The star-studded FIA Gala in Monaco capped another memorable season in
the FIA Formula One World Championship. It was not going to be easy to
surpass last season’s excitement, with a three-way title showdown at
the final race, but that is exactly what happened with McLaren-Mercedes
driver Lewis Hamilton taking the drivers’ championship on the final lap.
Lewis Hamilton said: “This
year has been a very special one in my life – the fulfilment of a dream
I’ve had since childhood and an ambition that has taken my family and
me on an amazing journey.
“The fact that I won the Drivers’
World Championship on the very last lap of the very last race is
something that makes me so proud of our efforts in 2008; we pushed to
the limit on every single lap, from Melbourne to Brazil – and it’s that
determination and spirit that ultimately won us the world title.
“It’s
always very rewarding to receive recognition for all the work you put
into the season, and the FIA Prize Giving Gala in Monte-Carlo is of
course the fitting venue at which to celebrate all our efforts before
we push ahead into 2009.”
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa could not have
come closer to winning the championship and was justifiably proud of
the role he played in a highly competitive season.
Felipe Massa said: “This
has been an incredibly closely contested season, which produced an
amazing final. When you lose the world title by a single point, having
had it in your grasp for a handful of seconds, it would be easy to take
it badly. But I prefer to look to the future and to see things in a
positive light.
“I won six races and played my part in the
team taking the Constructors’ Championship, which I know is so
important for Ferrari. We are already looking to a new season and I
will do my utmost to come back here to Monaco next year to claim the
prize which today has gone to Lewis.”
His teammate Kimi Raikkonen was unable to retain the title he won last year but vowed to return stronger next season.
Kimi
Raikkonen said: “I would have preferred to be here collecting the World
Champion’s trophy for a second consecutive time, but this year, things
did not go my way. The season got off to a good start, but then, for
various reasons, the situation got complicated and by the time we were
back on form, it was already too late.
“However, we learnt
some valuable lessons which will come in useful next year. I am happy
that Ferrari won, confirming its position as world champion: it’s an
exceptional team that never gives up.”
Massa and Raikkonen
ensured that Ferrari took the Constructors’ Trophy for the second
successive season and Stefano Domenicali was delighted to collect the
prize in his first year as team director.
Stefano Domenicali said:
“I
am honoured to be here, at the end of my first year in charge of the
team, to collect the Constructors’ Trophy that goes to the World
Championship-winning team. This is the 16th time in Scuderia Ferrari’s
history and the eighth in the last ten years that we have won this
award and it comes courtesy of all the hard work, passion and
determination put in by everyone at Maranello.
“My thoughts
and thanks go to each and every one of them, for what they were able to
achieve, to our drivers and also to Ferrari President, Luca di
Montezemolo, who along with Jean Todt, chose me to fill this role. He
has always given his support, especially during the most difficult
moments.”
Those screenshots are all of what was shown about Kimi. It seems Kimi wasn’t present at the ceremony this evening, or that hardly any pictures were taken of him, oh well! But you can download the 8 minute long video in the forum and talk about it! I personally think the 2008 Gala review isn’t that great, but it’s an improvement from last year, probably because there was more action perhaps.
[Update 13th Dec] Kimi was there after all! Apparently he just arrived late, just in time for a photograph with his trophy. And there was a Where’s Wally kind of search going on, we couldn’t find him until someone spotted Toni Vilander (Kimi’s close friend who won the GT Championship this year) smiling/laughing with ‘someone’ hidden, look at the top right corner of the group photo. I just find that hilarious. Kimi!!!!! You’re messing with our heads! Late, as usual! Hiding right at the back. Gosh I love that man. See more Kimi pictures here.
Regarding the 2008 review clip – Too much hot babe rubbish going on though, as usual, so no surprise there. The start of the video was just
confusing. The Senna quotes, him speaking over images of his career and Lewis’s, what’s that got to do with
Lewis? Okay, Lewis always brags on about Senna being his idol.
Whatever. It was nice to hear Senna though, the clips of him were
lovely. Some bits of the review were good, only the first half after
the intro was good (they copied the techno music from me!?) The babe/glamour stuff is getting so old and rubbish
now, what a load of tosh!
The only thing I did like was the build up of news flashes and media
buzz about the finale at Brazil and also the Spa recap, as it showed probably the best
racing action of the season (and not just because it was Kimi, it
literally was the best racing of the year in my opinion) The Singapore sequence
was good too. But the rest wasn’t much (half of the
Brazil race stuff was straight from their race highlight clip on the F1 website), and I
hated especially the part of the finale with Lewis’s Pussycat doll screaming her
head off again. Puh-lease. At least they made up for it with the part where Hamilton won, and the
after scenes were good, with Massa on the podium. The Pyscho theme over Massa’s family celebrating was funny! I think they did a good job, nonetheless. Nevermind what I think, what do you guys think?
