The Hindu : Sport : Hamilton wins a wet-and-wild race

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Monday, Oct 01, 2007
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Sport

Hamilton wins a wet-and-wild race

Alonso crashes out; Kovalainen, Raikkonen finish second and third

— PHOTO: AFP

DREAMS SHATTERED: An untimely crash ended Fernando Alonso’s hopes of winning the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday.

OYAMA (Japan): Lewis Hamilton won a wet-and-wild Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to move to the verge of the Formula One title with two races to go after his main rival and McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso crashed out of the race.

Heikki Kovalainen of Renault was second and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished third in a rain affected race that started behind the pace car and had spins, bumps and crashes throughout its 67-laps.

Hamilton now has a 12-point lead in the drivers standings — 107-95. He can win the world title in his rookie season at China next week if he finishes with at least an 11-point lead over defending champion Alonso.

Alonso can still win the title but needs a lot of luck. His luck deserted him at the Fuji Speedway when he spun and hit the wall hard on the 42nd lap. His car stopped in the middle of the track with debris around him. He was helped out of the car and stayed behind a fence for a few laps to contemplate what happened before leaving the scene of the accident.

Fourth victory

It was Hamilton’s fourth victory of the season, tying him with Alonso and Raikkonen for the most wins this year.

“I think for me one of the most, if not the most, difficult races I had to do. The conditions were changing so much,” said Hamilton, who had to contend with spray, fog, and even had to clear up moisture inside his helmet.

“Then with the safety car, I was worried with cars being so close,” he added. “It was such an eventual race when it started to rain more.”

Hamilton has a chance to become the first rookie to take the F-1 title, and the Japanese brings him another step closer to an historic championship.

Steady drizzle

There was a steady drizzle at the start of the race on a track that’s been wet since Saturday. The race started behind the safety car to eliminate the danger of an accident on the first turn.

The cars were spraying rooster tails of water far behind them while turning laps nearly a minute slower than in Friday’s dry conditions.

The first incident happened on the second lap when Ferrari’s Felipe Massa slid out and then headed into the pits to change tyres. His teammate Raikkonen soon followed after the team started on intermediate tyres, but was told by the sports governing body FIA that they must be on extreme wets like all the other teams.

Hamilton and Alonso were in front and the Ferraris were in back although less than 30 seconds behind but nearly 20 cars between them.

Then after 18 laps the skies cleared somewhat and the safety car went in and there was racing again. After 25 laps, Hamilton and Alonso were 2.7 seconds apart and more than 10 seconds ahead of rookie Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso.

Hamilton was bumped by Robert Kubica and both spun briefly.

A little later Alonso and Vettel had an identical incident.

Kubica was later penalised for his part and earned a drive-through penalty, but Alonso suffered worse when his right side was damaged.

All the pit stops were cleared with 25 laps to go as Hamilton regained the lead.

No sooner had Hamilton regained the lead than Alonso’s race was over. He spun and hit the wall hard, spinning his car across the wet track like a figure-skater on ice doing turns.

The safety car came out for a few laps, and Mark Webber and Vettel collided while second and third to finish their tilts at the podium. Hamilton maintained the lead without a problem the rest of the way.

Kovalainen and Raikkonen fought tooth and nail over the final lap, with the Finnish Ferrari driver overtaking his compatriot twice before Kovalainen came back immediately to regain second and finish on the podium for the first time.

Behind them, David Coulthard of Red Bull was fourth with Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella fifth. Massa ended up sixth with Kubica seventh.

Raikkonen now has 90 points for the season and still has a mathematical chance to take the title.

The results: 1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 2 hrs 00 mins 34.579; 2. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Renault +00:08.377; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:09.478; 4. David Coulthard (Britain) RedBull-Renault 00:20.297; 5. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Renault 00:38.864; 6. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:49.042; 7. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 00:49.285; 8. Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 00:55.622; 9. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Spyker-Ferrari 01:00.129; 10. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 01:28.342; 11. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1 lap; 12. Sakon Yamamoto (Japan) Spyker-Ferrari 1 lap; 13. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 1 lap; 14. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 2 laps; 15. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri-Honda 2 laps; 16. Ralf Schumacher (Germany) Toyota 12 laps; 17. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri-Honda 13 laps; 18. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams-Toyota 18 laps; 19. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 21 laps; 20. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault 22 laps; 21. Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 26 laps; 22. Alexander Wurz (Austria) Williams-Toyota 48 laps. Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton, 1:28.193, lap 27.

Driver and constructor standings: Drivers Points: 1. Lewis Hamilton 107; 2. Fernando Alonso 95; 3. Kimi Raikkonen 90; 4. Felipe Massa 80; 5. Nick Heidfeld 56; 6. Robert Kubica 35; 7. Heikki Kovalainen 30; 8. Giancarlo Fisichella 21; 9. Nico Rosberg 15; 10. Alexander Wurz 13; 11. David Coulthard 13; 12. Mark Webber 10; 13. Jarno Trulli 7; 14. Ralf Schumacher 5; 15. Takuma Sato 4; 16. Jenson Button 2; 17. Adrian Sutil 1; 18. Sebastian Vettel 1.

Constructors: 1. Ferrari 170 points 2. BMW Sauber 92; 3. Renault 51; 4. Williams - Toyota 28; 5. RedBull - Renault 23; 6. Toyota 12; 7. Super Aguri - Honda 4; 8. Honda 2; 9. Spyker - Ferrari 1. (McLaren stripped of all constructors’ points in a spying controversy involving Ferrari information. — Agencies

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