Monza – great racing all round….
Monza – raining, then drying track which led to huge action throughout the field. Well done to Vettle who richly deserved the win, driving away from the front of the grid, Heikki must be feeling a bit bewildered as this was definitely his race.
Hamilton coming from 15th on the grid to 7th was great to see particularly seeing the heavy weather (excuse the pun) that Raikkonen made of getting through the field. I think that had the track not started to dry forcing Hamilton to pit and take on a fresh set on “inters” he would have won this race. This has got to one of the most memorable races this season with action throughout the field.
The season is really wide open now – 6 drivers all having the opportunity to win the title, but clearly Hamilton on 78 and Mass on 77 are the favourites, (Kubica, Raikkonen, Heidfeld and Kovalainen all have mathematical chances) only 17 points separate the top 3 teams in the constructors championship (Ferrari – 134, Mclaren – 129 BMW – 117)
All told this was a great race, formula one has never been as exciting!!
Update on petition: 60 532 people have so far signed the petition to have Hamilton’s penalty reversed!! I must say that if I were Felipe Massa I would be urging the decision to be reversed. If he wins the title by 6 points or less then the stewards decision is going to be the reason he won.
Now let me just add that having reviewed the evidence from various camera angles I can see the argument from both sides. Disappointing to me though is that the penalty is harsh given that race control twice confirmed that the position had been given back. As we saw on Sunday race control can remedy a situation on the track ala Massa, so why did they say it was all fine!
Anyway here’s hoping that the season continues to increase in excitement.
The Devil September 16, 2008 - 2:39 pm
Come on Mike don’t be such a biased “Our Lewis Fan”. There is no way on gods green earth that LH would’ve won the race even if it kept on raining. He is simply too hard on the rubber. The guy has the tendency to destroy his tires and even after he went in for inters he was it took only a couple of laps before he destroyed those as well and therefore couldn’t pass Massa.
As for the the Spa decision:
Petitions don’t work
LH got what he deserved, it was a dodgy move right from the outset and he did not give Kimi enough space down the straight to compensate for the advantage he gained by cutting the chicane.
Mike September 16, 2008 - 4:58 pm
Thanks for taking the time to comment, clearly with every supporter there is a certain amount of bias, and I have always claimed to be a mclaren fan. I do stress Mclaren fan, as I have been a loyal supporter of theirs for something (15 years). I alluded to the fact that I could see both sides of the argument in terms of the penalty handed down to LH. I do think that the stewards got it wrong though in terms of the application of the rule. If race control confirmed the incident as being fine then Mclaren do have a point.
As far as tyre performance and LH I do agree that he is extremely hard on the tyres, but calculating the time for the stop etc, had he not had to stop and the rest of the guys in front of him did, he would have won the race by more than 8 seconds (flying lap wise) I think my calculation are correct, but happy to have them verified.
Finally, no penalty is ever deserved as far as the driver is concerned, they are never wrong really (who me??) I would like to see consistent application by the stewards.
Note: That as a Mclaren supporter I completely supported the decision by the FIA to strip them of their constructors points over the Ferrari spy scandal!
Once again thanks for taking the time to comment Mr D
The Devil September 16, 2008 - 5:10 pm
Mike
Race control (Charlie Whiting) operates independently from the stewards. Doesn’t matter what or what not race control said. The stewards thought it warranted to penalize “Our Lewis” I also saw on F1-live.com website today that some of the other drivers are not too happy with LH driving style.
Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not a Mclaren nor a Lewis basher but the guy still has loads to learn and he’s a little bit too arrogant imo. The fact that he refuses to join the GPDA also irritates me to no end (you have commented on this in a past post)
Mike September 16, 2008 - 7:05 pm
As far as driving style goes. Lewis certainly does resemble a bit of schumie in that he does drive with passion and commitment. This may well cause some dissatisfaction but does make for some great driving.
If you look at Schumie he too came across as arrogant and clearly did not have a great vibe from the rest of the drivers, but he was never-the-less a succesful driver.
I do not understand why he has not joined the GPDA and this does irk me,but he still as you say has somethings to learn. I am a great fan of his now but for the better part of last season did not hold him too much esteem. I do think that he has the potential to one of the greats. Probably what makes him a bit more of a target is his confidence.
Finally, he along with Alonso make Formula One interesting, they are both very passionate drivers who have good skills, and I think that sometimes passion rings louder than skill (Kimi??)