2007 Chinese Grand Prix
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Race details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Race 16 of 17 in the 2007 Formula One season. | ||
 The Shanghai International Circuit |
||
| Date | October 7, 2007 | |
| Official name | IV Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix | |
| Location | Shanghai International Circuit Shanghai, People's Republic of China |
|
| Course | Permanent Racing Facility 3.387 mi / 5.451 km |
|
| Distance | 56 laps, 189.559 mi / 305.066 km | |
| Weather | Light Rain at the start before drying out. Light rain in the middle of the race before drying. | |
| Pole | ||
| Driver |  Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren-Mercedes |
| Time | 1:35.908 | |
| Fastest lap | ||
| Driver |  Felipe Massa |
Ferrari |
| Time | 1:37.454 on lap 56 | |
| Podium | ||
| First |  Kimi Räikkönen |
Ferrari |
| Second |  Fernando Alonso |
McLaren-Mercedes |
| Third | Felipe Massa |
Ferrari |
The 2007 Chinese Grand Prix is the sixteenth race of the 2007 Formula One season. It was held on 5–7 October at Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China. The race was won by Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen with Fernando Alonso finishing second and Felipe Massa finishing third. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton retired from the race after going off at a very wet pit entrance on worn tyres left him stuck in the gravel.
Contents |
[edit] Pre-race
Going into the race, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren led the Drivers' Championship by 12 points from his team-mate Fernando Alonso, after Alonso crashed in Fuji Speedway. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen was the other driver who mathematically had a chance of winning the championship, trailing Hamilton by 17 points. To clinch the championship, Hamilton needed to finish within one point of his team-mate Alonso. Whatever the result, Hamilton would still be leading the championship after the race.
The weather conditions at the track were affected by Typhoon Krosa which hit the east coast of China.[1]
[edit] Classification
[edit] Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel was facing a drop of ten places on the grid for his collision against Mark Webber in the preceding race (the Japanese Grand Prix), but this punishment was reduced to a reprimand.[2] However, he was then dropped five places on the grid for impeding Heikki Kovalainen during qualifying.[3]
Despite the fact that Kimi Räikkönen had been the fastest driver in all three previous practices and in the first two stages of the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton managed to beat this time on the third qualifying stage and therefore earning the pole position.
| Pos | Name | Team/Engine | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:35.798 | 1:35.898 | 1:35.908 |
| 2 | Kimi Räikkönen |
Ferrari | 1:35.692 | 1:35.381 | 1:36.044 |
| 3 | Felipe Massa |
Ferrari | 1:35.792 | 1:35.796 | 1:36.221 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso |
McLaren-Mercedes | 1:35.809 | 1:35.845 | 1:36.576 |
| 5 | David Coulthard |
Red Bull-Renault | 1:36.930 | 1:36.252 | 1:37.619 |
| 6 |  Ralf Schumacher |
Toyota | 1:37.135 | 1:36.709 | 1:38.013 |
| 7 |  Mark Webber |
Red Bull-Renault | 1:37.199 | 1:36.602 | 1:38.153 |
| 8 | Nick Heidfeld |
BMW Sauber | 1:36.737 | 1:36.217 | 1:38.455 |
| 9 |  Robert Kubica |
BMW Sauber | 1:36.309 | 1:36.116 | 1:38.472 |
| 10 | Jenson Button |
Honda | 1:37.092 | 1:36.771 | 1:39.285 |
| 11 |  Vitantonio Liuzzi |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:37.047 | 1:36.862 | |
| 12 | Jarno Trulli |
Toyota | 1:37.209 | 1:36.959 | |
| 13 | Heikki Kovalainen |
Renault | 1:37.225 | 1:36.991 | |
| 14 | Anthony Davidson |
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:37.203 | 1:37.247 | |
| 15 | Nico Rosberg |
Williams-Toyota | 1:37.144 | 1:37.483 | |
| 16 | Rubens Barrichello |
Honda | 1:37.251 | ||
| 17† | Sebastian Vettel |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:37.006 | 1:36.891 | |
| 18 | Giancarlo Fisichella |
Renault | 1:37.290 | ||
| 19 |  Alexander Wurz |
Williams-Toyota | 1:37.456 | ||
| 20 |  Takuma Sato |
Super Aguri-Honda | 1:38.218 | ||
| 21 | Adrian Sutil |
Spyker-Ferrari | 1:38.668 | ||
| 22 | Sakon Yamamoto |
Spyker-Ferrari | 1:39.336 |
† Relegated 5 places for impeding another driver[3]
[edit] Race
From the Sunday morning, conditions at Shanghai were wet, forcing all drivers to use "heavy rain" tyres. At the start Lewis Hamilton managed to keep his leading position. Vitantonio Liuzzi was the most successful starter, winning three positions at the first lap and overtaking Mark Webber and then Nick Heidfeld in the following three laps. Ralf Schumacher, after he has rolled into spin at the first corner, was dropped down to the last position. Toyota driver regained most of his lost positions, until lap 22 he overtook eight drivers. But the change of tyres to pseudo-slick cost the German the race: he twice spun off the course and retired at lap 26.
