Race – In China, Hamilton Takes Off for the Title!

British driver Lewis Hamilton won his fifth race of the season today in Shanghai at the Chinese Grand Prix. The McLaren-Mercedes driver finished ahead of Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen. The Brazilian thus maintains slim chances for the driver’s title before the final event of the year at Interlagos.

On the constructor side, Scuderia Ferrari with its two drivers on the podium and the retirement of Kovalainen (McLaren) takes a lead for the championship. BMW, despite a great race, can no longer compete with Ferrari and McLaren to hope to win the constructors’ title.

It is 9 o’clock in France when the start of the penultimate Grand Prix of the season was given in Shanghai. The circuit is challenging, but the weather conditions are favorable for the drivers. The sky is overcast, but there is only a slight chance of rain during the race.

At the start, it is Hamilton, who started on pole, who gets off to the best start. The Ferraris are on his heels, Räikkönen ahead of Massa. Behind, Kovalainen (McLaren) has a good start and manages to get ahead of Fernando Alonso (Renault) at the first corner. The Spaniard has an aggressive strategy and to make it work, he must recover his due. He tries twice to overtake the Finn, before succeeding a lap later. He then attacks the three men at the front, but the gap is already several seconds.

BMWs also had a very good start. After the first lap, Heidfeld is 6th, Kubica is 8th. This is not the case for Toro Rosso, despite both being in the top 10 on the starting grid. Vettel was blocked in traffic and battled with Jarno Trulli in the first corner. The latter had a collision with Sébastien Bourdais at the first corner. Both men ran wide and ended up at the back of the pack on the first lap. Trulli retired two laps later due to the damage being too significant on the Toyota after his clash with Bourdais.

Bourdais has a problem with his starts, comments the Italian on ITV’s microphone. He doesn’t know where he should position himself and doesn’t know where he’s going to go. As a result, he puts everyone around him in danger.

After a few laps, Hamilton opens up a gap of 5 seconds on his pursuers. Räikkönen and Massa are two seconds apart. Alonso is keeping pace but is 4 seconds behind the Brazilian. Kovalainen is 5th, more than 15 seconds behind.

At the bottom of the rankings, Fisichella and Sutil are the last, but Sutil never finishes the race. The German falls victim to a hydraulic problem with his car, runs wide before the long straight of the circuit, and leaves his car at the side of the track after 13 laps of the race.

In the pack, Piquet and Webber are battling for 10th place. The Red Bull driver started with a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change. He started 16th but, very light on fuel, gained 6 positions in less than ten laps. Webber, almost running on empty, took only a few seconds to find an opening against the young Brazilian. The Red Bull came into the pit on the next lap and will be stuck in traffic for the entire race.

His teammate David Coulthard started in 15th position but benefited from a good one-stop strategy. The Scot finished the race in 10th place. The same strategy was applied with Timo Glock’s Toyota. The German started in 12th position and finished his Chinese Grand Prix ahead of Piquet’s Renault, in 7th place.

At the halfway point, Hamilton is dominating the Ferraris significantly. The Brit is extending a lead of up to 9 seconds over Räikkönen. Meanwhile, Kovalainen in the second McLaren is chasing the Spaniard. He is fighting for 4th place and the constructor points, but fate always has a say… Today, it’s the Finn who pays the price, falling victim to a puncture on the 35th lap, just one lap before the scheduled pit stop in his strategy. Slowing down, Kovalainen is overtaken by many drivers, including Piquet, who takes the opportunity to enter the points. Exiting the pit, the McLaren-Mercedes is in 17th position. He will ultimately retire 6 laps before the end of the Grand Prix due to the damage caused by the blown tire.

After the second round of pit stops, Scuderia Ferrari knows that the winner is uncatchable today. The Italian team then changes its strategy and decides to slow down Kimi Räikkönen to give Massa a chance at the drivers’ title. On the 50th lap, Hamilton is followed by Massa and Räikkönen. Alonso is 4th ahead of the two BMW Sauber drivers, who had great races. The standings remain unchanged and Hamilton secures his 5th victory of the year. He thus leads Massa by 7 points in the championship. However, the Brazilian still has a clear chance for the final Grand Prix if Hamilton does not finish in the top 6 in Brazil.

For the first time in 5 races, Toro Rosso scores no points. It was close for Vettel but his start compromised his strategy. He finishes ninth. Bourdais, on the other hand, made a mistake at the start and a second one with Coulthard on lap 45. The two men clashed at the end of the pit straight, without incident. The Frenchman finishes 13th in the end. Coulthard (Red Bull) with his one-stop strategy makes it into the top 10. Barrichello (Honda) is 11th, ahead of Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams. The Japanese driver had a good Grand Prix and once again outperforms his teammate. Nico Rosberg is in 15th place, behind Webber. The German is far from his early season form in Australia, where he achieved a promising podium. He is a lap behind the leader in China, as are Button (Honda) and Fisichella (Force India).

In the championship, Hamilton has never been so close to the title, and is flying towards seizing the record previously held by Alonso as the youngest Formula 1 world champion. Paradoxically, his team is not on top, as Ferrari is currently ahead, and before the last race of the season, McLaren trails by 11 points. Everything is still open in both championships, see you in two weeks at Interlagos for the final verdict… already.

Results of the Race – Chinese GP – Sunday, October 19, 2008