Monday, May 26, 2008

Monaco GP - Race Result

Pos Driver Team Laps Time/Retired
1  Lewis Hamilton   McLaren-Mercedes  76 2:00:42.742
2  Robert Kubica   BMW Sauber  76 +3.0 secs
3  Felipe Massa   Ferrari  76 +4.8 secs
4  Mark Webber   Red Bull-Renault  76 +19.2 secs
5  Sebastian Vettel   STR-Ferrari  76 +24.6 secs
6  Rubens Barrichello   Honda  76 +28.4 secs
7  Kazuki Nakajima   Williams-Toyota  76 +30.1 secs
8  Heikki Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes  76 +33.1 secs
9  Kimi Räikkönen   Ferrari  76 +33.7 secs
10  Fernando Alonso   Renault  75 +1 Lap
11  Jenson Button   Honda  75 +1 Lap
12  Timo Glock   Toyota  75 +1 Lap
13  Jarno Trulli   Toyota  75 +1 Lap
14  Nick Heidfeld   BMW Sauber  72 +4 Laps
Ret  Adrian Sutil   Force India-Ferrari  67 Accident damage
Ret  Nico Rosberg   Williams-Toyota  59 Accident
Ret  Nelsinho Piquet   Renault  47 Accident
Ret  Giancarlo Fisichella   Force India-Ferrari  36 Gearbox
Ret  David Coulthard   Red Bull-Renault  7 Accident
Ret  Sebastien Bourdais   STR-Ferrari  7 Accident

Hamilton Wins the Monaco GP

hamilton

When Ferrari wrapped up the front row of the grid for the Monaco Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton’s only real hope of victory seemed to lie in the hands of the weather gods. It duly rained before the start, but after six laps the Englishman walloped the wall hard on the exit to the Swimming Pool, while trailing poleman Felipe Massa’s Ferrari. Into the pits he came, and at that stage the race seemed to belong to the Brazilian.

McLaren, however, brimmed the MP4-23 with fuel, and Hamilton caught his first break when the safety car was deployed on the eighth lap after Red Bull’s David Coulthard and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais went off at Massenet.

The racing resumed on the 11th lap, and two laps later Kimi Raikkonen dropped out of second place when he had to serve a drive-through penalty for having his tyres fitted too late in the grid. Now BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica moved up to push Massa, and was able to snatch the lead when the latter slid momentarily up the escape road at Ste Devote on the 16th lap. Hamilton was chasing hard after them, with Raikkonen now trailing in fourth place.

Kubica stayed ahead until he refuelled on the 26th lap, whereupon Massa went back into the lead until his stop on the 33rd lap. By then Hamilton was up to second, and after moving into the lead… he just kept going.

He did not have to refuel until the 54th lap, and that lengthy stint proved absolutely crucial. Kubica had already stopped for the second time a lap earlier, so was no further threat, and having built a lead of 37.6s Hamilton could refuel, switch to Bridgestone’s soft tyres, and resume still in the lead.

Still he was not home and dry, however. He was 40 seconds ahead when Nico Rosberg, running a lap down after two pits stops to replace damaged noses, tanked his Williams hard into the walls on the exit to the Swimming Pool on the 61st lap. Out came the safety car again, and suddenly Hamilton’s huge advantage had been eroded completely. He kept his head when the race restarted on the 68th lap, however, and was able to pull away to what he described as “a very emotional triumph. The highlight of my career.”

Behind him, Kubica had no trouble fending off Massa for second for BMW Sauber.

Adrian Sutil could have finished fourth for Force India - yes, that’s right - having driven a superb race with a heavy fuel load. But he was the biggest loser in the second safety-car incident. He had been comfortably ahead of Raikkonen’s Ferrari when Rosberg crashed, and was later assaulted by the red car going into the chicane as the race resumed. Raikkonen had got into the same sort of tank-slapper as David Coulthard did in qualifying, and though the Finn kept control of his car he smacked hard enough into the back of Sutil’s car to remove his own front wing and put the unfortunate German out of the greatest race of his life. Stewards subsequently investigated the incident, but decided no action was necessary.

Detail report: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/5/7838.html

Monday, May 12, 2008

Turkish GP - Result

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired
1 2 Felipe Massa Ferrari 58 1:26:49.451
2 22 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 58 +3.7 secs
3 1 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 58 +4.2 secs
4 4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 58 +21.9 secs
5 3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 58 +38.7 secs
6 5 Fernando Alonso Renault 58 +53.7 secs
7 10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 58 +64.2 secs
8 7 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 58 +71.4 secs
9 9 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 58 +75.2 secs
10 11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 58 +76.3 secs
11 16 Jenson Button Honda 57 +1 Lap
12 23 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 57 +1 Lap
13 12 Timo Glock Toyota 57 +1 Lap
14 17 Rubens Barrichello Honda 57 +1 Lap
15 6 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 57 +1 Lap
16 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap
17 15 Sebastian Vettel STR-Ferrari 57 +1 Lap
Ret 14 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 24 Spin
Ret 8 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1 Accident damage
Ret 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 0 Accident

Turkish GP - Massa First, Hamilton Second, Raikkonen third

No wonder that Ferrari’s Felipe Massa loves Istanbul Park. On Sunday afternoon he owned the place, and nobody seriously looked like challenging him as he sped to his hat-trick of victories here to move into joint second in the driver standings.


Sure, Lewis Hamilton pulled what seemed a brilliant passing move on him for the lead on the 24th lap, but it transpired that the Englishman was on a three-stop strategy for McLaren, and soon the way was clear again for Massa as Hamilton stopped to refuel and retain hard tyres on the 32nd lap.


Hamilton had sufficient in hand over Kimi Raikkonen, however, to keep the Finn in third place and to reduce his championship points lead to seven as they sped to the line 3.7s adrift of Massa, and separated by only four-tenths of second. The MP4-23 had been sweet on the harder Bridgestones, but still clearly didn’t like the softer rubber that Hamilton had to don for his final 13-lap stint. After the race the team revealed that tyre durability concerns had in fact prompted the three-stop route.

 

Detail report: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/5/7769.html

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Super Aguri Out

aguri_out

 

Following weeks of speculation concerning the future of the team, Super Aguri announced Tuesday that they are to withdraw from the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship with immediate effect.


Super Aguri, founded by former driver Aguri Suzuki, had been participating in Formula One racing since the 2006 season. The Japanese team, who scored their first championship points after only 22 races (Spanish Grand Prix, 2007) and finished ninth in the 2007 constructors’ championship, will cease all activities as of May 6, 2008.


The Honda-powered team, whose driver line-up comprised Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson, ran into financial difficulties last year, and completed little winter testing ahead of the 2008 season as a result. A planned buyout by the Magma Group looked set to save the team until that fell through last month, and only last week Suzuki expressed optimism about a new deal with German automotive company Weigl.

 

Detail Report: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/5/7730.html