Raikkonen Victorious at F1 Finale in São Paulo

In the end it all came down to one point. One single point that divided three men in their quest for the 2007 Formula 1 Driver’s Championship.

At the previous race in Shanghai, the Driver’s title looked to be rookie Lewis Hamilton’s to lose, and lose it he did, in typical rookie fashion. After running hot into a corner, Hamilton slid helplessly into a gravel trap and spun his tires, unable to get back on the track and losing any chance at points in the Chinese Grand Prix.

Today’s race in São Paulo was no less disappointing for Hamilton. Starting on the grid in second position, Hamilton was passed by teammate Fernando Alonso coming into the first corner and his inexperience got the best of him. Hamilton desperately tried to reclaim second position and in doing so he slid off at the fourth corner on the first lap, dropping back to eighth position. Had he stayed calm and collected, he might’ve cemented himself into 3rd position and guaranteed himself a Driver’s championship. In fact, depending on the finishing order, Hamilton needed only to place 5th to win the Driver’s title. After slipping back to 8th position, Hamilton had an odd mechanical problem which put him in the back of the pack, 18th position. Miraculously, he rallied to come back to finish 7th, garnering him 2 points to finish the season at 109, just one shy of Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen. Fernando Alonso, also in contention for the Driver’s title, ended the race in 3rd, his 6 points putting him also at 109 points, tying him with Hamilton (the tie-breaker here being in number of 5th place finished, in which Hamilton had more).

The race was so exciting because Hamilton just needed to finish in the top five, a simple task for a driver as talented as he is, and his inexperience forced him into mistakes. Hamilton literally raced himself off the podium, giving the title to Raikkonen, a man who has had more bad luck (and 2nd place finishes) than just about anyone, and surely deserved to win a championship. One of the F1 commentators described Raikkonen’s bad luck best when he wondered aloud in the last laps of the GP today when the “black helicopter” was going to “fall out of the sky right in front of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari” and put him out of the race.

All in all, this was an exciting Formula 1 season. Three fantastic drivers competing for the same crown going into the last race makes for some exciting drama. Next year’s season is shaping up to be a fantastically exciting one as well, put March 16th on your calendar, we’ll see you in Melbourne.

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