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| Race Report - USA; Round 7 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 18 2007, 01:36 PM (192 Views) | |
| Paul_Murtagh | Jun 18 2007, 01:36 PM Post #1 |
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Chief Engineer
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It was obvious from the beginning of the weekend that there would be a McLaren victory. The only thing we didn't know was what driver would get what strategy, almost determining which of the two would win. In the end, both driver were similar and it was Lewis Hamilton who came out on top of the McLaren duel, taking his second win in succession and extending his championship lead over team-mate Fernando Alonso to ten points. The young Brit continues to exceed expectations and his stock keeps reaching new levels. In qualifying it had looked close, with Hamilton and Alonso the only cars within a realistic chance of taking pole. After a titanic battle between the two in all 3 session of qualifying it was Hamilton who took the pole, his second in F1 and second in succession. Behind them were the Ferrari's on the second row, but the Scarlet cars never looked like splitting the Silver cars. Heidfeld lined up fifth, and felt he could have taken third had it not been for a mistake on his last run. Kovalainen continued his recent upsurge in form in sixth and debutant Sebastian Vettel took seventh. At the start both McLarens led away followed by Massa's Ferrari, Heidfeld and Kovalainen, who had managed to get above Kimi into fifth. Behind them Vettel left his braking too late at the first corner and ran onto the grass, dropping him down to 11th. Barrichello, Coulthard and Schumacher managed to tangle on the entrance to the first chicane, with Schumacher retiring on the spot and Coulthard and Barrichello managing to limp round to the pits before calling it a day. Then on lap 13 Sato, who was under investigation for overtaking under yellow flags, ran wide at Turn 4, spinning out of the race. After being the hero in Canada last week his erratic side showed again. Despite a few good battles down the field, the main interest was at the front, and Hamilton was the first to pit to lap 21 and didn't stop for long. Alonso had now taken the lead but was in the next lap, answering the fuel question. Both drivers had been fuelled very similarly, showing that there was nothing between on raw pace. He emerged behind Hamilton, with Massa having taken the lead before pitting himself. This left Hamilton back in the lead with Alonso second, but it looked like Alonso was the happier of the two on this set of tyres. At the halfway point they began cutting their way through the traffic, with both drivers as decisive as each other. But then Hamilton was held up by Liuzzi as the Italian entered the pits, giving Alonso a run on the Englishman. They went side-by-side down the pit straight with only inches between them - similar to Senna and Mansell at Spain in 1991. Hamilton held the inside line and kept the position, The next time round Alonso moved dangerously close to the pit wall - whether he had lost radio contact or was unhappy with Hamilton's tactics is unknown. The second stops changed nothing between the two men although for a moment Massa inherited the lead for Ferrari. He pitted soon afterwards and then rejoined third, and had to spend the rest of his race holding off Kimi Raikkonen. But Hamilton was clear and went on to take his second career win, ahead of Alonso and Massa. Kimi was fourth, Kovalainen fifth, Trulli sixth, Webber seventh and Vettel took a point on his debut. Vettel's team-mate Heidfeld had a less successful day, spinning while in fourth before retiring with mechanical problems. But it was Lewis Hamilton who took the plaudits. His second win further increases his lead in the driver's championship, with only team-mate Alonso looking capable of challenging his lead. The championship is nicely poised as it returns to Europe and F1's traditional classic circuits |
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12:24 AM Jul 11