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Alonso Wins In Japan
Topic Started: Oct 12 2008, 09:58 AM (938 Views)
Woody
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Renault’s Fernando Alonso scored his second consecutive Formula 1 victory with a masterly performance in the Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji.

Meanwhile championship leaders Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa shot themselves in the foot with some hot-headed moves on the opening lap, with Massa the only one of the two to pick up points in seventh place.

But the race belonged to Alonso, who produced the kind of flawless performance that made him a double world champion with the team to conclusively see off the challenges of BMW's Robert Kubica and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.


And while there was less luck involved in this victory than his one in Singapore a fortnight ago, Alonso was the main beneficiary of a first-lap fracas at the front triggered by Hamilton, who blew his pole position with a poor start and then forced Raikkonen off the road at the first corner.

As he fought to recover lost ground Hamilton was punted into a spin by Massa, and before long the stewards handed both drivers drive-through penalties for their respective misdemeanours.

Massa put on a determined recovery drive to claw his way back up to eighth place – which later became two points for seventh when the stewards' slapped sixth-place Sebastien Bourdais with a 25s time penalty following a tangle with Massa at the first corner on lap 50.


The revised result means Massa cuts Hamilton's points advantage to just five with two rounds remaining heading to China next weekend.


Hamilton, meanwhile, is left to reflect on what might have been after he blew a golden opportunity to put one hand on the world title, crossing the line a distant 12th.


Kubica's second place means he still mathematically remains in the hunt, 12 points adrift with 20 to play for, while Raikkonen's title defence is now officially over

The latter's chances of at least ending his six-month victory drought looked strong at the start of the race when he catapulted past pole-sitter Hamilton off the line.

But despite both the Briton and his team insisting in the build-up to the weekend that they would be taking no risks in the season’s final three races, that approach seemed to go out the window when Hamilton attempted a bold outbraking move down the inside of turn one.

The move backfired spectacularly, however, as he came in way too hot and, with smoke pouring from his locked brakes, ran wide, forcing Raikkonen off the road in the process.

As the Ferrari returned to the track straight into a near collision with the sister car of Massa, the Hamilton-triggered scuffle caused a sea-change in the picture at the front as Kubica sailed through to take the lead, followed by Alonso and the sister McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen.

Further back David Coulthard’s strong qualifying performance came to nothing when, following damage to the rear of his RB4 following contact at the first corner, his right-rear suspension appeared to give way coming out of turn two.


The Red Bull driver got a tank-slapper on and careered violently left into a nasty shunt with the outside barrier.

As the field sorted itself out from the chaos of the opening two turns, it turned out that the confusion had tantalising put Hamilton right behind Massa in the order.

And it didn't take long for that battle to produce controversy.

With the points leader right on his tail, Massa outbraked himself coming into the chicane and Hamilton took that as his invitation to take the position away from the Brazilian on the inside.

Massa though was not about to yield easily and came back at the McLaren over the kerbs over the second part of the chicane, putting two wheels on the grass and hitting the left side of Hamilton’s car, spinning his rival around.

Hamilton had to wait for the whole field to pass him before he could get going again and then to further compound a miserable first lap he was then forced to dive into the pits after flat-spotting his tyres in his failed first-corner move.

The stewards soon made it known that they were investigating the incident, as well as Hamilton’s wild move on Raikkonen at the first corner.

While all this was going on, an intriguing fight between race leader Kubica and the chasing pack of Alonso, Kovalainen and the recovering Raikkonen had developed at the front.

Kubica had quickly built up a one second advantage over its closest pursuer, but Alonso then pegged the gap over the remainder of the opening stint while the pair behind – Kovalainen in particular – remained menacingly close.

The picture of the race would then alter for the second time around the period of the first pit stops.

First Kovalainen’s race victory hopes evaporated when a suspected rare Mercedes engine failure – the German firm’s first in a race for two years – saw him pull off the road on lap 17.

That was also the lap the stewards confirmed that both Massa and Hamilton would receive drive-through penalties for their respective opening-lap indiscretions, with the McLaren driver immediately heading for the pit lane.

While the races of the sport’s top two teams continued to fall apart, the leaders of the chasing pack, BMW and Renault, sensed an opportunity to steal an unlikely victory.

