F1 Race (Belguim)
Monday, 15. September 2008, 10:12:52
A wet race in prospect with the title contenders on the front row of the grid. Hamilton on pole and Massa right next to him. A damp circuit with 20 cars hurtling down to the first corner a tight 1st gear hairpin was bound to result in a few accidents.
Hamilton get a good start and leads through the first corner. Behind him though is Kimi starting from fourth and already challenging Massa into the hairpin with Kimi running wide and keeping momentum to tuck in behind Massa for the long straight. Further back Trulli starting from 11th hooks up perfectly overtaking at least 4 or 5 cars before the first corner but was followed through by an eager Bourdais tagging him and pushing him wide. Heikki on the other hand had a terrible start falling back into the early teens from 3rd place.
At the end of the first lap saw Hamilton leading from Raikkonen, Massa, Alonso, Bourdais, Piquet, Webber, Kubica, Glock, Heidfeld.
At the end of the second lap, Hamilton spins at the La Source hairpin allowing Kimi an easy pass but Lewis returned to the racing line in time to hold onto second. Kimi then proceeded to edge away consistently from Hamilton and the two were dropping Massa. This looked to be the return of the reigning world champion to form.
On lap 10 Heikki was closing in on Webber and in what can only be called the most clumsy overtaking move of the season Heikki just stuck his car on the inside of the bus stop chicane with no real commitment tagging Webber and sending him into a spin. A few laps later and he duly received a stop go penalty for causing an avoidable accident.
Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 11, Kimi end of lap 12 and Massa the next lap. Massa managed to close the gap to Hamilton while Kimi was again stretched his lead even further.
Lap 25 and Kimi and Lewis came into the pits for the harder tyres. This seemed to suit Hamilton better as he started closing in on Kimi. With mostly all pitstops complete the race order stood as Kimi in the lead, Hamilton, Massa, Alonso, Bourdais, Vettel, Heidfeld and Kubica in the last points paying position. Once again the Toro Rossos having a strong race (after Bourdais did finish Qualy 2 at the top of the time sheets)
On Lap 37 Alonso comes onto the radio saying there is rain on the track. This played into Hamilton's hands as Kimi who was already struggling on these tyres starting falling off the pace even more with te rain. Hamilton attempted a pass at the bus stop but couldn't make it stick.
Lap 42 and Hamilton was clearly faster at this point made another attempt on Kimi at the bus stop. This time going off the circuit to avoid Kimi as he (Kimi) was having none it. This would later prove to be one of the most controversial moves of the season. Hamilton realising his advantage gained eased off allowing Kimi to pass before the start line but tucked in right behind him to make another pass into the hairpin where Kimi had no answer. Kimi tagged Hamilton through the corner but no significant damage to either car. At this point it was chaos on the track as cars were flying off.
Kimi followed Hamilton through running wide further down the track but keeping his momentum just like the first lap first corner incident. Rosberg was recovering from his spun Williams just as Hamilton was entering the same piece of tarmac forcing him wide and almost catching Kimi out who just narrowly missed ploughing into the back of Rosberg. A few 100 metres later and Kimi puts down the power to early and spins his Ferrari allowing Hamilton back into the lead. It was literally heart stopping action.
Further behind Heidfeld in a moment of brilliance made the call to some in for intermediate tyres. Kimi rejoined the track but with the conditions was able to catch Hamilton in only two corners and lined himself up for a move at the bus stop. He put too much of his car onto the slippery white lines and lost the back end. It was clear he was just a passenger at this moment as there was zero grip from his tyres and eventually hitting the inside wall taking off his front wing and being eliminated from the race.
This promoted Massa to second but Alonso from 3rd decided to go with Heidfeld's choice and came in for inters. Massa had no answer to Hamilton in the rain as he nursed his car home to victory followed by Massa a few seconds down the road. The battle for 3rd until about 7th took place at the bus stop, the last corner of the last lap. Heidfeld's move payed allowing him to sythe through the field ending up in 3rd followed by Alonso. Vettel brought up 5th place, Kubica 6th, Bordais 7th and Webber 8th.
It was definately one of the most exciting finishes to a race in recent history.
The final result would be ruined by the stewards decision however as they handed Hamilton a 25 second penalty demoting him to 3rd place promoting Massa to race winner and Heidfeld to 2nd. It's decisions like this that will result in the demise what used to called a "sport"
Full Results
(0%)
WIDGETIZE
How to use Quote function: