Lewis Hamilton Wins 2007 United States GP

Lewis Hamilton scored his second Formula One race victory at today’s United States Grand Prix. Just like last week’s win in Canada, he started from the pole on a track that was new to him, but this result was not so easy for him. His McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso tried to challenge his lead several times but came up short each time.

The battle for third place was just as fiercely contended between Ferrari teammates Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

Rumours surrounding Heikki Kovalainen’s place on the Renault team have suggested that he could be replaced by test-driver Nelson Piquet Jr. before the French GP but a strong weekend’s performance and a points finish for the second race in a row may have earned him a reprieve.

Nineteen year old Sebastian Vettel–substituting for Robert Kubica who received a concussion in a high-speed accident last week in Canada–scored a point for his eighth place finish and became the youngest driver, and only teenager, to ever score a World Championship point.

Hamilton now has a 10 point lead in the World Championship and a couple of weeks to relax as the circus packs up its tent and heads back to Europe.

Complete GP of United States results.

Posted: Sunday, June 17th, 2007

Lewis Hamilton Wins 2007 Canadian GP

incredible -adjective
1. impossible to believe; so extraordinary as to seem impossible.
2. not credible; unbelievable; difficult to believe; extraordinary.

By any definition today’s Canadian Grand Prix may well have been one of the most incredible Formula 1 races to ever take place on a dry track.

Lewis Hamilton will undoubtably remember it as the day he scored his first Grand Prix win. For the record, he also started from his first pole position and led every lap. To date he has finished every event this season on the podium with one win, four second-place finishes and a third. He is also leading the World Drivers’ Championship.

Behind Hamilton all sorts of craziness was taking place…

Two-time defending World Champion Fernando Alonso ran off of the track at least four times, most of them in the first turn. He was passed in a straight line by Takuma Sato in a Super Aguri Honda and he received a 10 second stop-and-go penalty for entering the pits while they were closed. This last event may not have been entirely his fault as his team should have told him not to pit and he may have been so low on fuel that he didn’t have any choice. Alonso finally finished seventh, behind Sato.

Felipe Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella were both black-flagged (disqualified) for leaving pit lane and returning to the track while the exit was closed and the red light was clearly visible.

The safety car, seemingly used more often at Montreal than at any other track, set a new record today by coming out five times. It may have led almost as many laps as Hamilton who had to re-establish his lead each time after the field bunched up behind the silver AMG Mercedes.

Jarno Trulli somehow managed to hit the barrier in his Toyota during a caution period.

On a serious note, one of the safety car periods was for a vicious accident when Robert Kubica’s BMW hit the back of Trulli’s Toyota, veered off of the track, left the ground and smashed into a guardrail just before the hairpin. With pieces of carbon-fiber bodywork showering in all directions, what was left of the car careened back across the track and slammed into the barrier on the other side.

Amazingly, with almost nothing left of the car but the central “tub”, it appeared that Kubicka was conscious and in a stable condition. Early reports mentioned a broken leg but it seems that he escaped any injury. Kubicka was very lucky as this was the sort of accident that would have been fatal not too many years ago.

Although he is sure to score many more, Lewis Hamilton’s maiden victory will likely be remembered for a very long time!

Complete GP of Canada results.

Posted: Sunday, June 10th, 2007