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Racing


June 20th 2007

Hamilton the Real Deal

United States Grand Prix
By Erik Nielsen

Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media


Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton

June 17th, 2007 -- Lewis Hamilton proved that he wasn't a one hit wonder and dominated the US Grand Prix at Indianapolis from start to finish. The young British driver showed that he was capable of being calm under pressure and delivering the goods for Ron Dennis, much to the disappointment of his reigning world championship team mate, who still doesn't quite know what to do with a team mate that can hold his own.

What has been confirmed is that the performance difference between McLaren and Ferrari that was evident at Monaco is real. The McLaren battle has become the race for the lead (the Hamilton/Alonso show) and the Ferrari battle has become the race for who gets to go to the press interview (the Massa/Raikkonen show). Ferrari was the best of the rest this weekend with Massa claiming the lowest level on the podium, but the Italian press is looking for blood at this point. I know that no team can stay at the top forever, but that will not stop the blame game from happening in Maranello with nasty phone calls coming from Turin. The red cars were clearly outclassed in North America, racing in France will tell if the gap has been closed.


The Start

The rest of the weekend was pretty much just a fast parade minus the first turn mess that involved Ralf Schumacher running out of talent, again, and taking out Rubens Barichello (seen telling the Honda bosses that it wasn't his fault this weekend and he needs to keep his job) and David Coulthard who can still drive a crappy car to a decent finish.

Kovalainen proved yet again that his Italian team mate is worse than he is and that the reigning constructor doesn't have a championship car this year. The rookie Finn has been outshining his senior teammate most of the season and you have to believe that the latter may not be asked back next year.


Kimi Räikkönen

Jarno Trulli felt a little bit safer by finishing the best of the Japanese manufacturers and bringing the Toyota home in sixth, but I'd hate to be the accountant in Toyota City trying to figure out the cost per championship point ratio.

Mark Webber finished seventh, the best of the Red Bull contingent and the result was probably worth a nice check from Bernie when the pay for performance money is issued to the teams. Not great, but probably a positive cash flow for the team.

The last points paying position set a new record for F1 with Sebastian Vettel becoming the youngest person (at 19 years and 11 months for the trivia buffs) to obtain a world championship point, displacing Jenson Button in the category. The German replaced a recovering Kubica who still needed some time off from his nasty shunt in Montreal. The result will definitely lead to a better contract for 2008.


Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa

As for the rest, well, it's the same song, second verse. Williams was a flash in the pan. When everyone is running well and follows the rule book, Sir Frank's team is an also ran. Super Aguri beat the factory team (but Sato-san had issues this week) and Spyker was happy to sell two t-shirts to fans that had never been to an open wheel race before.

The race itself wasn't all that exciting. I'll be honest, Le Mans received more of my attention this weekend and it wasn't the fact that the French race lasted longer. F1 is still too sterile and controlled and too far removed from the cars that I have in my garage. Even though I've got three red cars with prancing horses on the badges, the Scuderia cars are still nothing like what is on the road. Mind you, there are days where I think the Mondial's electronics were only designed to last an hour and a half on Sundays. And my wife is sometimes surprised they last that long. F1 is in need of change again and a new generation of hangers-on during the pit formation isn't the right approach.

The circus goes back to Europe for the first weekend in July. Expect the return to the continent to bring new bits (or even a new car for some teams). We'll be able to see if silver arrows can hold up there lead. The season isn't over yet, but the tea leaves are easier to interpret...


Felipe Massa



Race Results

1 HAMILTON McLaren-Mercedes 1h31m09.965s
2 ALONSO McLaren-Mercedes + 1.5s
3 MASSA Ferrari + 12.8s
4 RÄIKKÖNEN Ferrari + 15.4s
5 KOVALAINEN Renault + 41.4s
6 TRULLI Toyota + 66.7s
7 WEBBER Red Bull-Renault + 67.3s
8 VETTEL BMW + 67.7s
9 FISICHELLA Renault + 1 lap
10 WURZ Williams-Toyota + 1 lap
11 DAVIDSON Super Aguri-Honda + 1 lap
12 BUTTON Honda + 1 lap
13 SPEED STR-Ferrari + 2 laps
14 SUTIL Spyker-Ferrari + 2 laps
15 ALBERS Spyker-Ferrari + 3 laps
16 ROSBERG Williams-Toyota + 5 laps, engine
17 LIUZZI STR-Ferrari + 5 laps, water pressure
18 HEIDFELD BMW + 18 laps, hydraulics
19 SATO Super Aguri-Honda + 60 laps, spin
20 COULTHARD Red Bull-Renault + 73 laps, accident damage
21 BARRICHELLO Honda + 73 laps, accident damage
22 SCHUMACHER Toyota + 73 laps, accident damage
Fastest
Lap
MASSA Ferrari 1m13.117s



Driver's Championship Standings

1 HAMILTON McLaren-Mercedes 58 Points
2 ALONSO McLaren-Mercedes 48 Points
3 MASSA Ferrari 39 Points
4 RÄIKKÖNEN Ferrari 32 Points
5 HEIDFELD BMW 26 Points
6 FISICHELLA Renault 13 Points
7 KUBICA BMW 12 Points
8 KOVALAINEN Renault 12 Points
9 WURZ Williams-Toyota 8 Points
10 TRULLI Toyota 7 Points
11 ROSBERG Williams-Toyota 5 Points
12 COULTHARD Red Bull-Renault 4 Points
13 SATO Super Aguri-Honda 4 Points
14 WEBBER Red Bull-Renault 2 Points
15 SCHUMACHER Toyota 2 Points
16 VETTEL BMW 1 Points



Constructor's Championship Standings

1 McLaren-Mercedes 106 Points
2 Ferrari 71 Points
3 BMW 39 Points
4 Renault 25 Points
5 Williams-Toyota 13 Points
6 Toyota 9 Points
7 Red Bull-Renault 6 Points
8 Super Aguri-Honda 4 Points





Past Issues



Date
Topic

10-10-07
Chinese Grand Prix

10-3-07
Japanese Grand Prix

9-19-07
Belgian Grand Prix

9-12-07
Italian Grand Prix

8-29-07
Turkish Grand Prix

8-08-07
Hungarian Grand Prix

7-25-07
European Grand Prix

7-11-07
British Grand Prix

7-04-07
French Grand Prix

6-20-07
U.S. Grand Prix

6-13-07
Canadian Grand Prix

5-30-07
Monaco Grand Prix

5-16-07
Spanish Grand Prix

4-18-07
Bahrain Grand Prix

4-11-07
Malaysian Grand Prix

3-28-07
Australian Grand Prix

10-25-06
Brazilian Grand Prix

10-11-06
Japanese Grand Prix

10-04-06
Chinese Grand Prix

9-13-06
Italian Grand Prix

8-30-06
Turkish Grand Prix

8-9-06
Hungarian Grand Prix

8-2-06
German Grand Prix

7-19-06
French Grand Prix

7-6-06
U.S. Grand Prix

6-28-06
Canadian Grand Prix

6-14-06
British Grand Prix

5-31-06
Monte Carlo Grand Prix

5-17-06
Spanish Grand Prix

5-10-06
German Grand Prix

4-26-06
San Marino Grand Prix

4-05-06
Australian Grand Prix

3-22-06
A New Type of Formula

3-22-06
Malaysian Grand Prix


3-15-06
Bahrain Grand Prix



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