2007 CHINESE GRAND PRIX
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso finished
the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai in second place, whilst
his team mate Lewis Hamilton retired on lap 31, when he went
off into the gravel with fading Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres
on a drying track. Kimi Raikkonen took victory so the championship
will now be decided among those three at the final race in
Sao Paulo in two weeks time. After 56 laps in changeable conditions,
305.066 km and a total race time of 1h37m58.395, Fernando
came home 9.8 seconds behind Kimi. Fernando was on a two-stop
strategy and pitted on laps 18 (7.7 seconds) and 32 (8.9 seconds),
whilst Lewis made his pit stop on lap 15 (6.8 seconds). Despite
his first retirement in 16 Grands Prix, Lewis maintained his
lead in the Drivers’ Championship after 16 out of 17
races with 107 points followed by Fernando in second with
103 and Kimi in third on 100, with a maximum of 10 points
available in the remaining race.
LEWIS HAMILTON
"When I got out of the car I was obviously gutted for
both myself and the team. I haven’t made a mistake all
year but I am over it now. There is still one race to go,
so I can still do it. I made a strong start to the race and
my first stop went well. Prior to entering the pit lane for
my last stop I was constantly talking to the team. Although
my tyres were in poor condition we took a joint decision to
get through the last rain shower before changing to dry tyres.
I was trying to be very careful and as a result was not really
fighting aggressively with Kimi. It would have worked out
perfectly, but I then made a mistake coming into the pitlane
and that was it. We made the right decision, and it was just
unfortunate. I will now focus on attacking in Brazil where
I will do everything I can to bounce back."
FERNANDO ALONSO
"Today was a very good result for me. I had a battle
with Felipe at the start, but unfortunately I was not able
to finish the first lap in front of him. As a result I lost
a lot of time behind him in the first stint because there
was a loss of downforce when following him in the high speed
corners. It was difficult towards the end on the wet Bridgestone
tyres as they were practically slick, but we stayed out as
long as possible to get through the final shower, which was
the right decision as I was able to come out ahead of Felipe
on my final stop. Although this result is a boost to my chances
in the Championship it is still not going to be easy. However
I will not be giving up until the chequered flag in two weeks
time."
RON DENNIS
"The start of the race saw everybody being careful not
to make any mistakes. Lewis pulled out a healthy lead and
stopped a little earlier than both Fernando and the two Ferraris.
All of these cars stayed on the same set of tyres which was
clearly the right decision. Like us, our competition was hoping
to get through the last period of rain before changing to
dry tyres. Lewis stopped first but a combination of tyre condition,
the wetness of the pitlane and a small mistake saw him run
wide into the gravel trap. Fernando’s second stop took
place on the following lap and he drove an excellent race
to put himself firmly back in contention for the World Championship.
As always we will now focus on the next Grand Prix and with
both Fernando and Lewis having a points lead over Kimi it
should be an interesting end to the season in Brazil."
NORBERT HAUG
"It was a shame what happened to Lewis, but no blame
at all to him. He was performing very well but it wasn’t
to be. Fernando finished second in a challenging race under
difficult conditions and did a great job to stay in the World
Championship fight. The team worked so hard throughout the
season, and we will come out of this even stronger. We now
set our sights on the final in Brazil where we will face a
three driver fight for the World Championship and are still
in a good position to take the title there. For all of us
it makes much more sense to concentrate on the final race
ahead of us rather than the one today where we didn’t
get the best possible result."
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