Kovalainen and Räikkönen take podium places at Japanese Grand Prix

Joy for one, bitter disappointment for the other

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On the podium of the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix the dominant language was Finnish. At the event, raced in rainy conditions, Finland's Heikki Kovalainen (Renault) fought his way to his first-ever podium finish in F1. Kovalainen came home second behind the now almost certain World Champion Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) of Great Britain. Kovalainen's countryman Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) finished third and was in turn bitterly disappointed with the result.
      Räikkönen's chances of winning this year's drivers' title are now merely theoretical, as he trails 17 points behind the Briton with only two races remaining.
      "Well, let's give it a try anyway. There still are a couple of events left", Räikkönen stated calmly.
      The Japanese Grand Prix could be conservatively characterised as eventful. Because of the rain and fog, visibility on the track was minimal. Crashes and excursions off the asphal surface were a commonplace. Right at the end of the race the Finns battled it out wheel-to-wheel for the honour of finishing second behind Hamilton.
      "I did not see Kimi, but based on intermediate times I knew he was coming up fast. I could not see anything from the mirrors, and the visor of my helmet fogged up. In the end I took considerable risks, because I absolutely wanted to finish second", Kovalainen described the highlight of his F1 career so far.
      "Our season has been such a rollercoaster ride. We deserved this", the Renault pilot continued.
      Kovalainen and Räikkönen's podium finish was historic in a sense that never before have two Finnish F1 pilots landed in the top three in the same Grand Prix.
     
Because of the poor weather conditions, the Japanese Grand Prix started off behind the safety car. Soon after that Ferrari's Räikkönen was ordered to perform a compulsory pit stop and have his tyres changed. The stop caused Räikkönen to drop to the very back of the field.
      Räikkönen and his teammate Felipe Massa of Brazil both started off with middle condition tyres, whereas for example Hamilton and his McLaren teammate Fernando Alonso of Spain had resorted to rain tyres.
      The race judges ordered Ferrari to change their tyres, because according to rule book rain tyres must be used if it rains at start of the race.
      Ferrari claims that the team only received an email concerning the rule after the race had already started.
      "The early pit stop cost a lot. The biggest problem was the water spraying from the wheels of other cars, which meant I could hardly see anything. Moreover, our car had been adjusted with dry weather settings. Surprisingly enough, it still worked OK", Räikkönen commented after the race.
     
Lewis Hamilton has a strong hold on this year's drivers' title, especially after his teammate and closest rival Alonso crashed out in Japan.
      Hamilton now has a 12-point lead to the current World Champion Alonso, who admitted after the race that he would need a minor miracle to retain his title.
      Ferrari have already won the constructors' championship after McLaren had all their points taken away in the wake of a spying scandal. Before Alonso's crash, the end of the season had promised high drama, as the two McLaren drivers are barely on speaking terms. Now it would appear little but extreme misfortune can deny Hamilton from making a huge splash in his rookie season.
     
The penultimate Grand Prix of the 2007 season will be raced in Shanghai, China, on October 7th, with the final race in Brazil two weeks later.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Räikkönen takes convincing victory in Belgian Grand Prix (17.9.2007)

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