It was a fitting climax to a dramatic season.
The Brazilian Grand Prix followed form with an upset finish — Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari taking the final race of the season to vault past McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso for the title in the tightest race for the Formula One championship in 21 years.
The McLaren drivers entered the season-ending race atop the drivers’ championship, but Hamilton went off the track in the first lap and suffered a subsequent gear box problem, and Alonso simply couldn’t keep up. That gave Raikkonen the opportunity to claim his first Formula One title by one point.
”It has been a long season and it is hard to realise that we finally did it,” Raikkonen said. ”We managed to come back and win it … it is hard to believe that it happened.” The title made up for the crowns Raikkonen missed out on when he finished runner-up in 2003 and 2005.
”It’s a great feeling,” Raikkonen said. ”Two times were quite close, but it never really happened. This year, it looked like it was getting away again. But we have a great team, so we put everything together and just believed in ourselves and worked.”
It was the first time since 1986 that three drivers reached the final race in contention for the title — when Alain Prost edged Nigel Mansell and Nelson Piquet to win the championship.
But in a twist typical of the 2007 season, the Finn had to wait nearly six hours to confirm the result.
Motorsport governing body FIA immediately investigated possible fuel irregularities involving BMW-Sauber and Williams, whose drivers finished fourth, fifth, sixth and 10th in the race. If at least two of them were punished, Hamilton could have moved from seventh to fifth and taken the title.
FIA eventually said there was not enough evidence to penalise the drivers or the teams, but it still isn’t settled.
McLaren has appealed FIA’s decision, and a final ruling may not be issued for several days or even weeks.
It is just the latest dispute in the controversial season, with McLaren paying the biggest price so far.
The British team was forced to pay a record $100-million fine after obtaining confidential data from Ferrari. McLaren was kicked out of the manufacturers’ championship, which was easily clinched by rival Ferrari.
McLaren also struggled with internal turmoil involving Hamilton and Alonso trading accusations during most of the season. Alonso complained he deserved more respect as a two-time world champion, and hinted McLaren was favouring the English first-year driver.
”I had some difficulties with the team. It’s not a secret,” Alonso said. ”But at the end, we try to work together as hard as we could and we arrived at the last race fighting for the championship and we finished third in the drivers’ championship, one point behind the world champion.”
Alonso, who for some time didn’t speak to team chief Ron Dennis, wasn’t guaranteed to stay at McLaren next season. Renault, the Spaniard’s home when he won the last two championships, was ready to take him back if he parted with his current team.
Hamilton, meanwhile, was looking forward to next season, hoping to put the disappointing final race behind him.
”Obviously I am pretty disappointed with the result [Sunday], having led for so much of the season and then not to win the championship,” Hamilton said. ”However, I have to put the result into perspective … I am still very young and have plenty more years in me to achieve my dream of becoming world champion.”
Ferrari, unlike McLaren, had numerous reasons to celebrate.
In addition to winning the constructors’ championship and the unlikely drivers’ title, the team won nine races, one more than McLaren.
It was the team’s first constructors’ or drivers’ title since 2004, when Michael Schumacher — replaced by Raikkonen at the end of last year — had his last victorious season.
”A dream that it seemed would be impossible to come true was transformed into reality at the end of a race which the drivers and the team managed superbly,” Ferrari team chief Jean Todt said. ”Two titles, nine wins, four one-two finishes, nine pole positions, 12 fastest race laps.
”These are exceptional figures in a season which included some difficult moments, but in which we never gave up the fight. Today was our reward for all this work.”
So Ferrari and Raikkonen will go down in history as victorious in one of the most exciting and surprising Formula One seasons in decades.
At least for now. – Sapa-AP