F1: Interlagos 2007 Brazilian GP

**niky** · October 22nd, 2007 03:58 PM

Man, I stayed up forever to watch the race.

RE: Alonso's car: Second race on that engine, so he really didn't have the pace of Lewis or Kimi.

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You know what? The two things that destroyed Kimi's championship hopes in the past two years have handed him his championship this year.

Thing Number One: Fernando Alonso. Alonso's refusal to lay down and die, whether it be selfish or righteous, has handicapped McLaren and Hamilton at every turn. And in this last race, Alonso's brake check of Hamilton was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.

Thing Number Two: McLaren's terrific reliability...

...McLaren's never-ending gremlins cost Kimi more races than he should care to remember. But in this last race, with Hamilton still in fourth and still in the running for the championship, a simple gearbox glitch cost him the race.

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Many will b*tch and moan about last night's race, but Massa's handiwork at the start was perfectly acceptable, and Kimi's amazing full-race push managed to get him past the Brazilian without resorting to "team orders". A truly brilliant race. Kimi and Lewis were visibly on the limit the whole time, but for once this season, Lewis was looking more and more like a rookie. Anxious, eager, overdriving the car where he shouldn't have. The triple check he got from Massa (blocked at the starting line), Kimi (he had to back waaaaay off when he got up Kimi's waggling tail down the first turn) and Alonso (

) totally unsettled him. When he did recover, he reeled off a number of 'fastest laps'... but by then, it was too late. Game over for Lewis Hamilton. Better luck next year.

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While Alonso may be portrayed as the villain in this piece, he drove with guts and determination. Whatever you may say about his personality and his problems with McLaren, the man is a terrific driver that one of the other teams may want to pick up before Ron Dennis has him assassinated.

**Monseratto** · October 22nd, 2007 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by hahnvin

tama prediction ko kaya lang hindi nga crash ang nangyari

Sabi ko na nga history would repeat itself...1986 revisited! ALain Prost wins because teamates Mansell and Piquest were the same situation as LH and FA. Mansell could have won if his car hadn't conked out in the last lap, LH lost it in the first lap.

FA engine was 10 horses down kasi second race niya ito, compared to his title rivals.

**BoyFerrari** · October 22nd, 2007 07:27 PM

Massa's blocking move on Hamilton at the start was a classic gambit on an F1 driver's manual. There was really no way Hamilton could have prevented a Ferarri 1-2 with that move.

Most folks still continue to blame Hamilton's "rookie" driving as the cause of his Brazilian downfall? It was the gearbox that ruined it all. Those "run-off" incidents don't really matter at all anyway, since all he needed was to finish 6th.

Kimi was designed to win at Interlagos by Ferrari. The execution of this design was the one that proved to be impressive. Sending Kimi out of the pits ahead of Massa by just a hairline. Whoever designed that timing at the Ferrari pit wall, sure knows his physics.

And lastly, you can see on Alonso's face that he was genuinely happy for Kimi to win the Driver's Championship. I think deep inside, just knowing Lewis must really be crying his heart out for losing the chance to grab his crown, is enough vengeance for him. I think Alonso would have wanted to lose his crown to Kimi, than to a rookie.

**jeff1101** · October 22nd, 2007 10:19 PM

Congratulations to Raikkonen. I think how the events panned out is even better than the Alonso hitting Hamilton for Raikkonen to win scenario. This way its without a doubt that Raikkonen won the championship fair and square.

And lastly, you can see on Alonso's face that he was genuinely happy for Kimi to win the Driver's Championship. I think deep inside, just knowing Lewis must really be crying his heart out for losing the chance to grab his crown, is enough vengeance for him. I think Alonso would have wanted to lose his crown to Kimi, than to a rookie.

This must be for the record books BoyFerrari for once I agree with you!

At the podium you could almost see Alonso being happy for Raikkonen for winning the championship. At least Raikkonen have earned Alonso's respect...

Ever noticed the only time Raikkonen won the championship was when he left Mclaren? Judging from Alonso's experience I think we know what/or who the problem was for Raikkonen not winning during the past years...

**jeff1101** · October 22nd, 2007 10:42 PM

Man the nerve of Ron Dennis! It looks like Mclaren is going to appeal the stewards decision not to penalize BMW and Williams in the last race.

McLaren plans appeal to sustain Hamilton title dream

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...22100117.shtml

First he gives the genuine trophy Hamilton won in Montreal to Hamilton thus breaking Mclaren tradition, now he's appealing the FIA's decision so he could give his "spoiled brat" a break? C'mon! Are these two sleeping together?!!

Will somebody hit this guy over the head so he can wake up? I mean hes senile and everything but this decision surely takes the cake. He should give everyone a favor and just retire already.

I mean its the height of hypocrisy to congratulate Raikkonen for winning the championship next

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headline...21203743.shtml

and then appealing the decision of the stewards so that he's pet driver can win.

I think Fernando Alonso sums this up most eloquently when he said.

