July 22nd, 2007 -- If you really want to shake up a race weekend, it's actually pretty simple, just pray for rain. And if you're a bit on the evil side, you'll ask for rain at the start and the end of the race. That's what we had this weekend. The start went off, but then the floodgates opened up and everyone was going everywhere. The FIA even said “Enough!”, and red-flagged the race to see what was left.
When racing resumed, Massa led most of the lapping portions. But, when rain returned, Fernando Alonso bumped him (yes, my closet has more Scuderia clothing than most, I'm biased and the Spaniard hit Massa). There is no love lost between these two. Alonso ended up on the top spot of the podium, but not before much yelling on the way up to the stand. You may want to have an Italian slang dictionary available for the next race if it keeps up like this. And if the race in the rain wasn't surreal enough, you had Michael Schumacher handing Ron Dennis the constructor's trophy. I swear Michael was just milliseconds from projectile vomiting.
Felipe Massa
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On top of all of this (patience, I'll get back to the race in a sec), you've got Stepney-gate brewing with McLaren being hauled in front of the FIA later this week to see if they broke the sporting code, and if so, how badly they will be penalized. Nothing like politics and ethics getting in the way of a car race…
Getting back to the race… When it does rain, we occasionally see faces on the podium that have either never been there before or haven't been there in a while. Today we got the latter. Mark Webber managed to drive a solid race and was rewarded with a third place finish. Alex Wurz put up a fight, but could not get around the Australian to finish in fourth place, making Sir Frank send a memo out that the team should always pray for rain.
Kimi Räikkönen
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David Coulthard drove another solid race to finish in fifth place, but not many people saw it with all of the action in the front. It turned out to be a good day for the Red Bull team, but the Toro Rosso side wasn't going to be doing anything except packing up.
Both BMWs finish in the points with Heidfeld just nipping out Kubica. The BMW effort has not gone as well as the minds in Munich would have liked, but they did beat the French Renault of Kovalainen and there are always smiles in Germany when that happens. But the other Finn's finish in eighth meant that Lewis Hamilton went home with zero additional points after the race. Oh my gosh, he is just like every other driver out there. Good thing I didn't drink all of the Kool-aid that Dennis's minions were handing out…
As for the also-rans this weekend, it was par for some and time to revisit contracts for others. Honda had a factory car and one semi-amateur one lap back. They did better than Toyota and you have to believe that's all that counts for them for now.
The F2007
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Kimi Räikkönen had hydraulic issues with his Ferrari and was forced to give up the fight while leading. I had a similar situation last year when an o-ring gave up on my clutch slave cylinder on the Mondial and I had to wave a Porsche Boxster S by. Still don't like those cars…
Winkelhock made his F1 debut in the Spyker. His mom noticed.
It made for a good show, but it really wasn't that much fun at the end of the day. The sport is pretty much on hold until the FIA makes some sort of ruling regarding Ferrari and McLaren. As I said, I'm biased. If Ferrari wins the championship because the FIA stripped McLaren of their points, so be it. It will sell papers in Italy…
Jean Todt and Michelle Yeoh
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Race Results
