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Felipe Massa
won his home Grand Prix and Scuderia Ferrari has won the
2008 Formula 1 Constructors' World Championship. And the
other big winner on the day was the sport of motor
racing, as this final round of the season was thrilling
from start to finish, thanks to a sudden shower at the
start and another one in the closing laps. In fact for a
few moments on the very last lap, Felipe Massa looked to
have secured the Drivers' crown as Sebastian Vettel and
Timo Glock relegated Lewis Hamilton to sixth. However,
in the very last metres, the Englishman got past the
Toyota to retake fifth place, enough to give the
McLaren-Mercedes man the Drivers' crown, by one single
point. For the record, Felipe won six races this year to
Lewis' five. Kimi Raikkonen came home in third place.
The atmosphere on the grid at Interlagos was electric
with seemingly every single spectator chanting "Felipe,
Felipe!" as the Brazilian sat on pole position, with the
fans on the startline nearer to the track than at any
other venue. Jarno Trulli's Toyota lined up alongside,
while Kimi was behind his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
team-mate. In fourth spot, with the comfort of a seven
point lead was Lewis Hamilton in his McLaren Mercedes.
The threat of rain had gradually reduced during the day,
even if it had not disappeared completely. Incredibly,
with just a couple of minutes to go to the start of the
formation lap, a five minute deluge hit the track and
the organisers aborted the start, delaying it by ten
minutes. The rain had stopped but the track was wet
enough for the cars to switch to intermediate rain
tyres.
As the two Ferrari got away in grid position order with
Trulli between them, an accident further down the field
brought out the safety car immediately on lap 1. The
question now was would drivers profit from this to dive
into pit lane to fit dry tyres, or would they stay out.
One of the cars involved in the tangle was the Red Bull
Renault of David Coulthard who therefore had a very
rapid end to his long F1 career. Piquet was also out in
the Renault. The order behind the SC was Massa, Trulli,
Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel, (up from seventh,) Alonso
fighting off Kovalainen, with Bourdais in the last of
the points positions.
On lap 7, Kimi made his first but unsuccessful attempt
to get past Trulli, as Rosberg was the first to pit for
dry tyres. Button and Bourdais followed, then Glock and
Sutil. Vettel was the first of the front runners to
switch tyres and he was followed in by Alonso.
Massa came in next time round, as did Kovalainen and
Heidfeld, the McLaren man having a slow stop. The order
was now Trulli, Raikkonen, Hamilton, but this trio all
came in next, with Kimi getting ahead of the Toyota at
the stop. The order was now Massa, Vettel, Alonso, as
Trulli had a big sideways moment coming down the hill.
Fourth was Kimi followed by Fisichella, yet to stop,
Hamilton, Glock, Bourdais, Trulli with Heidfeld
completing the top ten. Hamilton passed Fisichella to
move up to fifth on lap 18. Massa led Vettel by almost a
second, while Kimi fourth was ten seconds behind his
team-mate. Vettel then put in a fastest lap closing
slightly on Felipe on lap 22. Next it was Massa do to a
fastest lap. Vettel was running lighter than the leader
and pitted on lap 26,promoting Alonso, Raikkonen and
Hamilton to second, third and fourth, with Alonso four
seconds behind the Brazilian.
Glock came in from fifth on lap 36, pretty much the
halfway point of the 71 lap race. Felipe refulled on lap
37, rejoining in fourth place, with everyone ahead of
him still to pit, as Alonso now led for Renault, but
only for one lap as the Spaniard came in next time
round. He was followed in by Hamilton, who rejoined
sixth. Kimi pitted from the lead next time round, which
meant the order was now, Massa, Vettel, Alonso,
Raikkonen, Hamilton, Webber (who had only stopped once)
Kovalainen, Glock, Trulli and Heidfeld rounding off the
top ten. With 20 laps to go, Vettel came in from second
to make his final stop, rejoining fifth, so that Massa
now led Alonso by almost ten seconds, with Kimi a
further 7.4 behind in third. Hamilton was 6 down on the
Finn, with Vettel 2.9 behind the McLaren in fifth spot.
