lee
12-25-2008, 07:22 AM
Hamilton was on fire throughout the weekend and won the race in grand style starting from pole on the starting grid to the chequered flag.
All started with a brilliant qualifying on Saturday which left both Ferrari's in the dust. McLaren was ahead of the next best by four tenths That should be enough to gauge the performance advantage of the silver arrow. Hamilton made a clean start and was always increasing the gap from the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Massa throughout the race and it never looked like either would be catching him.
Team Orders?
Austria, 2002. Remember when Barrichello was told to let Schu¬macher pass when he was leading the race? Barrichello braked just yards before the finish line on the last lap to give Schumacher the win. Later that year, Schumacher would go on to win the driver's title. Ferrari received lot of flack and FIA banned team orders.
Well, we don't know if there were any team orders involved this time around or if it was just some good old team spirit and camaraderie between the Fer¬rari drivers, but on lap forty nine Raikkonen let Massa pass (or maybe Massa passed Raik¬konen) and in the end Massa scored two more points than he would have otherwise.
And if history does repeat itself, then at the end of the season, Massa may be the one having the last laugh.
176
Outside Chance
We're not writing off Massa's chances of winning the title, but Hamilton's win has made it tough for the Brazilian. Massa with eighty seven points is seven adrift of Hamilton and can still challenge him. But the dominance of the Brit in this race does make him the favorite for the title. But the home crowd may just spur Massa enough and make him do something extraordinary.
Mid Field asters
While the front runners were setting the pace and playing catch up all the overtaking maneuvers were left to the mid fielders. In the TOITO Rosso, Bourdais showed a clean pair of, err, horns to the experienced Coulthard in the Red Bull on lap thirty one.
Plain Old Bad Luck
Eleven. That has to be the sta¬tistic of the weekend for Adrian Sutil and Force India. It was his ele~enth DNF this year, thanks to a broken gearbox.
Number's Game
Last race of the season, and at the end it is down to two men and seven points.
All started with a brilliant qualifying on Saturday which left both Ferrari's in the dust. McLaren was ahead of the next best by four tenths That should be enough to gauge the performance advantage of the silver arrow. Hamilton made a clean start and was always increasing the gap from the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Massa throughout the race and it never looked like either would be catching him.
Team Orders?
Austria, 2002. Remember when Barrichello was told to let Schu¬macher pass when he was leading the race? Barrichello braked just yards before the finish line on the last lap to give Schumacher the win. Later that year, Schumacher would go on to win the driver's title. Ferrari received lot of flack and FIA banned team orders.
Well, we don't know if there were any team orders involved this time around or if it was just some good old team spirit and camaraderie between the Fer¬rari drivers, but on lap forty nine Raikkonen let Massa pass (or maybe Massa passed Raik¬konen) and in the end Massa scored two more points than he would have otherwise.
And if history does repeat itself, then at the end of the season, Massa may be the one having the last laugh.
176
Outside Chance
We're not writing off Massa's chances of winning the title, but Hamilton's win has made it tough for the Brazilian. Massa with eighty seven points is seven adrift of Hamilton and can still challenge him. But the dominance of the Brit in this race does make him the favorite for the title. But the home crowd may just spur Massa enough and make him do something extraordinary.
Mid Field asters
While the front runners were setting the pace and playing catch up all the overtaking maneuvers were left to the mid fielders. In the TOITO Rosso, Bourdais showed a clean pair of, err, horns to the experienced Coulthard in the Red Bull on lap thirty one.
Plain Old Bad Luck
Eleven. That has to be the sta¬tistic of the weekend for Adrian Sutil and Force India. It was his ele~enth DNF this year, thanks to a broken gearbox.
Number's Game
Last race of the season, and at the end it is down to two men and seven points.