2007 F1 Season in Review

A few posts ago I was whining about losing my yen to blog. I think it has to do with fatigue from hitting the same notes on the same topics without any sort of meaningful insight or solution. In an effort to turn in a new direction, here’s a post about F1. That’s Formula One. The single best form of auto racing. Forget NASCAR. That’s a bunch of hillbillies driving in a circle for 3 hours. The only thing worse than watching NASCAR on TV would be having to attend in person with the great unwashed masses. Where NASCAR is for lumpenproles, F1 is for eloi. (I’m mixing aliterations here but bear with me.)

Formula One cars are the most highly specialized, technically advanced (and therefore expensive) machines in the world. They are capable of performance beyond the dreams of mortal men. They have so much downforce keeping them on the road they could drive upside down in a tunnel. Here’s a brief primer on the capabilities of an F1 car.




With that out of the way we have to recap the 2007 season which was truly one for the ages. It all starts with 22 year old phenom Lewis Hamilton. He’s the Tiger Woods of F1. His grandparents emigrated to England from Granada and he’s mixed black/white heritage. People have been watching him closely since he was a teenager and the God King of Formula One had high praise for him in 2001 when he was only 16. He destroyed the competition in 2006 in GP2 which earned him a seat as the #2 driver for McLaren-Mercedes with teammate and current world champion Fernando Alonso.

Team owner Ron Dennis expressed early hopes for Hamilton that included scoring some points to help the team in their bid for a constructor’s championship and perhaps even a podium finish.

Imagine the surprise when his finished on the podium on his first race. Not to mention the first nine races.

His winning streak saw it’s first setback at the Nurburgring in Germany for the European Grand Prix. An improperly attached tire failed during a corner and he crashed into the barrier which looked like this:



That put him back on the grid and he finished in 10th, right where he started. One blemish on an otherwise stellar start.

Alonso starts feeling the pressure and tensions rise on the McLaren team. Reports indicate that Hamilton and Alonso are barely speaking. Hamilton resents being treated as a second driver when he’s ahead in the points. Alonso didn’t appreciate his team mate taking the spotlight (not to mention the points) and seemed determined to put the rookie in his place.

European Grand Prix was also the final race for the sole American driver in the sport; Scott Speed. Early in the race the skies opened and unleashed a rainstorm of Biblical proportions. In one particularly sharp apex turn nearly half the field aquaplaned off the track (including current points leader Hamilton and current world champion Alonso. Scuderia Torro Rosso team leader Frantz Tost was reportedly furious with Scott Speed for sliding off the track which led to a physical altercation in the garage. Eventually that would lead to Scott Speeds acrimonius departure from F1.

The other altercation of note came between Alonso and Fillipe Massa. Massa fought to keep ahead of Alonso who managed to brake late into a corner and forced Massa to the outside. Alonso was able to keep Massa behind him and secure the win. To hear a Brazilian and a Spaniard swear at each other watch this:



Both men were lucky they were not fined by the FIA who does not take kindly to this type of thing.

With the season half over it was now a three way race for the championship. The tempestous Spaniard, the Rookie Phenom and the ever reserved Finn Kimi Raikkonnen. Known to his fellow drivers as The Iceman for his permenently reserved demeanor.

Mercedes decided to capitalize on the controversy in Europe and launched this commercial:



The ending features Raikkonnen turning up the heat. A joke that ended up being prescient.

The tension on McLaren-Mercedes really came to a head at the Hungaroring the following week. During qualifying Hamilton was outpacing his teammate who need to win the pole to have any hope of keeping alive for the driver’s championship. Alonso and Hamilton both went for the pit lane one the same lap. Alonso’s car was serviced and Hamilton was waiting in the pit lane directly behind him. The team finished the fueling and tire change in less than 7 seconds. Alonso didn’t move. He sat in the pit for 33 seconds before leaving. This was naked attempt to screw Hamilton out of the next qualifying round. If Hamilton didn’t get out and make a hot lap (that is, in the top 10) he’d be out of pole contention and Alonso would be in. Hamilton meanwhile was frantically gesticulating and was visibly angry. Speed Channel wouldn’t put up the audio from Hamilton’s mic as it was unfit for broadcast. Hamilton finally got on the track and made the hotlap and won the pole. Alonso was sent back 5 places as a penalty.


http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/5650/617/
Hungaroring pit controversy


Raikkonnen’s season was not without difficulties. Several mechanical failures led to retirements from races as well as one noteworthy crash at Monza during a practice session. It looked something like this:



However, he continued to show solid performances and always in the points. While team McLaren-Mercedes was tearing itself apart at the seams, Raikkonnen in true Iceman style, stayed quiet and watched.

The Chinese Grand Prix was the penultimate race of the season. Hamilton needed only to finish in the points to secure the driver’s championship. He started off the race very very aggressively and paid the price by going wide on turn three and nearly off the track which would have ended his day. Some rain hit the track and made conditions slippery. Hamilton took the opportunity to pit and change tires. On his way into pit lane, he hit the only gravel patch on the track. He highsided himself and was retired. A rookie mistake and his first of the season. One that put his lock on the championship to sleep.

It all came down to Brazil. The last race and only 4 points between the leaders. With a 5th place finish or better Lewis Hamilton would become the first rookie to ever win the championship. Alsono noted that only a mechanical failure for Hamilton would give him a shot at the win.

Hamilton started in the #2 spot which put him on the dirty side of the track. The first turn at Brazil is a four apex turn which means things get interesting. The top of the field fought hard through the first turn and the two Ferraris (Massa and Raikkonnen) were off to a strong lead. Hamilton was in third and pushing hard. He took one turn too aggressively and nearly lost it. He stayed strong until lap 18 when he suddenly slowed and was passed by 12 cars. The hydraulic clutch failed and he was forced to use the manual one. Now in 18th position he was well out of the points and his hopes for a championship were gone. He fought hard and made his way back to 7th place. Enough to put him in the points but sadly one point short of the driver's championship. Robert Kubica had his best race of the season and both he and BMW teammate Nick Heidfeld kept Hamilton behind them.

Massa was leading the race and well positioned for a strong win. However, if he did win, his team mate Raikkonnen would lose the championship. They had to allow Rakkonnen to pass without using (or showing the appearance of) team orders. They had Massa pit on the following lap and Raikkonnen was able to squeak by Massa before he made it out of the pit lane. The fig leaf of obedience to the rules was maintained and Raikkonnen took the win with Massa coming in second.

Alonso took third (and second in the championship) and Hamilton was third for championship and seventh in the race. It was probably easier to not stand on the podium having lost the championship. Raikkonnen was uncharacteristically animated after his first ever championship. Hamilton was understandably dejected and left parc ferme and into the garage avoiding the press entirely.

Is it over? Of course not. After technical review in parc ferme after the race, BMW was found to have cooled their fuel below allowable limits. This would give them more fuel per pit stop as well as more horsepower output. The FIA initially ruled that the were be no penalty but naturally, McLaren appealed and wants them stricken from the race or at least their points awarded. Such an elimination would put Hamilton up two spots and into the championship for the season.

McLaren's appeal is going to go exactly nowhere. After receiving a $100MM penalty earlier in the season for taking receipt of technical data from an opposing team and being blackballed from the constructors championship for the season the FIA is absolutely not going to award them the driver's win. All in all, it was an amazing season. Rarely is it so close into the final race and to see the front runner as a rookie is very rare indeed.

Lastly, one video I just had to include but couldn't figure out where to put in the post: Here's rookie Kazuki Nakajimi running down his pit crew on his first ever pit stop: