Everything played out. Ruben’s gear box (that caught on fire two laps from the finish of the last race) held up and it was his second victory of the year. Bigger yet, the old man has out raced Jenson in the last five races.

I don’t have big hopes that he’s going to catch and pass Jenson for the championship. I’m certain Jenson and the team feel that any wins Rubens can take, mean that Jenson’s rivals aren’t getting them. It’s almost a certainty that this will be Rubinho’s last season, so I get crazy stoked that I can watch him go out on a high.

It more than made up for not having Schumacher in a car.

A typical Spa race calls for rain, but because the circuit is so long, and has so many elevation changes, it’s not unusual for the circuit to be wet at one end, and bone dry at the other. And that’s what we got for 08. Coming into this race Kimi was locked in an internal power struggle for lead driver status because his season has been so dismal. He lost pole to Hamilton, and worse, Massa was lined up 2nd and Kovalainen 3rd. But, the starting grid and first turn were wet while the rest of the track was dry … everybody was on dry tires and would have to tip-toe off the start.

Kimi got a great start, took Kovalainen immediately; reeled in Massa, and pushed him to the edge of the track to get by so he could set his sights on Hamilton. Next lap around, Hamilton did a little half spin at turn one and Kimi was through. Surprisingly, the half spin didn’t cost Hamilton much in the way of time and he was in pursuit through the entire race.

Kimi was still ahead after both pit stops, but it quickly became clear that the Ferrari wasn’t as fast as McLaren on the harder prime tire. It looked as if Hamilton would’ve got him before the end of the race as it was, but then four laps to go it started to rain.

Some of the back-markers, in what ended up being the right choice, dove in for intermediate wets while the race leaders stayed out on worn dry tires. Everybody was all over the place. And in the race’s controversial moment, Kimi forced Hamilton to the outside of a corner, Hamilton used the run-off area and but came back on track ahead of Kimi. He gave up position per the regulations, but it didn’t appear on TV as much of a position surrender; he kept racing Kimi to the next corner right on his gearbox.

It all ended up being moot, because two corners later Kimi pushed it to hard and spun it into a wall, ending his race. Massa, taking the more conservative approach babied his car around and took 2nd place almost certainly cementing his position now as lead driver in the team. Kimi technically still has a shot at the championship, but with his performances being so chaotic, I don’t see how they can put all their effort into him.

Sure enough, the next day the stewards imposed a 25sec penalty on Hamilton for the passing incident giving the win to Massa. McLaren plans to appeal, but I don’t know how much chance they have given their current position.

As much as I wanted to see Kimi win this one and return to form, I have to say Hamilton is where it’s at. I’m starting to think that if anybody’s going to challenge Schumi’s records it’s going to be Hamilton.

Honda claims that were it not for a fuel rig problem, he would’ve been good to go to the end of the race. Which would’ve netted him second place instead of third. Looked more to me like they pushed him out of the pits early to service Button who was stacked behind him … Button later beached it.

I came close to screaming when I saw them put intermediates back on Barrichello, thinking that his slow ass car would drop back the field like a stone. Surprisingly, he was able to keep the pace.

Old man crash, aka David Coulthard, announced he was retiring at the end of the season; fittingly he crashed into somebody, again and took himself out of the race. That will leave Barrichello, if he picks up a contract extension for next year, as the most senior driver in F1. And unlike Coulthard, he seems to still have the concentration and the reflexes to go fast.

The article though, sheds more light on just how deep the rabbit hole went. And it makes Alonso, in my eyes anyway, look even more like a whiny bitch. What’s got me scratching my head though about his blackmailing of Dennis to give him favor in the team is: he’s rumored to have wanted a Ferrari drive for quite some time, and the rumors of him going there in 2010 are flying right now, so was there an underlying motivation? When it looked like his odds of winning the driver’s championship from Lewis were looking grim, did he go make a backdoor deal with Ferrari? ‘Dennis won’t give me my way, I’m not getting the championship, I won’t be at McLaren next year. I’ll rat them out, hand you the manufacturer’s title, all I ask is a ride in 2010 when Kimi’s contract runs out.’

If I want to go even more conspiracy theorist, I’d also throw out there that Kimi already knows his days are numbered and that’s why he’s been phoning in his performances lately. Silly-season has started, but in reality it started a few months ago. He may have already got wind that Alonso’s in for 2010. Kimi got his driver’s title (some might say by way of the courtroom) so maybe he’s decided he’s done with F1? That’s stretching thin though. Could just be he’s had a run of bad luck.

Ferrari have never been known for their great sportsmanship, there are no surprises here that the FIA let them get away with several rule infractions even after McLaren brought them to their attention. In the FIA’s defense, no Ferrari effectively means no Formula 1. Watch any race, and more than half of the fans are in red. There’s still magic there, even though everybody knows they’re favored above all else. But it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth when it’s brought out into the light.

I don’t know how they pulled shutting down streets in Manhattan, Rio and Rome to get this commercial shot. Monoco would’ve been easy during gran prix weekend. And there’s no CGI.

Video after the jump.

shell : circuit

2007 FORMULA 1 Brazilian GP

Interlagos 21 Oct

Räikkönen wins the drivers title! Or does he? McLaren declared it’s intention to appeal the steward’s decision to over look fuel irregularities from the Williams and BMW team. If they were to be disqualified, Hamilton would gain three positions and take the title. How’d he loose it in the first place?

Rookie nerves I guess. It started last race in China when he blew his race and again here on lap one turn four, he blew a completely unnecessary outside pass move on Alonso. And then as he was working his way back up, his car suddenly failed and he dropped back to 18th before it came alive again.

Massa lead for the first two stints, and then they slipped Räikkönen up front on the third stop. Which put him one point up on both Hamilton and Alonso. The Ferrari’s dominated, and Alonso wasn’t close to challenging at any point.

Strange end to a strange season. We’ve had three strong drivers fighting for the title all year long, but that was overshadowed by the off track politics. Hopefully next year, the action on the track won’t be crushed by boardroom antics. Alonso most likely won’t be with McLaren after this season, unless he’s had a sudden change of heart and makes good over the off season. Kimi and Massa will be back, Hamilton will be back. So that just leaves the big question of who’s going to replace Alonso? And subsequently, is Renault or BMW going to step back into front runner contention?

The long wait until March begins.

2007 FORMULA 1 Chinese GP

Shanghai 07 Oct

So it all comes down to Brazil. Hamilton had the chance to put the championship in the bag this weekend, but in a rookie move allowed the team to keep him out on intermediates about 5 laps too many. Not only was he blowing his gap, but then he missed the turn into pit lane and ended up beached in the gravel. Game over.

Alonso and Raikkonen took much needed points off his lead and now it’s (possibly) a three way battle in Brazil. Kimi’s a long shot, but Alonso has a better than fair chance. Which sucks. The guy is such a cry baby that I want to see his season end in humiliation. I still feel he shouldn’t have gotten out of the Ferrari spy scandal … but then if he didn’t Hamilton wouldn’t have either.

China was one of those perfect rain races. Not too wet, but wet for 80% of the race. It’s always a great equalizer and it kept everybody bunched up and fighting for position for most of the race. Once the line dried, they spread out again like normal which contrasted how boring normal races can get. Here’s hoping that it’ll be like this every race after they pull TC next year. Maybe if they pull some of the aero and go back to slicks?