At this stage the advantage lay with BMW – Kubica pitting on lap 17 with a 1.5s advantage over Alonso – but its rival would throw the dice with an aggressive strategy in the middle stint.

At his pit stop a lap later, Renault opted to fuel its driver for less time in a bid to leapfrog the BMW and gain crucial track position to give Alonso the chance to build enough of a cushion at the front to retain the lead following the second round of stops.

The first part of the plan worked exactly to plan, now the big question was whether Alonso and the R28 had the speed to pull away from the heavier-fuelled Kubica and Raikkonen.

As his race engineer told him over the radio, this was the time to “push like hell”.

And that is exactly what he did, as, in a throw back to the kind of metronomicly consistent speed that proved the hallmarks of his double title-winning years in 2005-06, the Spaniard reeled off a succession of almost identical laps to blast away from his increasingly distant pursuers.

Indeed by the time of his final stop on lap 44, Alonso had built up a 12.5s-cushion over Kubica – a realistically insurmountable gap to make up irrespective of how further the Pole could go on the fuel.

It indeed proved too steep a challenge for either Kubica or Raikkonen behind, with the pair instead settling for a scrap over second.

With Alonso now on cruise control at the front, there were two remaining questions over the final stint of the race and they centred on Ferrari – could Raikkonen pass Kubica for second, and would Massa rescue a crucial championship point?

The first of these was settled relatively early on after Raikkonen exited his later pit stop right behind his BMW rival.

What followed over the next few laps was memorable: with the Ferrari profiting from a clear straight-line speed advantage, Raikkonen had several attempts to pass his Polish rival down Fuji’s long main straight.


But the Pole held firm, excelling in the art of defensive driving to rebuff the world champion’s repeated advances.


Massa’s challenge on the other hand would go all the way to the penultimate lap.


After dropping to 14th following his earlier drive-through penalty, the Brazilian had doggedly begun to make his way up the order and seemed to be in with a chance of a crucial point.


Prior to his second stop, he had just set a succession of fastest laps before he came across Bourdais' STR as the Frenchman - running strongly in the points all afternoon - rejoined the track following his final service.


But in his bid to swiftly pass him, Massa clumsily banged wheels with Bourdais at the first corner and spun himself round, losing crucial time and prompting the stewards' investigation.


He lost five seconds in the incident and, as it turned out, ninth place to Nick Heidfeld's BMW following his final pit stop a couple of laps later.


However, the Brazilian wasn't about to give up on his points charge and after dispatching the BMW down the main straight, reeled in eighth-placed Mark Webber (Red Bull) in the closing laps.


He duly took the point away from the helpless Australian with a bold, if risky, move down the inside of the main straight just yards away from the pit wall.


Alonso's final laps had been far less eventful and the Renault man claimed a fully deserved 21st victory five seconds ahead of Kubica, with Raikkonen ending his four-race points drought in third.


To surely secure fourth place in the constructors' championship for the Enstone squad, Nelson Piquet Jr capped the best drive of his difficult rookie season with a stunning fourth place to give his chances of holding onto his drive next year a major boost.


The Brazilian had used a long first stint to claw his way up the field and even harried Raikkonen in the closing laps, until a mistake at turn five cost him time and meant he had to settle for five points.


Jarno Trulli drove a strong race all afternoon to finish fifth at Toyota’s home track, although the team's persuit of Renault now looks a forlorn one.


Bourdais beat his STR team-mate Sebastian Vettel to sixth place on the road, but his post-race time penalty agonisingly dropped him outside the points positions.


The stewards' decision promoted Vettel to sixth, crucially Massa to an extra point in seventh and Webber to eighth.


Hamilton, meanwhile, trailed home behind Heidfeld and Williams's Nico Rosberg in a dejected 12th.


Japanese Grand Prix result (67 laps)

1. ALONSO Renault

2. KUBICA BMW +5.2s

3. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +6.4s

4. PIQUET Renault +20.5s

5. TRULLI Toyota +23.7s

6. VETTEL Toro Rosso +39.2s

7. MASSA Ferrari +46.1s

8. WEBBER Red Bull +50.8s

9. HEIDFELD BMW +54.1s


10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +59.0s*
11. ROSBERG Williams +62.0s

12. HAMILTON McLaren +78.9s

13. BARRICHELLO Honda +1 lap

14. BUTTON Honda +1 lap

15. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap

R. FISICHELLA Force India +46 laps

R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +51 laps

R. SUTIL Force India +59 laps

R. GLOCK Toyota +61 laps

R. COULTHARD Red Bull +67 laps

*25-second time penalty

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Schumi
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That point gained from Bourdais' penalty is pivotal.

