The furore over fuel which may yet decide the F1 championship should not overshadow a stunning performance by Lewis Hamilton and a clinical drive to victory by Kimi Raikkonen.
Raikkonen is the champion for now, pending an investigation into yesterday’s result.
The Finn stormed to victory in his Ferrari in Brazil yesterday with team mate Felipe Massa right behind him and closest challenger Fernando Alonso almost a minute in arrears.
Meanwhile Hamilton blasted through the pack to finish within ten seconds of winning the title.
He passed car after car in a thrilling display of bravery, risking disaster with every move. Hamilton flew past home hero Rubens Barrichello from an impossible distance in a move which must rank as one of the best of the season.
It brought back memories of Michael Schumacher’s final race at the same circuit last year when he too dropped to the back of the field before passing rival after rival.
Raikkonen and Hamilton showed us how championships should be fought for – by racers who dazzle us with their sporting prowess, not by squabbling over the minutiae of the rules in a darkened courtroom.
I bet Hamilton would rather be champion on the track than on appeal.
Did you watch the F1 title decider? Does Kimi Raikkonen or Lewis Hamilton deserve the title?
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jeez, its just a race guys.
get over it, it not like its real racing like the ind500
BOB
What race were you watching Alan?
It was the gearbox fault which caused him to lose 40 seconds, nothing to do with his ‘over driving’.
Despite this he made up all but 10 seconds, and if it wasn’t for the extra time he lost in having a 3 pit stop still would have won.
Spoilt child? Are you mad, Lewis has always shown himself to be anything but! He has only every conducted himself with consumate professionalism.
What is this British disease that when we have a truly great sportsman, we have to knock them constantly rather than appreciate them?
I think it is because many people are just so much more comfortable with mediocrity, and find excellence threatening!
Finally, how many times must I say this, when you win a race because your team mate waves you past, no matter how much you dress it up and pretend, that’s not winning a race, even if it does mean the chequered flag goes down on you. It’s like a boxer taking a fall, or a goalie taking a bung to let a goal in, team tactics don’t excuse it, it’s against the rules, and it’s called cheating!!!
…yet again Hamilton seeks to get the formula one title by any means he can.. ……..i’m not sure as to the technicalities of the fueling issue, but Hamilton used two sets of soft tyres during qualifying and got away with it !…… he had several chances in the last two races to take the title but still could not restrain himself by ‘over driving’ his car in order to beat his co-driver …….but it didn’t work. ………he ended up miles behind the other cars because of several mistakes during the race by his own undoing which revealed the innate spoilt child…….put Jensen Button in a McLaren and Hamilton in a Honda.. and what have you got? nuff said! Kimi beat him fair and square!!!!
Scotty,
You are absolutely spot on, and this is the nub of it.
F1 is meant to be the pinnacle of motor sport. The drivers championship becomes meaningless if the winner is only there because his team mate let him win.
Harsh but true, and don’t give me any baloney about Raikonen got a geniune win. If you believe that then you probably think WWF wrestling is a great sporting contest!
Anyway, lucky that Lewis can accept the result much more philisophically than a lot of his fans! (publicly at least).
It is bizarre that the gear box just happened to have a problem like that… But anyone who’s competed in any form of motorsport knows that crazy things happen when you are racing!
Never the less… Anyone who belives Hamilton had all the luck and threw it away at the end should remember the problems he’s had such as the tyre blow out when he was on for a podium, the crash in the wet and so forth. It wasn’t plain sailing all the way as some people suggest.
Of course Hamilton deserved to win but did he deserve it any more than Kimi? I believe the fastest driver has won the championship but I wish Hamilton and Mclaren could have pulled it off!
And anonther thing. remember Prost and Senna at mclaren, would they have contrived a world championship, I rather think not
I think F1 has damaged itself beyond repair this season with all the scandal off the track and now the fiasco over williams and bmw cheating in the final round, ask yourself, if the results this weekend had been reversed would the FIA still refused to take action? (FIA= Ferrari international assistance)
Steve, as an expert I’m sure you will be aware that Lewis didn’t need to win on the track, so where’s the relevance of the track times? When Lewis had clear air (virtually not at all), his laptimes were incredibly close to those of the Ferrari’s, which we all knew would perform better in the conditions in Brazil.
I understand very well that F1 is a ‘team sport’ however within the sport there is supposed to be a rule that there are no ‘team orders’ to prevent racing between drivers on the same team, as I’m sure you know. Ferrari clearly get around these rules very cleverly. The split times between Raikonen and Massa are clearly not relevant if Massa is under implicit orders to back off!
Bottom line is Massa could and should have won, which would have delighted 70,000 home fans, not to mention Massa, but clearly would have landed Massa in trouble with his team. I just think it’s a shame when sport is compromised in this way. Can’t blame Massa or Ferrari, and I’m sure any other team would have done the same, but I don’t have to like it, and these forums are only here for expressing views aren’t they!
Be boring and pointless if we all agreed!
david formula 1 is a team sport clearly the job of the team and drivers is to win the world title.lewis is a massive talent and will win in the coming years as i said.however lap times tell all in clear air kimi was way faster than alonso and lewis in clear air hence he passed massa. also his fast lap times where within 2 or 3 tenths over 12 laps where as massa and lewis where both showing lap differences on there best times of .7 and .8 of a second. he was claerly faster. just to explain to you these times are when the cars are not in traffic including lewis. have raced for 8 years myself i understand the data !! this information is not gathered listening to tv or radio coverage !!once again lewis is an outstanding talent he will be the best in the world for sure but yestrday he and mclaren lost.arm chair pundits need to understand racing in full before making judgements well done lewis a great year
In reply to David Bosley constant ranting id just like to point out all the hype about Kubica when he did a fantastic job last yeah and Button in 2000. They did alot to raise the profile of the sport in my eyes and in their own countries. Kimi won Lewis didnt.
Comment edited. No personal insults, please – moderator.