With eleven laps to go, Kimi had closed to within 2.3 of
second placed Alonso. On lap 61, the gap came down to
1.7. It was 1.2 on lap 62.
And at this point, the forecast predicted more rain in
the final laps and indeed with six laps to go the rain
began. Kimi came in for intermediates with 5 laps to go,
followed by Hamilton and Vettel. Then Massa came in,
stationary for just 5.5 seconds as he too took on
intermediate rain tyres. The order was now Massa,
Alonso, Raikkonen, Glock Hamilton, with Vettel only 1.2
behind the Englishman. Would the McLaren driver be
passed by the Toro Rosso, which would hand Felipe the
title if he won the race? There were only three laps to
go and Vettel had closed the gap to 0.8. Then the
unbelievable happened, as Glock passed Vettel with both
men getting past Hamilton as he ran wide. For a few
moments it seemed Felipe would achieve his dream. But
Glock was still on dry tyres and in difficulty, so that
first Vettel and then Hamilton went past him.
The podium saw an emotional Felipe flanked by second
placed Alonso and third placed Kimi. The other points
went to Vettel, Hamilton, Glock, Kovalainen and Trulli.
Thanks to this result, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has won
the Constructors' Championship for the sixteenth time,
the eighth in the last ten years. Felipe took his
eleventh win from 106 race starts, the second in his
home race. For Ferrari this is win number 209 from 776
Grands Prix entered and the tenth in this race. The
Ferrari drivers finished second and third in the
Drivers' Championship, the Brazilian just missing out on
the title by a single point.
Stefano Domenicali: "It was an incredible day and
we are happy with what we have achieved. Eight out of
ten: that was the target set us by President Montezemolo
at the start of the season and we achieved it, at the
end of a difficult, complicated and incident-packed
season. The entire team, both at the track and back home
always work with great intensity and it deserves to be
congratulated for this. Of course, there is
disappointment that we did not get to see Felipe realize
his dream, especially given how the race turned out, but
I think that nevertheless, days like this are important.
Felipe has grown so much, year after year, demonstrating
his talent and personality, answering his critics with
his driving and with his mind. He has had an amazing
season and would have deserved the title. That's sport,
it can sometimes be cruel. Last year we won the Drivers'
title by a point and this year we lost it by one. I wish
to congratulate Hamilton, the new world champion. In
conclusion, I wish to thank first and foremost,
President Montezemolo, who is always close at hand,
especially in the most difficult moments. Then I also
thank our technical and commercial partners and of
course, the FIAT Group, of which we are proud to be a
part."
Felipe Massa: "It was an exciting day. We did
everything to perfection and we almost managed to pull
it off. Then, as I crossed the line, Rob told me that
Hamilton had finished fifth and therefore he took the
title by one point. Sport is like this and one has to
accept that. Congratulations to Lewis: whoever gets the
most points deserves the title. I am very proud of the
whole team and how much support they have given me
during this fantastic season. Now we must be happy with
what have done, namely bringing home the Constructors'
title which I know is so important for the team. It was
a season of highs and lows and we have learned a lot,
from the good moments and from our mistakes. I can leave
Interlagos with my head held high because once again I
have won in front of my home crowd and because this is
an unforgettable day. Now I want to celebrate with my
family, my friends and my team. We deserve it!"
Kimi Raikkonen: "I am happy that the team has
managed to win the Constructors' title and I am sorry
for Felipe, who has lost the title by a single point.
That's racing and we have to live with it. I am
particularly happy for Stefano, in his first year as
team principal as I know how much pressure he has had to
deal with and I think that this result is a good reward
for that. My race was not particularly exciting. At the
start the track was wet, especially the first three
corners, where I was being very careful not to make a
mistake. Then, my first set of dry tyres gave me a lot
of understeer and I was struggling to match the pace of
the leaders. On the second set, things gradually
improved and I managed to close up on Alonso. Then, when
we went onto wets, I got very close but the team told me
to avoid taking any risks as Felipe had a chance of
winning the title and so I gave up on attacking him. A
not very positive season for me has come to an end, but
I will do all I can to make up for it next year."
Luca Baldisserri: "Last year we won both titles
at the last race and this year we lost one, with just a
few metres to go. We had a perfect race, without making
the slightest mistake in difficult conditions, with the
rain playing its part at the start and at the end. Once
again, we have won the Constructors' title which is in
itself a great achievement. It confirms that this team,
considering also all the changes it has undergone in the
last two years, is still the best. I wish to
congratulate Felipe, for yet another amazing race: he
has had a fantastic season, as a driver and as a
person."
F. Massa: 1st 1:34.11.435 - 71 laps chassis 269
K. Raikkonen: 3rd 1:34.27.670 + 16.235 71 laps chassis
271
Weather: air temperature 25/26 °C, track temperature 26
°C, overcast, rain at the start and at the end of the
race.
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