Advantage Hamilton

After the disaster in Japan, the McLaren driver’s dominant performance in Shanghai was the perfect antidote which sees him go to the final race at Interlagos with a seven-point lead over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa.

Lewis Hamilton’s win in Shanghai (October 19) may not have been one of his most spectacular victories but it was significant in terms of overcoming setbacks and winning the drivers’ championship. Seven days on from a disastrous race in Japan, Hamilton’s dominant performance in the Chinese Grand Prix was the perfect antidote which sees the McLaren driver go to the final race at Interlagos with a seven-point lead over Ferrari’s Felipe Massa. Even if the Brazilian wins his home race on November 2, Hamilton only needs to finish in the top five to secure his first title.

“We know what we have to do,” said Hamilton. “We will use a similar approach to this weekend.”

Hamilton had to overcome a barrage of criticism following a first-lap incident in Japan. The Englishman was accused of aggressive driving when a poor start led him to run wide at the first corner and take several drivers with him. He was under pressure not to repeat the mistake in Shanghai where, once again, he started from pole with Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) alongside.

Hamilton made a perfect getaway and began to demoralise the pursuing Ferraris by gradually pulling away. As has become the norm, it took the Ferraris longer to get their tyres up to working temperature but, once fully up to speed, Raikkonen could not reduce the six-second gap.

“When my car got better, he (Hamilton) had already pulled away,” said Raikkonen. “OK, I lost time in traffic, but we just didn’t have the speed today. We were missing a few tenths (of a second) and there was nothing I could do.”

The McLaren-Mercedes had the measure of the Ferraris from the start of practice on October 17, Hamilton making the most of his advantage with another brilliant lap to take pole position, his seventh of the season. Once he had managed his start and safely negotiated the first sequence of corners, Hamilton then focused on producing a succession of near-perfect laps.

“From Friday, we knew we had the pace,” said Hamilton. “I was very happy with the balance of the car and I was able to extract the most from the tyres. Both types of tyres were very competitive and consistent. I was able to push when I needed to and it was great to be able to open a gap in the early stages.”

Hamilton led by 6.6 seconds at the first of two pit stops, the McLaren driver extending his advantage to more than 10 seconds as Raikkonen turned his attention to his team-mate. Massa had struggled throughout qualifying and his troubles continued in the race.

“Today was very difficult to follow this guy (Hamilton) and fight with him,” said Massa. “Our car works in a different way (from the McLaren). There was no grip and it was difficult to drive. I had some wheel-spin at the start but I could see that Lewis was stronger. He was able to pull out a couple of tenths (of a second) a lap and that made his race more comfortable. I had to drive on the limit to try and reduce the gap but it just was not possible, Lewis had a better car for the whole weekend. That’s the way it seems to be this season. Our car works well on some circuits but not on others and for this race we’re not really sure why that was.”

Although team orders are not allowed, Raikkonen had no hesitation in taking the law into his own hands. With eight laps remaining, the Finn repaid Massa who had given up victory in Brazil last year to allow Raikkonen the result he needed to beat Hamilton to the championship by a single point. By moving into second place, Massa scored eight points instead of six.

“I’m not in a position to challenge for the championship and I know what the team expects from me,” said Raikkonen. “I’m happy to achieve the maximum points for the team. It doesn’t make any difference to me.” When asked for his opinion on Raikkonen’s assistance, Hamilton said he would expect the same should he find himself in a similar position behind his team-mate, Heikki Kovalainen. The Finn, who had never been in a position to help Hamilton, retired with engine trouble for the second race in succession. McLaren previously had not suffered engine problems since 2006. Hamilton is scheduled to use the same engine for the final race. If McLaren decide to change it in Brazil, Hamilton will receive a 10-place grid penalty.

Robert Kubica, by finishing sixth, lost an already slim chance of challenging for the championship, the Polish driver having struggled to make his BMW work.

Fernando Alonso, the unexpected winner of the previous two races, finished fourth. Coupled with eighth place for Nelson Piquet, Alonso’s recent competitive run has secured Renault fourth place in the battle for the constructors’ championship with Toyota. Timo Glock took seventh place in the sole-surviving Toyota after Jarno Trulli had been eliminated in a first-corner collision with the Toro Rosso of Sebastien Bourdais, the only incident in a race that was dull for everyone with the exception of the winner.

“All weekend we have had God on our side,” said Hamilton. “The team have done a phenomenal job preparing the car and making the steps forward. They made sure the car stayed intact so I could bring it home — and that’s what I did.”