McLaren Dominates Italian GP
Alonso,Hamilton Finish 1-2
Sep 9, 2007 Jose Antonio A. Climaco
The Spy/Espionage controversy seemed to be a none-factor for McLaren after having one of their most dominant displays this season during the Italian GP. The British squad was untouchable and clearly in a league of its own. The days leading up to the race already hinted of the blistering pace of McLaren as both Alonso and Hamilton dominated the practice sessions. Come qualifying, the results were no different with Alonso edging out Hamilton for pole position.
Alonso had an exceptional race pace leading from start to finish. With the victory, the defending champion is now just three points down to teammate Hamilton.
Lewis Hamilton had a more eventful race. The Brit dropped to third behind Raikkonen momentarily in the final stint before pulling out a courageous overtaking move to secure second position as well as 8 precious points.
It was a disappointing result for Ferrari. After a dominant showing last GP, the Italian team just lacked the pace during the weekend. In addition, a major shunt during Saturday practice forced Raikkonen to use the spare car. The unfortunate Finn just had three laps on the spare before qualifying. The results on Saturday were already not very promising: a distant third for Massa and a damage limiting fifth for Raikkonen.
Come race day, Ferrari’s woes would continue with Massa forced to retire due to what is deemed to be a rear suspension problem.
However, it wasn’t a totally lost cause for the Home squad. Raikkonen moved to fourth at the start. With a one-stop strategy, the Finn even was able to leap-frog Hamilton to snatch second place after the last round of pit-stops. Raikkonen however was relegated back to third a few laps later since he clearly lacked the pace to match the McLarens. Third place nevertheless is still a remarkable result considering the fact that Raikkonen had to race with neck pains while driving the team’s spare car. The Finn’s effort alone should please the loyal ‘tifosi’ gathered in Monza.
Nick Heidfeld will be pleased with a solid fourth place finish. The German has finished in the top 4 for the last three races racking up important points for the BMW-Sauber team.
Robert Kubica, riding the second BMW-Sauber, finished a well-earned fifth despite his disastrous first pit-stop that relegated him down to 11th. It was no doubt one of Kubica’s better performances as he was able to extract the best result while facing adversity.
Nico Rosberg finished sixth for Williams while Heikki Kovalainen finished seventh for Renault. Jenson Button clinched the final point scoring position for Honda.
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