2007 Chinese GP - Race 16/17

sunama · 7 Oct 2007 at 14:46

I saw the re-run of the race.

With regards to Hamilton: I feel that both McLaren and Hamilton are equally to blame with what happened in the pit lane. He was basically carrying far too much speed into the pit lane and when he had to turn, with his weak tyres, he just couldnt slow the car down fast enough, which led to him having to go onto the gravel. If he had turned in (before slowing down), he wouldve spun. Im pretty sure that MS or Alonso would not have made that sort of an error.

I think the right man won the race. Raikonnen was generally the fastest man over the whole weekend.

But anyway, onto Brazil. Obviously the whole championship now comes down to one race. Hamilton is in pole position though. All he has to do is make sure he doesnt let Alonso come in to far ahead of him. The problem is not his pace, but that he might have an "incident", which could end up seeing him score 0pts.

Its all to play for and I dont believe any of the 3 drivers should consider themself, the favourite.

divine` · 7 Oct 2007 at 14:52

Stormrider said:
snip

14. Vettel 6
18. Liuzzi 3

7. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8

Did one of them swap teams without me noticing during the season or is someone just exceptionally poor at maths?

Emlyn_Dewar · 7 Oct 2007 at 14:56

Vettel drove for BMW in USA and scored a point.

rpstewart · 7 Oct 2007 at 15:07

Emlyn_Dewar said:
Vettel drove for BMW in USA and scored a point.

I so wanted him to get a podium at Indy just so that either Max or Bernie could get thrown in jail for serving alcohol to a minor.

NathanE · 7 Oct 2007 at 15:10

sunama said:
I saw the re-run of the race.

With regards to Hamilton: I feel that both McLaren and Hamilton are equally to blame with what happened in the pit lane. He was basically carrying far too much speed into the pit lane and when he had to turn, with his weak tyres, he just couldnt slow the car down fast enough, which led to him having to go onto the gravel. If he had turned in (before slowing down), he wouldve spun. Im pretty sure that MS or Alonso would not have made that sort of an error.

I think the right man won the race. Raikonnen was generally the fastest man over the whole weekend.

But anyway, onto Brazil. Obviously the whole championship now comes down to one race. Hamilton is in pole position though. All he has to do is make sure he doesnt let Alonso come in to far ahead of him. The problem is not his pace, but that he might have an "incident", which could end up seeing him score 0pts.

Its all to play for and I dont believe any of the 3 drivers should consider themself, the favourite.

Personally I don't view it that way. IMO nobody is to "blame". Both McLaren and LH were obviously going for the full-blown gold but unfortunately it wasn't to be. The strategy of running the tyres till they were shot wasn't just McLaren being dumb - they were doing it to compensate slightly for his early first pit stop and because FA was quickly catching LH. Perhaps they overdid it by a lap or two though. LH could have pitted earlier than the team were recommending to him but he chose not to - perhaps a more experienced driver would have made a different choice. The pit entry was, technically, a mistake on LH's part. But you can argue that the pit boys should have reminded him the pit entry was still completely wet. I think RD understands the situation completely - mistakes happen in motor racing, nothing can be done sometimes to prevent them. The eery thing is that RD was apprehensive after Fuji of declaring that LH is going to win the title - it's like he cursed this race for LH, if you are superstitious like that

If LH is to learn anything from this season it is not to gamble with your tyres.

silversurfer · 7 Oct 2007 at 17:23

I saw this in the morning, totally gutted. Such a simple mistake :/

dalin80 · 7 Oct 2007 at 17:24

we saw on tv the rear tyres starting to come apart 2 laps before LH tried to come in, i need to know who made the decision to stay out and where i need to drive to in order to give him a slap.

there was just utterly no need to gamble.

sunama · 7 Oct 2007 at 17:44

Most of the decisions to come in and pit are recommended by the team, but the final decision is with Hamilton. I think a similar thing happened earlier this season and I remember it was said that it was Hamilton's choice whether he wanted to pit or not; this surprised me.

Personally, if I was Ron Dennis I would tell Hamilton that due to his lack of experience, he should not have the final say. Next year, of course, it should be a different story. Obviously with Alonso, he is the man who makes all the final decisions and would never allow the team to decide for him; after all, Alonso has got it into his head that the team dont want him to win the title and would prefer Hamilton finish in front.

My own feeling is that the team would probably prefer Alonso to win as it would vindicate their decision to bring him into the team at a relatively high salary/cost.

shrek2 · 7 Oct 2007 at 17:55

I loved Hamilton when he started but now because of Itv, Kimi is now my favourite driver. Itv didn't even transmit what Massa had to say. Its all Lewis this. It's just too much tbh.

If Kimi can't win it I hope Alonso does even if he is a prat. Seeing Dennis squirm will make my year.

sunama · 7 Oct 2007 at 19:13

shrek2 said:
If Kimi can't win it I hope Alonso does even if he is a prat. Seeing Dennis squirm will make my year.

Yep. I would love to the see the expression on Ron Dennis' and also the rest of the teams' faces. Their reaction will be a strong insight as to whether or not they wanted Alonso to win or not.

And if he wins, will they fight for Alonso to stay at McLaren? Remember, McLaren have first dibs on Alonso's services. If push comes to shove, they could insist that he stays, unless of course, he has something in his contract that will allow him to walk away.

If Alonso wins the title, then Im 100% sure he will do everything in his power to leave McLaren. He will then talk to the press and say McLaren treated him very badly, but despite this treatment and lack of support, he won. This shows just who is the best F1 driver at the moment. He will have 3 titles in a row to back up his claims.

This will certainly spice things up during the off-season.

Duke · 7 Oct 2007 at 19:51

I don't think Mclaren would want him elsewhere really. No point in handing the opposition such a fast driver.

Emlyn_Dewar · 7 Oct 2007 at 21:22

Whatever happens, we've got 3 professionals who've each had some outstanding drives this year, in contention for the chamionship.
Now if that isn't the best way to go into the last race, I don't want to know what is. Whoever wins it fully deserves the title.

Slam62 · 7 Oct 2007 at 21:50

very strange reasoning going on here, is this a reflection of society

for me, the whole season has been greatly soured by spygate and childlike behaviour

the sooner it's finished the better.

But then I wanted Lewis to do it, but today appears to have shown why you need experience in F1

sunama · 7 Oct 2007 at 22:05

Slam62 said:
very strange reasoning going on here, is this a reflection of society

for me, the whole season has been greatly soured by spygate and childlike behaviour

the sooner it's finished the better.

This season has been very exciting. I think the off track antics have added considerable spice to proceedings on the track. The fact that there seems to be genuine dislike between Hamilton and Alonso, makes each race win/loss (between the 2) all the more meaningful. This isnt racing...Its war. Im pretty sure if these 2 drivers could take eachother off, they would do so, without hesitation. This rivalry/dislike is very similar to that of Prost/Senna, when they were at McLaren and winning everything.

Slam62 said:
But then I wanted Lewis to do it, but today appears to have shown why you need experience in F1

Too right.

Sagalout · 8 Oct 2007 at 08:47

So where was Alonso's experience when he crashed in the wet last week? Or Ralf Shumachers when he crashed.......everywhere.

Just one of those things - accidents/mistakes can happen. This is his first DNF all season. Sets up a hell of a final race

Dutch Guy · 8 Oct 2007 at 09:03

How can people say that Hamilton's team is to blame, maybe he needed to stay out a little longer to be able to tank enough fuel to finish the race without having to pit again?

Anyway, Hamilton did not have to win the race, he should have slowed down enough, he didn't and went in the kitty litter, his fault.

hp7909 · 8 Oct 2007 at 10:15

Sagalout said:
Just one of those things - accidents/mistakes can happen. This is his first DNF all season. Sets up a hell of a final race

& don't forget this was his first time racing on this track! Add in the conditions, tires, etc could have happened to anyone.

Lewis has bags more experience if you look at his racing history/CV! Also, the GP2 Series is not a 'feeder' sport for no reason

Wicksta · 8 Oct 2007 at 10:42

Vulcan · 8 Oct 2007 at 14:08

shrek2 said:
I loved Hamilton when he started but now because of Itv, Kimi is now my favourite driver. Itv didn't even transmit what Massa had to say. Its all Lewis this. It's just too much tbh.

Well Hamilton is British, as is ITV so obviously there's going to be a bias there. It's the same with the interviews with DC and Button.

NathanE · 8 Oct 2007 at 20:10

Longbow said:
Well Hamilton is British, as is ITV so obviously there's going to be a bias there. It's the same with the interviews with DC and Button.

Their whole intro sequence is dedicated to the British drivers as well