2007 European Grand Prix Weekend

Sunday,

Okay, that was the most chaotic race I’ve seen, even more than what we saw at Canada. It rained! On the first lap! Kimi made a good start keeping his lead, and Massa got infront of Alonso. However, everything went in all directions as rain hit the track and the first sector was practically a lake. Cars were aquaplaning off the track into the gravel, and Hamilton was one of them but he managed to get back on track having not stalled his engine. But Kimi fans were off their seat when cars began to pit for wet tyres, including Kimi, but the Ferrari driver missed the pit lane entry struggling for grip and just missed the barrier! He had to go around the track one more time before pitting whereas the others were now ahead of him. More cars found it difficult in the extremely wet conditions and more spun off track which caused the race to be red flagged. At the time, the Spyker of Winkelhock was leading the Grand Prix. The race restarted 30 minutes later, in the classification order the cars were in at the time of the red flag being waved. Kimi was in 7th position due to missing his pit stop and Hamilton was one lap behind the whole grid, half of which was alreay taken out by the treacherous rain.

The track began to dry up as the safety car lead the grid for 2 laps and the race was back on. Massa soon took the lead from the Spyker as he and Alonso got down to business from turn 1. Since then, Massa led the race with Alonso in 2nd, and Kimi caught up through the field and was soon in 3rd place, setting the fastest lap at the time. A lot of overtaking battles followed throughout, with some infuriating racing incidents for Ralf Schumacher who was hit out of his race by BMW’s Nick Heidfeld, who was also close to taking himself and his teammate out at the start of the race.

But nothing could change the end result for Kimi, as fate struck him once again at this Nurburgring track. "Why? Why? Why?" I said as I shook my head, as dejavu struck of the 2003 disaster. Kimi’s car failed yet again. The power cut after the pit straight and Kimi was left rolling back to the pits, when he was just 2 seconds behind Alonso in 2nd place. So typical, that it would be Kimi to retire, even more typical that it would be at the Nurburgring. You’d think Ferrari would have fixed this electrical power cut problem since it caused Kimi to retire in Spain earlier this year. But alas, more drama was yet to come, and Hamilton wasn’t even near the points scoring positions, so Kimi’s retirement isn’t exactly disastrous for his championship hopes, but today was the perfect opportunity to capitalise on Hamilton’s drop in the field. The main driver to do this was Fernando Alonso, driving his sister McLaren of Hamiltons to victory, as he passed Felipe Massa’s Ferrari in the first wheel-to-wheel overtaking move for the lead of the race this season. With just 3 laps to go, it began to rain again and this is what played into McLaren’s hands for Alonso’s chance for victory. Once all had pitted, Alonso was much faster than Massa and in the wet track, Alonso’s WC rain skills and played out once again.

The race was a mess; I don’t know how to put it in any other words. I will, however, put it into a highlight video form which you’ll be able to see very soon this week!

Kimi may have not scored any points, but neither did Hamilton, and that’s the only positive thing from this weekend for Kimi. Unfortunatly, for his grandmother who was present this weekend, she has a grandson to comfort on their way home that it’s not over till it’s over!

Keep Flying Kimi, we’ll never stop believing in you!
Come on Kimi fans, don’t give up on him! Leave a comment and show your support for the Iceman!

Quotes:

Kimi says problem started early

Europe Sunday quotes: Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen – DNF: "I am very disappointed. I
was in a good position, immediately right behind Felipe and Alonso and
the car was very quick and I was convinced I could win. But gradually,
the hydraulic system began to malfunction, I began to lose time and
then I was forced to stop.

"This knock back does not mean I feel like giving up the fight, even
if there is now one less race in which to compete. The gap to the head
of the classification remains the same and anything can happen in the
seven remaining races. We have a very competitive car but clearly we
have to improve on the reliability front."

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Alonso        McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  2h06:26.358
 2.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  +     8.155
 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +  1:05.674
 4.  Wurz          Williams-Toyota      (B)  +  1:05.937
 5.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault     (B)  +  1:13.656
 6.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  +  1:20.298
 7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  +  1:22.415
 8.  Kovalainen    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap
 9.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  +     1 lap
10.  Fisichella    Renault              (B)  +     1 lap
11.  Barrichello   Honda                (B)  +     1 lap
12.  Davidson      Super Aguri-Honda    (B)  +     1 lap
13.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Massa, 1:32.853

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)    36
Sato          Super Aguri-Honda    (B)    20
R.Schumacher  Toyota               (B)    19
Winkelhock    Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    15
Button        Honda                (B)    3
Sutil         Spyker-Ferrari       (B)    3
Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)    3
Speed         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    3
Liuzzi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)    

Video
GP start and first 4 laps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PMG5mm2DoY

Flying restart

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jit4VPTcK1Q


KIMI EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkGwqxXLiTQ

Saturday, Qualifying
    
Raikkonen takes his second pole position of the 2007 season today, as Hamilton has a qualifying quandary; a crash.

But it isn’t just Kimi’s second pole of the season, it’s his 13th career pole! And what a better time to deliver it, at the Nurburgring; the so called ‘unfriendly’ track to Kimi.

Kimi probably drove the closest to the barrier
wall of the last turn on his flying lap, in what was a great
performance at the Nurburgring. Alonso, too, was fast until he made a
mistake on his lap and still came 3 tenths behind Kimi.

Also, it seems Kimi’s speed and Lewi’s accident was all too much for Alonso today:
 

Europe Saturday quotes: Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen – 1st: "Finally! In qualifying at
the last race I made a mistake in the final part of my lap, but today
everything went well and I’ve managed to get back on pole. In Q1 and
Q2, I had some problems with grip, but once the car was carrying the
fuel load for the first part of the race it was very good again.

"The wait after Hamilton’s accident made the third session more
complicated but the biggest problem was that it was all going to be
down to one flying lap. Now I am in the best possible position on the
grid, but I am well aware that we can expect a very tough race. All
weekend the car has been very good but are rivals are still very
strong. Lewis’ accident? The important thing is that, as far as we
know, he is not badly hurt."

Saturday Videos:
Press conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojs92AL3ffs

Kimi’s pole lap: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DNeeGqA_Z24

This is a little bit late, but worth the space nonetheless! Nigel Roebuck’s Column, From Autosport.com

Yes, Raikkonen has won three races this year, the only one of the
top four to do so, but prior to Magny-Cours and Silverstone, let’s bear
in mind, he was looking like the least convincing member of the quartet
…