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

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

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

Super 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