Helpful for Webber too :P
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The Bourdais penalty was a joke!!! :angry: Shouldn't be suprised though. :rolleyes:
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RetardedDwarf
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Gooner4life
Oct 12 2008, 02:07 PM
The Bourdais penalty was a joke!!! :angry: Shouldn't be suprised though. :rolleyes:

Ditto, Bourdais didnt have anywhere else to go. It was Massa at fault. If this doesnt show u how baised F1 (Ferrari1) is nothing will.
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Woody
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and yet another decision upsets mclaren fans. :P

i am very happy about that result,puts us top of the constructors and 5pts behing hamilton with 2 races left
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RetardedDwarf
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woodbine2
Oct 12 2008, 04:54 PM
and yet another decision upsets mclaren fans. :P

i am very happy about that result,puts us top of the constructors and 5pts behing hamilton with 2 races left

Not a Mclaren fan, i like Massa but would like to see a level playing field. Cant see how in hell they can blame Bourdais for that coming together, he was in pit lane and didnt have any other option about where he went. Massa did have an option.
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Jimmymac™
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cant quite work out why bourdais was punished for the incident with massa, he had passed the end of the pit lane and was racing for position, he had the right of way
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from my distant, general observation there seems to be a anti-hamilton/pro massa under belly within FIA.

Or am I just being and conspiracy theorist?
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RetardedDwarf
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Jimmymac
Oct 12 2008, 06:52 PM
cant quite work out why bourdais was punished for the incident with massa, he had passed the end of the pit lane and was racing for position, he had the right of way

Because they prob had to punish one of them, and Massa has the red car. F1 Posted Image Ferrari
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Woody
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i agree.i dont think bourdais should have got a penalty.he was in the pits,he took the turn at the racing line and massa tried to go around the outside.i didnt see anything wrong with it.

but hey,i'm not gonna complain :cheeky:
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Jimmymac™
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just feel sorry for bourdais more than anything else, had a great race and to have that done to him at the end is just harsh, nothing he did wrong there.

Time for full time stewards and a complete overhaul of the procedures I think, been far too many incidents this year that have been controversial and far too many things that have been let slip when there should have been something done about them
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ZappasMoustache
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RetardedDwarf
Oct 12 2008, 01:34 PM
Gooner4life
Oct 12 2008, 02:07 PM
The Bourdais penalty was a joke!!! :angry: Shouldn't be suprised though. :rolleyes:

Ditto, Bourdais didnt have anywhere else to go. It was Massa at fault. If this doesnt show u how baised F1 (Ferrari1) is nothing will.
Amen.
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[size=7]If we can`t be free, we can at least be cheap[/size]
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RetardedDwarf
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Apparently Ferrari have applied to both F1 and the Brazialian govt to be allowed to place snipers around the track for the last race of the season. They say its only for the protection of their drivers and they do not intend to target McClaren, but they have asked that the stewards to be aware that accidents do occasionally happen and have agreed to a drive through penalty and a £60 fine for each McClaren they do accidently take out. On the grounds of health and safety Ferrari have also agreed to having warning signs placed around the track.
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Woody
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RetardedDwarf
Oct 13 2008, 05:17 PM
Apparently Ferrari have applied to both F1 and the Brazialian govt to be allowed to place snipers around the track for the last race of the season. They say its only for the protection of their drivers and they do not intend to target McClaren, but they have asked that the stewards to be aware that accidents do occasionally happen and have agreed to a drive through penalty and a £60 fine for each McClaren they do accidently take out. On the grounds of health and safety Ferrari have also agreed to having warning signs placed around the track.
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:rofl:

i love it when hamilton fans get upset :P

that was funny though :rofl:
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RetardedDwarf
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TBH not really bothered whether Hamilton wins it or not, the last F1 i rooted for was Schumacher. I like to see the best driver not the best car win, but i would also like to see a level playing field. Would have just as annoyed if Massa was in the McClaren and Hamilton had been in the Ferrari. The decisions have seemed to have favoured Ferrari this season, and thats what pees me off.
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