Hamilton Maintains Composure After Meeting With FIA, Earns China Grand Prix Pole

[PressRoom-GFN]

Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix

Shanghai, China

Round 16

Oct. 6, 2007

By Mike Lane

In the latest twist in this year’s championship battle, Lewis Hamilton was called before the FIA Friday to answer complaints that he had driven erratically behind the safety car in the Japanese Grand Prix last weekend. The complaint was made by Red Bull after its driver, Mark Webber, was eliminated by Sebastien Vettel in the Toro Rosso when he crashed into the back of Webber’s car.

With everything else this “rookie” has had to cope with over the past few weeks, he might be forgiven for thinking there was a conspiracy to stop him from being the World Champion. After a tense 24 hours, the FIA decided he was not guilty and, therefore, there would be no penalty. I suspect most of us would have been unable to refocus on Saturday's qualifying session, so against this background the first qualifying session began.

QUALIFYING

The circuit at Shanghai is one of the new breed of courses, boasting great facilities and a layout that allows overtaking opportunities. For qualifying, the weather was dry, but the prediction for race day says there is a good chance of rain. Therefore, the teams must consider this in their strategies for qualifying and how they want to set up their cars for the race.

During the previous day’s practice sessions, Ferrari was again strong with Kimi Raikkonen showing as the early leader and so it was to prove in the first qualifying session with Raikkonen first, Filipe Massa second, Hamilton third, and Fernando Alonso fourth.

Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Alex Wurz, Takuma Sato, Adrian Sutil and Sakon Yamamoto were the first six drivers to be eliminated with perhaps Fisichella being the first surprise.

In the second session, there were no surprises in the top four places with the championship contenders maintaining their advantage. However, with 2 minutes remaining, Heikki Kovalainen in the Renault was in the drop zone [the bottom six places], as was Nico Rosberg in the Williams. Renault has been stronger in the last few races with Kovalainen second in Japan and Fisichella fifth, while Rosberg has been frequently in the top 10 during the season.

As the second session ended, Ralf Schumacher in the Toyota produced a good lap to haul himself out of the drop zone and relegate Vitantonio Liuzzi to that position. Jenson Button also got more out of his Honda than his teammate, Rubens Barrichello, to go 10th.

The third session began with the fuel burning phase. This is the session where tactics are so vital. Teams must decide the amount of fuel with which they will start the race; put more in the car and you can go further into the race before needing to pit. The penalty for that may be a slower qualifying time and a starting position further down the grid.
With less fuel, a faster qualifying time and a higher grid position is obtained, but then one must pit early and possibly lose track position. This is what makes the third qualifying session so fascinating and the race less predictable.

The early order showed David Coultard in fourth between Alonso and Massa, but then with about 9 minutes remaining, cars began pitting for a change of tires and their first attempt for the pole position.

Hamilton posted a 1-minute 36.6-second lap on his first attempt, and was quickly followed by Alonso, Raikkonen and Massa. The order at this point was Massa fastest, Raikkonen second, Hamilton third, and Alonso fourth. Ferrari seemed to be confirming its speed throughout the weekend, but with the times within tenths of a second, it was really close.

Moving into the session's final minutes, all of the cars made their final pit stop before making their last pole attempt.

Hamilton was the first to complete his lap and stunned everyone with a 1-minute 35.908-second lap. Tension was high as the other three contenders completed their laps. Alonso failed with a 1-minute 36.576-second circuit, then Raikkonen with a 1-minute 36.044-second lap. He was followed by Massa with a lap of 1 minute 36.317 seconds.

The grid for race day is:
1. Hamilton McLaren
2. Raikkonen Ferrari
3. Massa Ferrari
4. Alonso McLaren
5. Coultard Red Bull
6. Schumacher Toyota
7. Webber Red Bull
8. Nick Heidfeld BMW
9. Robert Kubica BMW
10. Button Honda
11. Liuzzi Toro Rosso
12. Vettel Toro Rosso
13. Trulli Toyota
14. Kovalainen Renault
15. Davidson Super Aguri
16. Rosberg Williams
17. Barrichello Honda
18. Fisichella Renault
19. Wurz Williams
20. Sato Super Aguri
21. Sutil Spyker
22. Yamamoto Spyker

Very good performances were posted by Coultard, Schumacher, Button, Liuzzi and Vettel, who all punched above their weight. There were surprises with the two Renaults and the Williams of Nico Rosberg, who all lacked speed Saturday.

Meanwhile, how Hamilton manages to produce such composure after events such as yesterday is hard to comprehend. Whatever happens in the championship, we are witnessing an extraordinary talent. It is possible for Hamilton to clinch the World Championship in the Shanghai race, but you can be sure Alonso and Raikkonen will not give up until the checkered flag.

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