Hamilton upbeat despite Japanese failure
LEWIS Hamilton claimed he has already put his disappointing Japanese Grand Prix behind him and is now focusing on picking up the points he requires to capture the Formula One world championship in the remaining two races.
The McLaren driver had started on pole early this morning but finished outside the points in 12th place as he failed to recover from a dramatic collision with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa early on.
Instead, it was Hamilton’s former team-mate Fernando Alonso who followed up his Singapore success with victory on the Fuji Speedway circuit.
Massa claimed eighth place but was later promoted to seventh after Sebastien Bourdais, who had finished sixth in his Toro Rosso car, was hit with a 25-second penalty for a collision with the Brazilian.
That means Massa is five points behind Hamilton in the driver standings.
“What can I say, it was a bad day,” conceded the 23-year-old Briton. “I’ll move on to next week.”
The race got off to a frenetic start as Hamilton kept his lead going into turn one but forced Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen off the circuit, an action he was hit with a drive-through penalty for.
However, disaster struck for the Stevenage-born driver in the next lap when he spun after Massa collided into his car while the rest of the field streaked past.
“I went wide at turn one and it was a mistake then Felipe hit me off,” added Hamilton. “I went inside and he broke me left pretty hard. I went back into the pit and we both got a penalty.”
Massa, meanwhile, insisted he was not at fault for the incident.
“It was a racing incident,” he said. “I was a little bit wide at the corner and he put the car inside while I was outside.
“Then he pushed me a little bit close to the gravel and then I put two wheels on the gravel and he closed in and we touched.
“I was already on the gravel so I couldn’t do anything and we touched.”
Massa was again involved in a collision later in the race when he attempted to pass Bourdais around the outside as the latter rejoined the race following his second pit stop but the two made contact causing the Ferrari driver to spin.
Stewards deemed Bourdais was at fault and handed him the penalty after the race meaning he dropped to 10th behind Sebastian Vettel, Massa, Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld.
Once again, however, the day belonged to Alonso.
While his victory in Singapore was aided by the safety car this time the Renault driver was in fine form on the circuit.
Alonso secured the victory ahead of BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica while Raikkonen finished third.
“It’s difficult to believe,” said the Spaniard. “The Singapore win was completely unexpected after a very sad Saturday coming from retirement in qualifying.
“Okay I won with special conditions with the safety car, but today we had nothing and we won again and at a circuit that is not particularly good for our characteristics.
“I cannot believe it right now to have got back-to-back wins.”
The eight points collected by Ferrari means they leapfrog McLaren in the constructor standings to take a seven-point lead with just races in China and Brazil remaining.
Offical result of today's Japanese Formula One Grand Prix at Fuji:
1. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 1:30:21.892
2. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber +00:05.283
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 00:06.400
4. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 00:20.570
5. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 00:23.767
6. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso 00:39.207
7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 00:46.158
8. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 00:50.811
9. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 00:54.120
10. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso 00:59.085
11. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 01:02.096
12. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 01:18.900
13. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 1 lap
14. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 1 lap
15. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams 1 lap
r. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India 46 laps
r. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 51 laps
r. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 59 laps
r. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 61 laps
r. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 67 laps
(rank: r = retired, nc = not classified)
Fastest Lap: Felipe Massa, 1:18.426, lap 55.
Official Formula One driver and constructor standings
Drivers
1. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 84 points
2. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 79
3. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber 72
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 63
5. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber 56
6. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren 51
7. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault 48
8. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Toro Rosso 30
9. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota 30
10. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 21
11. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota 20
12. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault 18
13. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams 17
14. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Honda 11
15. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams 9
16. David Coulthard (Britain) Red Bull 8
17. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso 4
18. Jenson Button (Britain) Honda 3
19. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India 0
20. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 0
21. Takuma Sato (Japan) Super Aguri 0
22. Anthony Davidson (Britain) Super Aguri 0
Constructors
1. Ferrari 142
2. McLaren 135
3. BMW Sauber 128
4. Renault 66
5. Toyota 50
6. Toro Rosso 34
7. Red Bull 29
8. Williams 26
9. Honda 14
10. Force India 0
11. Super Aguri 0