Results of the 2007 Japanese F1 Grand Prix

The unflappable Lewis Hamilton brushed off the rain sodden calamity at the Fuji circuit Sunday to virtually seal the Drivers’ Championship with his fourth victory of his rookie season. It was disastrous race for his other rivals, as Fernando Alonso crashed out on lap 41, and Felipe Massa finished sixth eliminating any possibility of him catching the points leader in the remaining two races. Kimi Raikkonen finished third, as Heikki Kovalainen grabbed a career-best second.

More than a quarter of the race took place behind the safety car, as persistent rain and a slippery track conspired to ruin the first F1 race this circuit has hosted in more than 20 years. It turned results on their head as every driver lost control at some stage in the race, and produced some unlikely results. David Coulthard had a great weekend, finishing a lucky fourth ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella for Renault’s most successful race of the year. Massa was sixth, Robert Kubica seventh in the BMW-Sauber, while Adrian Sutil gained his first ever point for Spyker.

However, the result could have been much different. Alonso slid and collided with Kubica in the middle of the race and damage to his car resulted in the crash that left him stone-faced about his championship hopes. The safety car was deployed once again and an elementary lapse in concentration by surprise third placed rookie Sebastien Vettel saw him collide with the back of Mark Webber to end both their races.

The Ferraris, who had defied advice from race officials to start on ‘extra wet’ tyres, had to dash into the pits during the safety car start and join the back of the field, while Massa incurred a drive through penalty. Their one-pit strategy eventually catapulted them up the order and Raikkonen was lucky to finish on the podium at the expense of others’ bad luck. In fact Massa had been well placed for a third place finish but eventually needed a ‘splash and dash’. Raikkonen passed his rival Finn on the last lap and briefly held onto second but lost it at the flag. Massa, meanwhile succeeded with a similar move to beat Kubica at the death.

For the rest, the race was a frustrating ‘lottery’ as they skidded all over the track and had to content with heavy spray from cars ahead of them. Jenson Button, who had qualified in a season-best sixth dropped down the order in the calamity and retired on the last lap. Vitantonio Luizzi should have taken eighth but was given a 25 second penalty for overtaking during a yellow flag on lap 55.

Hamilton now enjoys a 12 point lead over Alonso, with only 20 possible points left and barring a retirement, need only finish four or less places behind his team-mate in each of the final two races. Kimi Raikkonen has an outside chance, trailing by 17. The Constructors’ Championship is wrapped up for Ferrari with McLaren being disqualified, while BMW-Sauber are assured of second place and Renault likely third.

Japanese Grand Prix result after 67 laps of Fuji Speedway:

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes two hours 0 minutes 34.579seconds 2 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Renault 8.377 secs behind
3 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari +9.478secs
4 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault +20.297
5 Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita) Renault +38.864
6 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari +49.042
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber +49.285
8 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Spyker-Ferrari +1:00.129
9 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1:20.622
10 Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda +1:28.342
11 Jenson Button (GB) Honda one lap behind
12 Sakon Yamamoto (Jpn) Spyker-Ferrari one lap
13 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota one Lap
14 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber two laps
15 Takuma Sato (Jpn) Super Aguri-Honda two laps
R Ralf Schumacher (Ger) Toyota 55 laps completed
R Anthony Davidson (GB) Super Aguri-Honda 54 laps
R Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota 49 laps
R Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 46 laps
R Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 45 laps
R Fernando Alonso (Spa) McLaren-Mercedes 41 laps
R Alexander Wurz (Aut) Williams 19 laps