab fourth on the penultimate lap.
The lapped Hamilton finished the race in seventh but the result in Brazil means he finishes second in the drivers’ standing after leading it for the last five months… Toyota’s Jarno Trulli made a late pit stop to finish in the last remaining points finish with eighth.
David Coulthard finished in ninth position for Red Bull Racing despite colliding into Formula One newcomer Kazuki Nakajima at the first corner. The Japanese driver recorded his first Formula One result with tenth, though his race was marred when he slid into his Williams pit crew at his first pit stop, leaving two mechanics with minor injuries.
As for the last year’s champions, the Renault F1 team had a disastrous season finale. Both Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen suffered damage in the opening laps. The Italian was involved in a violently crash with Spyker’s Sakon Yamamoto after running across the grass at the Senna S. For Kovalainen, the Finn lost his front wing in the first corner incident. He managed to get this replaced in the pits but some laps later, had a heavy crash in Curva do Sol…
So after a dramatic season of racing, it was Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen that wins this season’s Formula One World Championship. The Finn took his sixth victory of the year – the most by any driver – and his first world title in seven years of trying! A fantastic result for the ‘Iceman’ especially when you consider that at one point in the season, the Ferrari driver was 26 points behind Lewis Hamilton…
It was also a fantastic result for Ferrari with a one-two finish at Interlagos. The Italian team had earlier won the constructors’ championship after rival McLaren were excluded over that controversy spygate verdict.
Better luck next time Lewis Hamilton. Your time will come. Congratulations to Kimi Raikkonen and the Scuderia Marlboro Ferrari team on winning the drivers’ and constructors’ titles this season.
Brazilian Grand Prix result, Interlagos, 71 laps
1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1h28:15.270
2. MASSA Ferrari +1.4s
3. ALONSO McLaren +57.0
4. ROSBERG Williams +62.8s
5. KUBICA BMW +70.9s
6. HEIDFELD BMW +71.3s
7. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap
8. TRULLI Toyota +1 lap
9. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
10. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
11. SCHUMACHER Toyota +1 lap
12. SATO Super Aguri +2 laps
13. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +2 laps
14. DAVIDSON Super Aguri +3 laps
R. SUTIL Spyker +28 laps
R. BARRICHELLO Honda +31 laps
R. KOVALAINEN Renault +36 laps
R. VETTEL Toro Rosso +37 laps
R. BUTTON Honda +51 laps
R. WEBBER Red Bull +57 laps
R. FISICHELLA Renault +69 laps
R. YAMAMOTO Spyker +69 laps
Fastest lap: RAIKKONEN, 1min. 12.445 secs.
Final World Championship standings, after round 17:
Drivers:
1. Raikkonen 110
2. Hamilton 109
3. Alonso 109
4. Massa 94
5. Heidfeld 61
6. Kubica 39
7. Kovalainen 30
8. Fisichella 21
9. Rosberg 20
10. Coulthard 14
11. Wurz 13
12. Webber 10
13. Trulli 8
14. Vettel 6
15. Button 6
16. R.Schumacher 5
17. Sato 4
18. Liuzzi 3
19. Sutil 1
Constructors:
1. Ferrari 204
2. BMW Sauber 101
3. Renault 51
4. Williams-Toyota 33
5. Red Bull-Renault 24
6. Toyota 13
7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8
8. Honda 6
9. Super Aguri-Honda 4
10. Spyker-Ferrari 1
11. McLaren-Mercedes EXC
UPDATE: The BMW Sauber and Williams teams are being investigated by Brazilian Grand Prix stewards over possible technical irregularities on their cars at the end of Sunday’s Interlagos race. The enquiries are believed to relate to fuel temperatures.
Nico Rosberg finished fourth for Williams, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld fifth and sixth respectively for BMW Sauber. If they were to be disqualified, it would move McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton up from seventh to fourth, making him world champion, rather than Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen won the race from team mate Felipe Massa, with McLaren’s Fernando Alonso third.
LATEST: The FIA has confirmed that the fuel temperatures of the BMW Sauber and Williams cars were outside the regulations during the course of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
As the race stewards continue to investigate the matter to decide on whether or not a punishment is necessary, a statement issued by technical delegate Jo Bauer revealed the extent of the temperature variation of the cars involved.
Article 6.5.5 of the Formula One technical regulations states: “No fuel on board the car may be more than ten degrees centigrade below ambient temperature.”
The statement issued by Bauer showed that Heidfeld’s fuel was 13 degrees centigrade lower than ambient at his first stop and 12 degrees centigrade lower at his second stop.
Robert Kubica’s fuel varied by 14 degrees, 13 degrees and 13 degrees at his three stops; Nico Rosberg’s fuel was 13 degrees and 12 degrees out at his two stops and Kazuki Nakajima’s was 12 degrees out at his first stop. His second stop was inside the 10-degree limit.
Spyker technical chief Mike Gascoyne said he believed the variation would have provided a performance advantage.
“It can be five to ten horsepower easily,” he told autosport.com. “The car is producing a performance advantage during the race. If they dump fuel in that is below the limit, it is an illegal performance advantage. They should be excluded from the event, there is absolutely no doubt.”
The implications of a disqualification for the BMW and Williams drivers would be huge, as it could potentially move Lewis Hamilton up the order into fourth place.
In such a case, Hamilton would be crowned the world championship.
Source: Formula1.com and Autosport.com
It has now been confirmed that the provisional results will stand and Kimi is confirmed as WDC, pending on McLaren’s possible appeal.
From what I can tell, the FIA states that although the rulebook has clearly defined what the acceptable temperature limits are, there are no satisfactory means of measuring them as they apply to the fuel “on board the car”. Temp sensors in the car’s fuel tanks are not mandatory; even if they’re fitted by a team they won’t be certifed by the FIA. The stewards can only do their best by measuring the fuel in the rig/hose. Readings that they now say cannot stand up to scrutiny.
Nor can they agree on whose ambient temp reading is the official one….
Well done FIA, fancy drawing up a rule that you cannot enforce!! 😉
Nevertheless, although it took them 6 hours to contrive the cop out,I think commonsense has prevailed – after a season like this one, the last thing we need is for the both the WCC & WDC to be resolved by disqualifications.
Heartiest congratulations, Kimi !!!
Thanks for the comment Wai, but I am not so sure if the final standings is official as McLaren are appealing the race stewards’ decision on not to penalise the Williams and BMW-Saubers of Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld (fourth, fifth and sixth respectively) on the ‘cool fuel’ issue… Which is a shame to be honest as winning by default is not ideal for Lewis Hamilton or for F1.
McLaren should let it go. Ferrari and Kimi Raikkonen beat you fair and square. It’s pure sour grapes. It is best to focus on 2008 and beating the champions on the track instead in the courts…