F1 - Hamilton dominates in China
Lewis Hamilton demonstrated the mindset of a world champion with a measured but blindingly fast drive to finish ahead of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen at the Shanghai circuit today.
Unlike in Japan, Ferrari did not beat Hamilton off the start line – he led into the first corner, and then to the chequered flag. Although the trio ran similar fuel strategies, Hamilton was faster than both Raikkonen and Massa - he had one extra lap of fuel than Massa, but ran the same two-stop strategy as Raikkonen, pitting on laps 15 and 38. The McLaren mechanics were faster in the pits today than Ferrari, too.
Meanwhile, Kovalainen struggled to match the pace of his team mate – at times he was one second away from Hamilton’s pace. He briefly fought Alonso for fourth place at the start, before suffering with overheating brakes and a puncture. Alonso drove a steady race to fourth but did not have the pace to take his third consecutive win.
BMW limped to fifth and sixth, ending Robert Kubica’s distant championship hopes. Kubica has fallen out with the BMW management on occasions this season as their development focus switched to the 2009 car. Kubica could still be in this title race had the car improved – will BMW curse this decision next year?
Martin Brundle commented that the pressure had shifted to Massa for this race. I didn’t get that – Hamilton proved that he can be provoked into desperate manoeuvres when challenged and did so in China last weekend.
Massa has Raikkonen to thank for his second place – On lap 49, Raikkonen obediently slowed and let Massa past. Both were coy about this switch in the press conference, although Raikkonen conceded that he knew what the team expected of him.
With Kovalainen scoring no points for McLaren, Ferrari are favourites to take the constructors title - they now stand 11 points clear of McLaren on 156 points.
Donkey of the day was undoubtedly Giancarlo Fisichella. Plodding around the back of the pack, Fisichella held up both Ferraris whilst he was lapped – and earned an appropriate hand gesture from Raikkonen for his efforts.
Regardless of where the Ferraris finish in Brazil, Hamilton needs to finish fifth or higher to take the 2008 driver’s championship.
