Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Fernando Alonso finished the Chinese
Grand Prix in Shanghai in second place, whilst his team mate Lewis
Hamilton retired on lap 31, when he went off into the gravel with fading
Bridgestone Potenza wet tyres on a drying track. Kimi Raikkonen took
victory so the championship will now be decided among those three at the
final race in Sao Paulo in two weeks time.
After 56 laps in changeable
conditions, 305.066 km and a total race time of 1h37m58.395, Fernando
came home 9.8 seconds behind Kimi. Fernando was on a two-stop strategy
and pitted on laps 18 (7.7 seconds) and 32 (8.9 seconds), whilst Lewis
made his pit stop on lap 15 (6.8 seconds).
Despite his first retirement
in 16 Grands Prix, Lewis maintained his lead in the Drivers'
Championship after 16 out of 17 races with 107 points followed by
Fernando in second with 103 and Kimi in third on 100, with a maximum of
10 points available in the remaining race.
Lewis Hamilton: DNF
"When I got out of the car I was obviously gutted for both myself and the
team. I haven't made a mistake all year but I am over it now. There
is still one race to go, so I can still do it. I made a strong start to
the race and my first stop went well. Prior to entering the pit lane for
my last stop I was constantly talking to the team. Although my tyres were
in poor condition we took a joint decision to get through the last rain
shower before changing to dry tyres."
"I was trying to be very careful and
as a result was not really fighting aggressively with Kimi. It would have
worked out perfectly, but I then made a mistake coming into the pitlane
and that was it. We made the right decision, and it was just unfortunate.
I will now focus on attacking in Brazil where I will do everything I can
to bounce back."
Fernando Alonso: 2nd
"Today was a very good result for me. I had a battle with Felipe at the
start, but unfortunately I was not able to finish the first lap in front
of him. As a result I lost a lot of time behind him in the first stint
because there was a loss of downforce when following him in the high
speed corners."
"It was difficult towards the end on the wet Bridgestone
tyres as they were practically slick, but we stayed out as long as
possible to get through the final shower, which was the right decision as
I was able to come out ahead of Felipe on my final stop. Although this
result is a boost to my chances in the Championship it is still not going
to be easy. However I will not be giving up until the chequered flag in
two weeks time."
Ron Dennis:
"The start of the race saw everybody being careful not to make any
mistakes. Lewis pulled out a healthy lead and stopped a little earlier
than both Fernando and the two Ferraris. All of these cars stayed on the
same set of tyres which was clearly the right decision. Like us, our
competition was hoping to get through the last period of rain before
changing to dry tyres."
"Lewis stopped first but a combination of tyre
condition, the wetness of the pitlane and a small mistake saw him run
wide into the gravel trap. Fernando's second stop took place on the
following lap and he drove an excellent race to put himself firmly back
in contention for the World Championship. As always we will now focus on
the next Grand Prix and with both Fernando and Lewis having a points lead
over Kimi it should be an interesting end to the season in Brazil."
Norbert Haug:
"It was a shame what happened to Lewis, but no blame at all to him. He
was performing very well but it wasn't to be. Fernando finished
second in a challenging race under difficult conditions and did a great
job to stay in the World Championship fight. The team worked so hard
throughout the season, and we will come out of this even stronger."
"We now set our sights on the final in Brazil where we will face a three driver
fight for the World Championship and are still in a good position to take
the title there. For all of us it makes much more sense to concentrate on
the final race ahead of us rather than the one today where we didn't
get the best possible result."
-credit: mclaren
