Lewis Hamilton Wins 2007 Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton won a rain-soaked Japanese Grand Prix from the pole today. At the start the weather was so bad that the race began behind the safety car and it slowly improved from there.

Fernando Alonso helped his teammates championship chances when he crashed out on the slick surface.

Complete GP of Japan results.

Posted: Sunday, September 30th, 2007

Kimi Raikkonen Wins 2007 Belgian GP

Pole-sitter Kimi Raikkonen led his teammate Felipe Massa to a dominant Ferrari 1-2 victory in the Belgian Grand Prix today. They were followed home by McLaren teammates Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.

The newly configured Spa Francorchamps circuit, though less exciting than before, was still a welcome return but most of the talk was over the Draconian penalties handed down to McLaren during the week.

Complete GP of Belgium results.

Posted: Sunday, September 16th, 2007

McLaren Fined $100m And Stripped Of Points

In a reversal of their July decision, the World Motor Sport Council today fined McLaren $100 million and stripped them of any Formula 1 Constructors’ points which they have or might still score this year.

In a nutshell, the so-called Stepneygate spying saga began when Nigel Stepney (then employed by Ferrari) is alleged to have stolen some Ferrari technical data and sent it to Mike Coughlan (then employed by McLaren) because both of them wanted to get a job with Honda. Both of them have, of course, strongly denied this.

In July the World Motor Sport Council found that while McLaren may have had the data, there was insufficient evidence that they had misused it.

Something obviously must have changed since then but, in a bizarre move, they have decided to announce McLaren’s punishment today while the “new evidence” that it was based on will not be made public until tomorrow.

This decision will not affect the Drivers’ Championship as FIA President Max Mosley offered the McLaren drivers immunity if they came forward voluntarily. As Mosley has reportedly long been at odds with McLaren boss Ron Dennis this may be his way of hitting out at Dennis while only partially ruining the season for the fans.

Posted: Thursday, September 13th, 2007

Fernando Alonso Wins 2007 Italian GP

Fernando Alonso won today’s Italian Grand Prix from the pole and took two more points out of his teammate’s lead in the World Championship.

If Ferrari’s Felipe Massa hadn’t retired after 10 laps it is quite possible that all of the front runners could have finished in their starting order, such was the parity and reliability amongst the top teams.

One highlight of the race was Lewis Hamilton outbreaking and passing Kimi Raikkonen going into the first chicane. It looked as though Raikkonen was distracted and looking down at the time but he later explained that his neck was hurting after his heavy crash in yesterday’s practice session and he was unable to hold his head up under breaking.

Complete GP of Italy results.

Posted: Sunday, September 9th, 2007