F1: Hamilton Survives to Win Chaotic Monaco GP

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FORMULA-ONE - F1: Hamilton Survives to Win Chaotic Monaco GP - SPEEDtv.com

Written by: Cassio Cortes
RACER Magazine
Racer Magazine - NASCAR, IndyCars, Champ Cars, NHRA Drag Racing, Formula 1
05/25/2008 - 09:29 AM
Monte Carlo, Monaco

On a day when nearly everyone – including himself – made at least one major driving mistake, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton managed the best from the changing weather conditions at the Principality to clinch his first Monaco Grand Prix win.

Hamilton survived an early-race encounter with the barriers (which forced him to an unscheduled pit stop to change a flat tire) to prevail over BMW’s Robert Kubica and the pole-sitting Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who gave up the lead on lap 15 after running wide at the St. Devote corner when the racetrack was still very wet.

Red Bull’s Mark Webber drove a solid race to post his team’s best result of the year in fourth, inheriting two spots in a heartbreaking incident with 17 laps to go: Force India’s Adrian Sutil, who hadn’t put a wheel wrong all day and benefited from timely safety car periods to move up to fourth, was wiped out at the tunnel exit by Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari when the Finn lost the rear of his car under braking.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel climbed 14 positions to grab his first points of the year in fifth. Honda’s Rubens Barrichello broke a scoreless streak dating back to 2006 in sixth, and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and McLaren’sHeikki Kovalainen took the remaining points at the Principality.

The race started under wet conditions, and Massa held on to his P1 spot at the start while Hamilton was able to jump Raikkonen for the second position. The entire field opted for intermediate tires in the beginning, but a mistake by Ferrari meant the switch from wets to inters was done too late in the Finn’s case, earning him a drive-through penalty.

Not all was good at McLaren’s camp, however: Heikki Kovalainen’s car had to start from the pits after stalling before the formation lap.

As expected, the first wet lap was incident-filled. Honda’s Jenson Button and BMW’s Nick Heidfeld tangled, while Nico Rosberg lost the front wing of his Williams after running into the back of Fernando Alonso’s Renault.

On lap five, Hamilton made an apparently race-crippling mistake by running wide and tagging the barriers exiting the Tabac turn. A right-rear tire puncture meant an early stop for the Brit.

Hamilton was benefited, however, by the first safety car period of the day, triggered when Red Bull’s David Coulthard and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Bourdais both hit the Armco in the run-up to the Casino Square.

SC period meant that when Kubica and Massa made their first stops – the Brazilian moving past the Pole thanks to stopping six laps later (Massa had been overtaken by Kubica after his lap 15 mistake) Hamilton became the de facto leader of the race, a position he wouldn’t relinquish until the checkered flag.

By the second round of stops around lap 50, Hamilton had opened up such a gap to Massa and Kubica that he was able to rejoin still on first despite pitting earlier. As conditions improved and drivers opted for slicks, Kubica benefited from stopping before Massa to regain the second position.

Further back, plenty of action was still ongoing, though. On lap 61, the recovering Rosberg suffered a major crash at the Swimming Pool chicane and brought out the second SC of the day.

The bunching of the field allowed the frontrunners hampered by early mistakes to attempt a comeback. Battling Sutil for fourth, Raikkonen lost his Ferrari and ran into the back of the German, who was initially able to continue but ended up being forced to retire. Sutil cried copiously in the pits after climbing out of his car. The Finn, for his part, made his second nosecone change of the day and endured to finish ninth.

Other significant retirements included the erratic Nelson Piquet running straight on with his Renault at St. Devote and Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella being sidelined by mechanical failure in the race in which he celebrated his 200th GP start.

No one was able to mount a serious challenge to Hamilton at the final restart, however, and the Briton brought his McLaren home as the race ended on the two-hour limit.

"This has got to be the highlight of my career and I amsure it will be a highlight for the rest of my life," admitted the Briton, who paid tribute to his hero Ayrton Senna, the winningest driver at the Principality. "I was thinking in the last few laps of how Ayrton won here; to win here is amazing.”

As for the Tabac crash, Hamilton took responsibility: “I couldn't see anything and so I stayed in second as rain came down because there was so much spray I couldn't see any more and through Tabac there was a river coming across. As I was catching Felipe I oversteered and steered into the barrier. I know I just touched it but I had a puncture, but I was able to tell team and they could react as quick as possible. They did a fantastic job."

Despite equaling his career-best finish, Kubica said he’s concerned that BMW is losing ground to McLaren and Ferrari.

"I think our team was the most consistent in the first three races, with less problems, and that is why I think we could extract more from the car," the Pole pondered. "But lately I think we struggled a bit more. You just need to look at the results in qualifying and I think the answer is clear – it is harder. In Australia, Malaysia and Bahrain with good driving I could be on the first or second row easy, and now I struggle to stay close to fourth. So things are changing, although it is still good enough to be fifth. I think in the last two races the situation looks more like last year.”

This Sunday’s results put Hamilton atop the points table with 38, three more than Raikkonen and four ahead of Massa. The 2008 F1 season resumes in two weeks time with the Canadian GP in Montreal.

FORMULA-ONE - f1 - SPEEDtv.com

[Anth]

I was gutted for Sutil when I was watching it. He didn't go wrong once then he was hit by Kimi. With any luck Sutil will come out of it even stronger.

Team-mate Fisichella suffered transmission problems and lost 2nd gear so he was struggling without the hassle of pulling away from the pits in 3rd gear. This means he will probably be penalised 5 places on the grid at the next race due to having to change his gear box (it has to last 4 races from this season).

Kovalainen had his stall then was stuck in all of the traffic that the Mclaren isn't meant to put up with - its supposed to be up at the front stretching its legs. It helped Hamilton though as McLaren tested a tyre change on Kovalainen before they brought him in. This put Hamilton even farther ahead.

Rosberg's crash was a good one - half of his car was all over the track with those behind him having to negotiate all of the shrapnel. Luckily he escaped unharmed.

The two people who will benefit most from Monaco though are Hamilton and Kubica. Canada (in 2 weeks) was Hamilton's first win last season and Kubica went airborne at over 200kph at the same race so he wants to survive it this year!