Sep 7, 2008

The tragedy at Spa-Francorchamps

Finally, any F1 fan who missed the Belgian GP today, lost out bigtime! It was one of the greatest contests seen on track in recent years - with the top 3 being within 10 seconds of each other all the way! There were brilliant overtaking moves pulled off by Kimi and later by Hamilton, the little bit of pit-strategy drama, and a good amount of wheel-to-wheel racing. All this against the very picturesque Spa-Fracorschamps backdrop!

And the best part was surely the last 5 laps - Kimi and Lewis, less than 2 seconds apart, driving the wheels off their cars in increasingly wet conditions that meant no grip and little car control. They traded places, went off-track, slipped and slid, but didn't back down. One - or both - crashing out was inevitable. There's no way they could have carried on - in conditions like that, under pressure like that, at those speeds - for more than 4 laps.

Given that scenario, I'm glad Kimi crashed and Lewis won. Though I do feel terrible for Kimi - he deserved at least 8 points for his performance, and did NOT deserve to fall another 8 behind Massa. Had Alonso been involved, I'm sure he'd have taken 2nd behind Lewis/Kimi. But between these two, there was only one way the matter would be settled. And this makes Kimi a winner in my eyes - even though he was classified 18th with 0 points today!

Unfortunately, we may be looking back at this race as the tipping point, if Kimi decides to hang up his helmet a few months from now. That'd be a much bigger loss for any F1 fan, than having missed watching this race.

Added later: Now I read that Hamilton has been penalized and demoted to 3rd. Massa gets 10 points. Thats just so bloody unfair. 

For one, Kimi was leading when he made a mistake and crashed out. Lewis can't be blamed for that. And i don't think Lewis did 'wrong' even earlier. I'm sure McLaren will appeal, and hope they win.

After these two battled like true heroes and showed they belonged in a different class, that #$%$# Massa gets recorded as the winner. Massa just didn't do enough to deserve 1st. I'm disgusted.

1 comment:

  1. When that jackshit Heikki recorded a "win" in Hungary, his pitcrew and the whole world went "well-deserved"..."welcome to the world of winning". Bollocks!

    The same luck that deserted Massa in Hungary ensured that he at least got on parity in terms of points. This is where he should've been in the first place if his engine had held. Granted, that is a Ferrari screw-up rather than some conspiracy, but you take them as they come.

    Hamilton has always been plagued with overconfidence ever since he started in F1. He's a breathtaking driver with such natural talent that its hard not to see him going places. However, his penchant for screwing up at critical parts of the race, like the overtaking maneouvre with Kimi (why couldnt he take a sharp right back on track and overtake him fair and square again? There were 2 laps to go and I have no doubt he would've done it), his and the team's decision to stay out one more lap in China last year, etc, have always been turning points. I daresay, and I hope, there will be more such screwups from him this season. The championship is wide open and its his determination that brings an also-ran like Massa to the forefront.

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