Fernando Alonso, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver, finished second at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. However, his teammate Lewis Hamilton only did lap 31 and finally retired from the race. The victory came to Kimi Raikkonen but the championship will be decided among these three. Whoever wins will be sent to the final race in Sao Paulo after two weeks.
Fernando made 56 laps on 305.066 km which gave him a total race time of 1h 37m 58.395s. Kimi was 9.8 seconds behind Fernando who made a two-stop strategy and was able to pit on lap 18 with 7.7 seconds as well as 32 with 8.9 seconds.
Lewis still maintains his lead at the Drivers’ Championship after his first retirement on 16 GP. He made 107 points on 16 out of 17 races and was followed by Fernando on the second rank garnering a score of 103 making Kimi rank third with a 100 overall score.
Lewis Hamilton (DNF) said, "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 tires were in poor condition we took a joint decision to get through the last rain shower before changing to dry tires."
He continued his statement by saying, "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 said, "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."
Fernando Alonso also was quoted by Motorsport saying, "It was difficult towards the end on the wet Bridgestone tires 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."
Norbert Haug said to Motorsports.com, "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."
Haug continues, "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."
Ron Dennis also made a comment and he said, "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 tires which was clearly the right decision. Like us, our competition was hoping to get through the last period of rain before changing to dry tires."
"Lewis stopped first but a combination of tire 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."
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