Brent Koppenhaver

Going into this past weekend’s Brazilian GP, Kimi Raikkonen was a long shot at best to capture the 2007 Driver’s Championship. With 100 points, he trailed both Fernando Alonso with 103 points and rookie Lewis Hamilton with 107. The two McLaren drivers had dominated much of the season in spite of a fierce rivalry between them, and their team would have easily taken the Manufacturer’s Championship over Ferrari had they not lost all of their manufacturer’s points (and been fined $100m) due to the Nigel Stepney-Mike Coughlan controversy.

Raikkonen started the race in third position, but was able to move into second behind teammate Felipe Massa at the first turn. Hamilton was pushed back to fourth behind Alonso and a mistake entering Turn 4 saw him fall to eighth. A few laps later he had a major transmission problem that dropped him back to 18th as he fought to get the car moving again, putting a severe strain on his title hopes. Back at the front, Massa maintained the lead in his home race until the second set of pit stops, when Raikkonen was able to go several laps longer and crank out the fast laps on low fuel. Once both cars had finished pitting the Finnish driver was in the lead.

Raikkonen never looked back and took the full ten points for the win. Alonso was unable to match the speed of the Ferraris and finished in third for six points, while Hamilton fought back to seventh for two points. The final standings were Raikkonen (110), Hamilton (109), Alonso (109). The points could hardly have been closer after 17 rounds and it was a thrilling conclusion to a season with more than a few great races.

Raikkonen, often known as “the Iceman,” entered Formula 1 in 2001 with the Sauber team. The following season he moved to powerhouse McLaren, where he proved to be extremely fast and cool under pressure. He finished second in the points to Michael Schumacher in 2003, and again to Fernando Alonso in 2005. For 2007 he moved to Ferrari to replace the retiring Schumacher and was able to take six wins over the course of the season, the most of any driver. His stunning victory in the Driver’s Championship this year was both well deserved and long overdue.

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McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton managed to survive the Japanese Grand Prix at the redesigned Fuji Speedway (of Pole Position fame) on Sunday despite nearly constant rain, low visibility, and several safety car periods. With the win Hamilton increased his lead in the Driver’s Championship to 12 points over teammate/rival Fernando Alonso, who crashed out of the race and was unable to score any points for the first time this season. Kimi Raikkonen kept his slim championship hopes alive by crossing the line third, while Renault’s Heiki Kovalainen scored a strong second place finish.

The safety car was used for the first 19 laps to gauge the severity of the weather conditions, but for the rest of the race the cars were allowed to continue at full speed despite the poor visibility. The tremendous amount of spray from the cars along the front straight resulted in a steady hanging mist, with cars suddenly appearing out of the fog to slow for the first corner. The onboard cameras gave a good picture of just how bad it was out there. Thankfully there were only a handful of incidents. Probably the most unfortunate accident occurred when Sebastian Vettel, who was in third place at the time, rear-ended the second-place car of Mark Webber behind the safety car, ending both of their races. Despite the difficult circumstances, Hamilton drove a truly superb race and now has what could be the first rookie F1 title within his reach. The season continues next weekend with the Chinese GP, and ends with the Brazilian GP on October 21st.

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