FUCK ISRAEL 
Hiya everybody, I was really disappointed…. not even one picture of Kimi from the Gala but maybe it’s better that Kimi was not there… And the video suck, as you said there was too much "irrelevant" rubbish…
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FIA regulations obligate all top 3 drivers in the WDC standings to be present at the Gala. So Kimi was there. Knowing Kimi though, he probably spent the night hiding from reporters lol
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Hi just found this link on the Official Forum : on this site (just click on guest login) is a pic of Kimi http://www.wri2.net/
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Oh yeah.. I just check it and haha kimi finally cut his hair… ^^ He is cute with his long curly hair but I prefer his hair short like usual.. ^^
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Hiya! Dare I say I liked the intro video?As you said, yes, too many "babes" and celebrities that are completely irrelevant……what I hated though was the mixed clips of Senna and Lulu; I think it´s unfair to make those kind of comparisons because as we all know, Lulu is not Ayrton, he´ll never be, and I find these comparisons a bit disrespectful, because Lulu is nowhere near being as great as Senna, he wasn´t just another driver, he was/is a legend. I never saw him racing, I was too young and wasn´t into F1 at the time, but from what I´ve seen, heard and what people have told me, Senna was unique….and to even dare compare Lulu to him is just wrong.The vid was action packed IMO, exciting…..watching Spa sent shivers down my spine, God, that was the best race of the year(despite the outcome, yes); the Singapore part was awesome as well, and the build up to Brazil too…..can I say I cried a bit watching Felipe and Smedley crying again? That day was so sad, watching two grown men crying— heartbreaking!So all in all, I think the vid was fair, I don´t think it was completely focused on Lulu, and they showed plenty of the action during the season, I was surprised they showed Lulu crashing into Kimi in Canada! lolThanks for sharing it Evenstar!:p
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I agree Sol! I think they did a pretty good job, can’t please everyone anyway! :)Kimi was there *sigh* so funny! all of us getting excited, then disappointed to not see him, only to find him hiding! LOL!!!!!!!!!! He gave his hair only a small trim, he’s still keeping it long which is good hahaha!
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so happy to see Kimi without a hat!!! but only one pic is too just!!! plus one where he is hided!! so funny, yeah sure he wanted that!! i easily can imagine what he thought last night!! "rrrrrrrr, stupid stuffs" !!! loved Kimi, hey, do what you want!!!but i looooove his hair like that, he cut just a little, that’s clean!! that lets me drooling!lol! i want to put my hand in his hair!!!
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To be honest – I thought the FIA review sucked big time. Not only because of the Senna-Hamilton bit which was downright ridicoulous and disrespectful. But the babes again? And the incredibly fast clipping trying too much to make it look cool. The clips were way too fast to get any sense of what was going on and it became really annoying.The only thing I liked was the Spa bit and the 35 mm effects were a very nice touch. Generally a good choice of music too.Hahaha! Thats an awesome pic of Kimi hiding in the back there! Man, I feel like I almost know him and I would expect him to do something like that. Like you Evenstar – I must admit, I really love that man 😀
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I agree with Soren, the FIA review really sucked, it gave me such a headache and sore eyes I had to avoid watching it for at least few hours before I "unwillingly" go back to check some details that I missed from previous viewing. The way they made the video was nicer compared to 2007’s from artistic point of view but the contents was as bias as ITV. I guess it’s probably produced by Hamster fan club LOL.Also I would expect to see more of the triumphant moments (for example Kimi’s perfect win in Barcelona, Vettel and Alonso’s wins – they’re almost unrecongnizable in the video) rather than fill with diasters and crashes to make it look more exciting.
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I just watched 2007’s gala and it pissed me off. The intro was awful, just pieces of ice and a stupid woman singing and ‘playing’ the violin. WTF has that got to do with the racing or the champion? They HARDLY showed anything about Kimi, anything, apart from the ending where he became champion. Even that sequence was shit and so rushed off. I’m so angry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Saima, I agree with you. This was the first time I watched the 2007 review and I was so surprised to see how bad it was, this make the 2008 review almost acceptable. But I like the Icecar they made for the Iceman at the Gala stage. 🙂
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Yep, I agree with you girls….I always thought the 2007 clip was rubbish and not fair to Kimi and his amazing achievements during that year, during his career…..and what could we expect this year if a British driver just won WDC? I´ll say it again, the comparisons between Senna and Lulu were WRONG, unfair, uncalled for, unnecessary, and they failed to show Seb V.´s amazing Monza win, Heikki´s, and Fernando´s.I liked the ice car last year too YiNing! ;pWe all know and acknowledge Kimi´s achievements, we can´t expect everyone else to do the same, otherwise, the motorsport world would be a happy "Kimiland"!Hey, anyone watched the Race of Champions yesterday? It was fun, specially the bikes show, and the race between DC and Loeb….man, he can drive anything as long as it has four wheels! And Vettel is growing his hair out like Kimi was!!! He had a hat on all the time and you could see the hair underneath it, haha, I love Seb!;p
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The Ice Car was a nice touch, because it was the only effort they made for Kimi. And to be honest, I’d rather they focused more on his actual talent and driving rather than the name he’s associated with, it made it look childish. Sorry if that’s harsh! I understand that they aren’t a Kimi fanclub like we are here, obviously, like one of you mentioned the video/production could have been made by Hamilton’s fanclub lol it was so biased. But it’s not about how they show of who, it’s what they show. To them, it’s a popularity contest instead.I didn’t see the Race of Champions, argh! I’ve been toooooo busy. The past 3 days have been constant studying and then my breaks were here rather than infront of the tv lol Not surprised Loeb beat the rest :PAnyway, I don’t want to whinge! lol
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