A flailing right front tyre turned Lewis Hamilton’s Turkish Grand Prix into a nightmare, but thanks to the Briton’s misfortune, and Felipe Massa’s consecutive victory in Istanbul, the battle for the 2007 driver’s championship remains wide open. Excellent! Hamilton must have felt quite content while his McLaren circulated in a virtually- unchallenged third position behind the rampant Ferraris on Sunday… Irrespective of McLaren’s less-than-optimal tyre strategy, the Scuderia predictably had the upper hand in Turkey… Third place was the best Hamilton could have hoped for, and besides, the Briton was ahead of arch rival Fernando Alonso, and his most-feared Ferrari rival, Kimi Raikkonen, couldn’t take the lead of the race. On Lap 43, disaster struck.
By the time you folks read this, Bridgestone’s engineers may have found out what exactly caused Hamilton’s tyre failure shortly before the Briton was scheduled to make his final pit stop. As it happened, the rookie was lucky to salvage four points and should be commended for nursing an ill-handling car to a respectable fifth-placed finish.
Alonso’s deficit to his young team-mate in the championship standings is now a meagre five points, courtesy of the Spaniard’s most fortuitous podium finish in his 100-grands prix career. The double world champion upped his pace at the right moment to get ahead of Nick Heidfeld’s BMW during the first round of pit stops, but although he eventually undid the damage caused by his inauspicious start, Hamilton, Raikkonen and Massa had disappeared into the distance. The worrying aspect of Alonso’s performance is that he hasn’t dazzled since his famous win at the Nurburgring… Hamilton seemed to have Alonso in check throughout the weekend and whereas the former can afford to give away a few points to his Scuderia rivals for another race or three, the latter needs to win grands prix – in fact, it would suit him best if a Ferrari or two finished between them!
Hamilton is driving with a blend of blind ambition and youthful exuberance – and that is quite understandable, given his position – no one will condemn him if he fails to win the F1 driver’s title in his rookie season, and if he does – he’ll become an instant superstar and get a big raise. But which of his more-experienced rivals want the title the most?
Alonso’s won the title twice in a row – and he may just want to defend his crown out of pride (or to put Hamilton, who’ll be his team-mate for the foreseeable future, in his place – it depends on who you ask). Raikkonen, on the other hand, seems to bare the weight of the world on his shoulders. The Finn has missed out on the title on two occasions, and Ferrari’s best-remunerated driver is expected to lead Maranello’s championship bid. Yet, Kimi seemed brow-beaten and burnt out during the post-race ceremony and interviews on Sunday. For the second race in succession, he’s shadowed the eventual winner (Hamitlon in Hungary, Massa in Turkey) to the chequered flag. He’s quick everywhere – but he seems to have lost that ice-cool winning (some would say “killer”) instinct. What gives?
And that brings me to Massa. After a truly diabolical Hungarian Grand Prix, in which he finished 13th and a lap down on his rivals, the Brazilian turned it on in spectacular style this weekend. If Felipe gains pole position (and makes a good start) to a grand prix, he’s very hard to beat. He now finds himself third – and ahead of Raikkonen – in the battle for the driver’s title and I believe that Ferrari should throw its full weight behind whichever driver holds the best championship position after the Belgian Grand Prix. If Massa wins at Monza, the decision might be easier – but it’s one that needs to be made and soon!
Expect Ferrari to pull out all the stops for its home race at Monza in two weeks’ time. But as a closing thought, I’d like to praise the other Finn, Heikki Kovaleinen, for driving the best race of his somewhat patchy, but gradually improving, rookie F1 season. Given the likelihood of test driver Nelson Piquet Junior being promoted to a race seat at Renault next year, good old Fisichella seems well-and-truly destined for retirement now…
Turkish Grand Prix result, August 26 2007
1 F Massa (Brz) Ferrari
2 K Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari
3 F Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes
4 N Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber
5 L Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes
6 H Kovalainen (Fin) Renault
7 N Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota
8 R Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber
9 G Fisichella (Ita) Renault
10 D Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault
11 A Wurz (Aut) Williams-Toyota
12 R Schumacher (Ger) Toyota
13 J Button (GB) Honda
14 A Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda
15 V Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16 J Trulli (Ita) Toyota
17 R Barrichello (Brz) Honda
18 T Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda
19 S Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari
20 S Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker-Ferrari
DNF A Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari
DNF M Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault
