2007 Chinese Grand Prix

Infobox Grand Prix race report
Type = F1
Country = China
Grand Prix = Chinese
Date = October 7
Year = 2007


Caption = The Shanghai International Circuit
Race_No = 16
Season_No = 17
Official name = IV Sinopec Chinese Grand Prix
Location = Shanghai International Circuit
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Course = Permanent Racing Facility
Course_mi = 3.387
Course_km = 5.451
Distance_laps = 56
Distance_mi = 189.559
Distance_km = 305.066
Weather = Light Rain at the start before drying out. Light rain in the middle of the race before drying.
Pole_Driver = Lewis Hamilton
Pole_Country = United Kingdom
Pole_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Pole_Time = 1:35.908
Fast_Driver = Felipe Massa
Fast_Team = Ferrari
Fast_Time = 1:37.454
Fast_L

Fast_Country = Brazil
First_Driver = Kimi Räikkönen
First_Country = Finland
First_Team = Ferrari
Second_Driver = Fernando Alonso
Second_Country = Spain
Second_Team = McLaren-Mercedes
Third_Driver = Felipe Massa
Third_Country = Brazil
Third_Team = FerrariThe 2007 Chinese Grand Prix is the sixteenth race of the 2007 Formula One season. It was held on 5–7 October at Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China. The race was won by Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen with Fernando Alonso finishing second and Felipe Massa finishing third. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton retired from the race after going off at a very wet pit entrance on worn tyres left him stuck in the gravel.

Pre-race

Going into the race, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren led the Drivers' Championship by 12 points from his team-mate Fernando Alonso, after Alonso crashed in Fuji Speedway. Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen was the other driver who mathematically had a chance of winning the championship, trailing Hamilton by 17 points. To clinch the championship, Hamilton needed to finish within one point of his team-mate Alonso and within 6 points of Räikkönen. Whatever the result, Hamilton would still be leading the championship after the race.

The weather conditions at the track were affected by Typhoon Krosa which hit the east coast of China. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7032177.stm |title=Powerful storm hits Chinese coast |date=2007-10-07 |publisher=bbc.co.uk |accessdate=2007-10-07]

Classification

Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel was facing a drop of ten places on the grid for his collision against Mark Webber in the preceding race (the Japanese Grand Prix), but this punishment was reduced to a reprimand. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7029797.stm |title=Vettel's punishment reduced over Webber clash |date=2007-10-05 |publisher=bbc.co.uk |accessdate=2007-10-05] However, he was then dropped five places on the grid for impeding Heikki Kovalainen during qualifying.cite news|url=http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=40980 |title=Vettel handed five-place grid penalty |publisher=itv-f1 |date=2007-10-06 |accessdate=2007-10-06]

Despite the fact that Kimi Räikkönen had been the fastest driver in all three previous practices and in the first two stages of the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton managed to beat this time on the third qualifying stage and therefore earning the pole position.

† Relegated 5 places for impeding another driver

Race

From the Sunday morning, conditions at Shanghai were wet, forcing all drivers to use "shallow wet" tyres. At the start Lewis Hamilton managed to keep his leading position. Vitantonio Liuzzi was the most successful starter, winning three positions at the first lap and overtaking Mark Webber and then Nick Heidfeld in the following three laps. Ralf Schumacher, after he has rolled into spin at the first corner, was dropped down to the last position. Toyota driver regained most of his lost positions, until lap 22 he overtook eight drivers. But the change of tyres to pseudo-slick cost the German the race: he twice spun off the course and retired at lap 26.

As the track dried Hamilton began to suffer from tyre wear. With his pit stop imminent Mclaren elected to keep Lewis out until he had moved into the pit stop window. This was to work to his disadvantage though as he lost a significant amount of time on track because his tires had worn down to the cords. He then found himself without enough grip to negotiate the still-wet sharp left turn entering the pit lane. After running wide into a gravel trap he beached the car and was forced to retire.

After Räikkönen's pit stop, Robert Kubica became temporary leader, but retired while leading because of gearbox hydraulics failure. In the struggle for 3rd position, which soon became 2nd, Alonso passed by Massa. The Spaniard initially left his opponent behind with a large gap, but on the last laps Massa managed to beat his partner's fastest lap and decreased his gap to Alonso to 3 sec.

The race was won by Räikkönen, with Alonso as runner-up and Massa third. Sebastian Vettel, who had started 17th and chosen a one-stop tactic, finished fourth, the best result of his career at the time.

Notes

*Lap Leaders: Lewis Hamilton 24 (1–15 & 20–28), Kimi Räikkönen 31 (16–19,29–32 & 34–56) and Robert Kubica 1 (33).
* Last race: Alexander Wurz
* Ferrari achieved its 200th Formula One win, and its 600th Formula One podium.
* First points of the season for Toro Rosso.
* Hamilton retired for the first time in his career.
* This race was the final Grand Prix for Alexander Wurz, who announced his immediate retirement the day after the race. [cite news|title=Wurz confirms immediate retirement from F1|publisher=autosport.com|url=http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63165|date=2007-10-08|accessdate=2007-10-08]

References

External links

* [http://www.manipef1.com/results/2007/china.php Detailed Chinese Grand Prix results]

F1_race_report
Name_of_race=Chinese Grand Prix
Year_of_race=2007
Previous_race_in_season=2007 Japanese Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season=2007 Brazilian Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race=2006 Chinese Grand Prix
Next_year's_race=2008 Chinese Grand Prix