The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Thrilling season reaches climax

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Thursday, Oct 18, 2007
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Sport - Racing : Motor

Thrilling season reaches climax

F-1 RACING / Three drivers chasing title

SAO PAULO: Three title contenders. One race to go.

One of the most thrilling and wild Formula One championships in decades comes down to the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton, two-time champion Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen are vying for the title in a season marked by many twists and turns from the beginning.

There was a spying scandal that led to a record $100 million fine for the McLaren team, an internal team dispute reminiscent of the rifts between the greats Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in the late 1980s, and the tightest race for the championship in 21 years.

Rookie’s chances

Hamilton, trying to become the first rookie to win the title and the youngest champion ever, has a four-point lead over McLaren teammate Alonso, and a seven-point advantage over Ferrari’s Raikkonen.

“Whilst I might be ahead by four points, this championship is still very open,” Hamilton said. “I will do what I can to score the points I need, and the rest is out of our hands.”

The last time three drivers entered the final race with chances of winning the championship was in 1986, when Prost edged Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet.

Although Hamilton has the lead, Alonso may be the one in the most comfortable position for the race at the Interlagos circuit.

The Spaniard has to win and hope Hamilton finishes third or worse in order to win his third straight drivers’ championship. But in addition to having experience on his side, Alonso will also be backed by history.

Lucky track

The Spaniard clinched both of his titles at the Brazilian GP, winning the 2005 race and finishing second last year.

“Interlagos has a lot of great memories for me, having won both of my two world championships at the circuit,” Alonso said. “They were both quite different races, but that is a characteristic of the track.”

Hamilton, on the other hand, has never raced at Interlagos, and will likely to be a step behind all other drivers getting up to speed at the demanding 4.3-kilometer track.

“It is another new circuit for me, and there has been a lot of talk by other people about how it is tricky to drive,” Hamilton said. “That’s why I see it as a special challenge.”

In another historical statistic favouring Alonso, the last eight times in which three drivers entered the last race with a chance to win the championship, the second-place driver in the standings came out on top in four occasions. The leader won three titles and the third-place driver won one.

Raikkonen has the tiebreaker advantage this year because he won five races, one more than both Alonso and Hamilton. After that, the number of second-place finishes will be counted, with Hamilton leading with five. A win is worth 10 points, and second through eighth are 8-6-5-4-3-2-1.

Raikkonen, twice runner-up in the drivers’ championship, is the hottest driver entering the race in Interlagos after winning two of the last three races, including the Chinese GP two weeks ago. — AP

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