Raikkonen Wins On Hamilton Error

A beet red Kimi Raikkonen took his fifth win of the 2007 season for Ferrari at the Shanghai International Circuit after a costly pitlane error by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton shot into the wet pit lane carrying too much speed for a badly damaged rear tire to handle, cut the turn-in and parked the car in the gravel pit-side. The rookie had a 12 point lead over teammate Fernando Alonso; 17 over Raikkonen.

Raikkonen's win brings him within seven points of Hamilton while Alonso closes the gap to four with his second place finish.

Felipe Massa filled out the rest of the podium in third place.

Scuderia Toro Rosso triumphed as 20 year-old Sebastien Vettel brought the team its best finish ever with a fourth place drive. Teammate Vitantonio Liuzzi slotted in at 6 making it another first for the team; first time both cars finished in the points.

The mild rain did its job as equalizer with great finishes for normally slow teams. STR did a great job. Honda brought Jenson Button home with his best finish of the season in fifth.

The most interesting part of the race was witnessing rookie Lewis Hamilton make a driver error. The McLaren driver over-used his tires exposing the inner bands and hit the pit lane too quickly.

Hamilton's impatience gifted Alonso and Raikkonen the chance to do battle for the championship in the final round at Brazil.

Fittingly, the title fight has ended in Brazil in the previous two seasons and will do so again in 2007.

1. K. Raikkonen
2. F. Alonso
3. F. Massa
4. S. Vettel
5. J. Button
6. V. Liuzzi
7. N. Heidfeld
8. D. Coulthard

6th Pole Of The Season

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton added another pole position to his resume in Shanghai.

The Britain narrowly edged out the two Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

Teammate Fernando Alonso made his 12 point battle even more difficult by failing to out qualify Hamilton. Alonso needs to score at least two points more than Hamilton this weekend to keep his title hopes alive.

Qualifying took place in dry conditions but the forecast calls for a 90% chance of rain in the afternoon. Teams like Renault and Williams appeared to be good in the corners but slow in a straight line. Results like those suggest the teams are set up with rain in mind and could be kick if it pours like it did in Japan!

1. L. Hamilton
2. K. Raikkonen
3. F. Massa
4. F. Alonso
5. D. Coulthard
6. R. Schumacher
7. M Webber
8. N. Heidfeld
9. R. Kubica
10. J. Button

Hamilton Cleared Of Any Wrong Doing

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has been cleared of any fault in the crash of Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel last weekend in Japan.

Questions were raised on Friday when a YouTube.com video of the incident was discovered online and submitted to the FIA.

Hamilton aims to focus on qualifying and wrap up the title this weekend.

The Evidence Against Hamilton

He definately slowed excessively, but is it punishable?

Operation Egg Roll Is A Go

Imagine trying to get a good night of sleep when you know that the $450 million investment of the entire team is in the air.

Lewis Hamilton awaits the decision by the stewards at the Chinese Grand Prix about his involvement in a collision in the rain last week.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen looks too far back to be a contender for the title - a 5th place finish for Hamilton takes care of the Finn.

If Hamilton wins the Chinese GP he becomes the youngest world champion in the 57 year history of Formula 1. Oh, and watch out for imminent dragon attacks!

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Hamilton Under Steward's Review

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton is currently under investigation for unsafe driving at last weekend's rain soaked Japanese GP.

The McLaren rookie led the field behind the safety car for 18+ laps as the rain poured down on the circuit. Throughout the duration of following the safety car, Hamilton repeatedly drove eratically by trailing the pace car too closely and then compensation by rapidly slowing down drawing criticism from other drivers.

Following a heavy crash by Fernando Alonos on lap 42, Hamilton again led the field behind the safety car. In terrible visibility conditions the cars behind suffered though the downpour.

On lap 46, still following the safety car, Hamilton pulled to the right and slowed down to a crawl. This rapid maneuver caught 2nd place Mark Webber by surprise. The Austrailian promptly braked to avoid overtaking Hamilton.

The accordian effect of the front runners dramatically slowing caught youngster Sebastien Vettel off gaurd and he promptly crashed into the back of Webber ending the race for both drivers.

Vettel had been penalized for the avoidable contact incident with a 10 grid spot penalty for the following round.

Until today no one had any coverage of the events leading up to the crash as the internation feed had not captured the incident. A Japanese fan in the stands captured the slow speed event on tape and it has since been submitted to the steward's who are deliberating on weather or not Hamilton needs to be the one punished for the events that took place. More to come as it breaks.

Ralf To Leave Toyota

Ralf Schumacher announced his departure from the Panasonic Toyota F1 team following the conclusion of the 2007 season. The German declared his intentions via his personal website today.

Schumacher spent the last three seasons in an uphill battle of development at the Japanese team after leaving Williams in 2005.

Speculation of Toyota's plans to renew Schumacher's contract have swirled all season and his departure means the team have narrowed the field of likely candidates.

Rumors link several drivers to the open seat including recently crowned GP2 champion Timo Glock and rookie Spyker youngster Adrian Sutil.

Ralf will announce his plans for 2008 following the final race of the season at Interlagos, Brazil.