As rain went harder, leading Hamilton begun to suffer from tyre wearing. Kimi Räikkönen, after completing several fastest laps, chased Lewis and overtook him. Hamilton moved to pit stop, but the damaged tyre made him miss the pit entry and stuck in the gravel near pit lane wall. But, the humour was, that Hamilton still used his helmet when riding the scooter back to the McLaren garage.
After Kimi's pit stop, Robert Kubica became temporary leader, but retired while leading because of gearbox hydraulics failure. In the struggle for 3rd position, which soon became 2nd, Alonso passed by Massa. The Spaniard initially left his opponent behind with a large gap, but on the last laps Massa managed to beat his partner's fastest lap and decreased his gap to Alonso until 3 sec.
Race was won by Räikkönen, with Alonso as runner-up and Massa third. Sebastian Vettel, who has chosen one stop tactics, came fourth, the best result of his career at the moment.
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | Kimi Räikkönen |
Ferrari | 56 | 1:37:58.395 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 1 | Fernando Alonso |
McLaren-Mercedes | 56 | +9.806 | 4 | 8 |
| 3 | 5 | Felipe Massa |
Ferrari | 56 | +12.891 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 19 | Sebastian Vettel |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 56 | +53.509 | 17 | 5 |
| 5 | 7 | Jenson Button |
Honda | 56 | +1:08.666 | 10 | 4 |
| 6 | 18 | Vitantonio Liuzzi |
Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 56 | +1:13.673 | 11 | 3 |
| 7 | 9 | Nick Heidfeld |
BMW Sauber | 56 | +1:14.224 | 8 | 2 |
| 8 | 14 | David Coulthard |
Red Bull-Renault | 56 | +1:20.750 | 5 | 1 |
| 9 | 4 | Heikki Kovalainen |
Renault | 56 | +1:21.186 | 13 | |
| 10 | 15 | Mark Webber |
Red Bull-Renault | 56 | +1:24.685 | 7 | |
| 11 | 3 | Giancarlo Fisichella |
Renault | 56 | +1:26.683 | 18 | |
| 12 | 17 | Alexander Wurz |
Williams-Toyota | 55 | +1 Lap | 19 | |
| 13 | 12 | Jarno Trulli |
Toyota | 55 | +1 Lap | 12 | |
| 14 | 22 | Takuma Sato |
Super Aguri-Honda | 55 | +1 Lap | 20 | |
| 15 | 8 | Rubens Barrichello |
Honda | 55 | +1 Lap | 16 | |
| 16 | 16 | Nico Rosberg |
Williams-Toyota | 54 | +2 Laps | 15 | |
| 17 | 21 | Sakon Yamamoto |
Spyker-Ferrari | 53 | +3 Laps | 22 | |
| Ret | 10 | Robert Kubica |
BMW Sauber | 33 | Hydraulics | 9 | |
| Ret | 2 | Lewis Hamilton |
McLaren-Mercedes | 30 | Spun off | 1 | |
| Ret | 11 | Ralf Schumacher |
Toyota | 25 | Spun off | 6 | |
| Ret | 20 | Adrian Sutil |
Spyker-Ferrari | 24 | Accident | 21 | |
| Ret | 23 | Anthony Davidson |
Super Aguri-Honda | 11 | Brakes | 14 |
[edit] Notes
- Lap Leaders: Lewis Hamilton 24 (1–15 & 20–28), Kimi Räikkönen 31 (16–19,29–32 & 34–56) and Robert Kubica 1 (33).
- Last race: Alexander Wurz
- Ferrari achieved its 200th Formula One win, and its 600th Formula One podium.
- First points of the season for Toro Rosso.
- Hamilton retired for the first time in his career.
- This race was the final Grand Prix for Alexander Wurz, who announced his immediate retirement the day after the race.[4]
[edit] References
- ^ "Powerful storm hits Chinese coast", bbc.co.uk, 2007-10-07. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
- ^ "Vettel's punishment reduced over Webber clash", bbc.co.uk, 2007-10-05. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
- ^ a b "Vettel handed five-place grid penalty", itv-f1, 2007-10-06. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.
- ^ "Wurz confirms immediate retirement from F1", autosport.com, 2007-10-08. Retrieved on 2007-10-08.
[edit] External links
| Previous race: 2007 Japanese Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 2007 season |
Next race: 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 2006 Chinese Grand Prix |
Chinese Grand Prix | Next race: 2008 Chinese Grand Prix |
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