"If he wins the title because of this it wouldn't be fair. I'd be embarrassed for this sport,"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/moto...ne/7056308.stm

**niky** · October 23rd, 2007 12:28 AM

It's Ron Dennis... he's bull-headed, so he's got to try.

But the stewards won't go for it.

No matter how many people try to paint a conspiracy theory of the FIA trying to fix the race for one particular driver, all their decisions have been aimed at doing one thing... making it so that the winner is decided on track, fair and square. This is what has happened, so the appeal isn't going anywhere. (And the FIA has reconfirmed Kimi's championship, by the way).

**CVT** · October 23rd, 2007 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by jeff1101

Congratulations to Raikkonen. I think how the events panned out is even better than the Alonso hitting Hamilton for Raikkonen to win scenario. This way its without a doubt that Raikkonen won the championship fair and square.

This must be for the record books BoyFerrari for once I agree with you!

At the podium you could almost see Alonso being happy for Raikkonen for winning the championship. At least Raikkonen have earned Alonso's respect...

Ever noticed the only time Raikkonen won the championship was when he left Mclaren? Judging from Alonso's experience I think we know what/or who the problem was for Raikkonen not winning during the past years...

Bros jeff1101 and BoyFerrari,- I printed a copy of this entry and I am going out of the office in a couple of hours to have this NOTARIZED!

You two are unquestionably one of the most outspoken and colorful experts in this thread segment and I am elated to realize that defying the laws of geometry,- indeed 2 parallel lines meet somewhere ....

You've certainly made my day!

If we're going to meet in an EB somewhere, sometime in the future, the first 2 brown bottles are on me.....

4202:banned:

**CVT** · October 23rd, 2007 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by BoyFerrari

Massa's blocking move on Hamilton at the start was a classic gambit on an F1 driver's manual. There was really no way Hamilton could have prevented a Ferarri 1-2 with that move.

Most folks still continue to blame Hamilton's "rookie" driving as the cause of his Brazilian downfall? It was the gearbox that ruined it all. Those "run-off" incidents don't really matter at all anyway, since all he needed was to finish 6th.

Kimi was designed to win at Interlagos by Ferrari. The execution of this design was the one that proved to be impressive. Sending Kimi out of the pits ahead of Massa by just a hairline. Whoever designed that timing at the Ferrari pit wall, sure knows his physics.

And lastly, you can see on Alonso's face that he was genuinely happy for Kimi to win the Driver's Championship. I think deep inside, just knowing Lewis must really be crying his heart out for losing the chance to grab his crown, is enough vengeance for him. I think Alonso would have wanted to lose his crown to Kimi, than to a rookie.

I think FA said this to himself just before the race, "If it's not going to be me, then it should be KR....".... hehehe

What a dramatic ending to a great F1 Year!

4202:banned:

**Monseratto** · October 23rd, 2007 09:04 AM

Stupidity cost Lewis the title...

Hamilton admits human error cost him title

Lewis Hamilton has admitted that his bid for this year's Formula One Championship seemingly came to an end during the last race of the season following a moment of human error.

"My finger slipped on the steering wheel and I accidentally pressed the button used for the starting sequence," Hamilton confided several hours after the event, according to Montreal's French-language daily newspaper La Presse.

That error cut power to his McLaren for an interminable minute, dropping him down to 18th place as the Brazilian Grand Prix entered its eighth lap on the Interlagos circuit.

"The car went into neutral and I had to reinitialize the system, that is, reload the gearbox management program," he explained. The onboard camera recorded images of Hamilton pressing several buttons on his steering wheel while other drivers sped by.

Once his McLaren car was back up to speed, Hamilton would afterwards work his way back up to seventh place, two positions away from the necessary number of points that would have allowed him to be the first rookie World Champion.

However, his title chances might not yet be over: the McLaren team has announced it will appeal the stewards' decision not to sanction the BMW Sauber and Williams teams for possibly using 'cool fuel' during the Brazilian GP, claiming that precise information was not available.

If the FIA's Court of Appeal were to overturn the decision and sanction both teams with exclusion, that would remove drivers Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld from the rankings and allow Lewis Hamilton to jump from seventh to fourth position in the race's final standings - thereby giving him enough points to become the 2007 World Champion.

While McLaren have declared their motive is to support their drivers' best interests, Hamilton himself does not at all feel comfortable with the procedure.

"Being promoted after some people have been thrown out is not the way I want to do it," he told Reuters.

His thoughts also went to Ferrari driver and provisional title holder Kimi Raikkonen: "To have it taken away is a bit cruel and probably not good for the sport."

**artpogi** · October 23rd, 2007 09:10 AM

While McLaren have declared their motive is to support their drivers' best interests, Hamilton himself does not at all feel comfortable with the procedure.

"Being promoted after some people have been thrown out is not the way I want to do it," he told Reuters.

His thoughts also went to Ferrari driver and provisional title holder Kimi Raikkonen: "To have it taken away is a bit cruel and probably not good for the sport."

Now your talking