UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Hamilton home and dry

Heartbreak for Sutil

Formula One is frequently an arena of glory as much as it is heartbreak, and the Monaco Grand Prix was to be a prime example of both.

Qualifying had seen Ferrari secure the front row for themselves – Felipe Massa the chosen one once again – with McLaren playing the bridesmaids once more, but Sunday morning dawned grey, overcast, and with the promise of the great spoiler that is rain.

It lived up to that promise, too, coming down hard in the half hour before the start, leaving the teams in a quandary as to what boots to wear – in the end, all bar Nelson Piquet (Renault) chose the intermediate wet tyre.

A wet start is always a worry, but this one went well – especially well for Lewis Hamilton who catapulted the McLaren from third on the grid to pass a slightly hesitant Kimi Raikkonen on the run up to St Devote, slotting in nicely behind pole sitter Massa.

Things didn’t go quite so well for the other McLaren, Heikki Kovalainen failing to move from fourth place on the parade lap and starting from the pit lane.

A little further back and Nick Heidfeld was the major beneficiary, jumping from twelfth place as Mark Webber faltered in the Red Bull. It was clear very soon, however, that conditions were far from easy as car after car struggled for grip on the greasy surface.

The front three began to pull away to such an extent that as they crossed the line at the end of lap three, Massa had a ten second advantage over fourth placed man Robert Kubica.

As the rain began to fall a little harder Timo Glock had the first of numerous spins in the Toyota, but the real drama came nearer the front when Hamilton swiped the barrier at the swimming pool and headed for the pits for new intermediates. He also took on a boatload of fuel, a factor that would become more significant as the race progressed. He emerged in fifth place, so spread out at this early stage was the field.

As the rain kept falling, Fernando Alonso – running well up the order in the Renault – came across a lot of water at the top of Massanet, and hit the wall. He kept it running and crawled to the pits (where he took on extreme wets) but his race was, effectively done.

Seconds later David Coulthard came across the same puddle and hit the same wall, and was no doubt surprised to feel Sebastien Bourdais slam into the back of him as he slithered to a halt. Two stranded cars and a lot of debris brought out the Monaco staple, the safety car.

At this point Jarno Trulli took the opportunity to pit and take on the extreme rubber, too, and with less than ten laps gone the order stood as follows: Felipe Massa led Kimi Raikkonen who had behind him a much quicker Robert Kubica, while Hamilton ran fourth, Nick Heidfeld had moved up to fifth and Mark Webber sixth in the remaining Red Bull.

Alonso ran seventh with Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams on his tail, and Rubens Barrichello had made his way up to ninth.

In tenth, however, was a man who was beginning not only the drive of the race but also that of his life – Adrian Sutil in the Force India. Having started 18th the young German had kept out of trouble and was running very heavy indeed – fuelled to pit well after half distance in dry conditions – and had taken advantage of others misdemeanours, and conditions that suited both his car and his strategy. It was the beginning of an afternoon that would elicit superlatives, but ultimately end in heartbreak.

As the safety car peeled into the pits on lap ten – the Monaco recovery crews again excelling – the news came thorough that Raikkonen had been awarded a drive through penalty for having his wheels fitted outside the three minute permitted window. Thus any chance of a win vanished there and then.

Alonso was back in the groove by now, and forced the Renault past Webbers Red Bull at Mirabeau. He then set about Heidfeld, but he should know that moves down the inside at the Loews hairpin simply do not work. This one didn’t, the Renault rudely nerfing the BMW broadside, and leaving Heidfeld with a damaged BMW, and a puncture that would necessitate a pit stop a few laps later. Both men should have scored points here, but neither was able to recover from that point.

Nico Rosberg had been in the wars from the early stages, missing a chicane early on and now – as the rain stopped falling – hitting something, somewhere, and needing a new front wing. He, too, should have been in the points today, but that was it for the Williams, too.

All of this left Sutil in seventh – akin to a winning position for Force India – and keeping pace with those around him.

The sight of a Ferrari - that of Massa – going straight on at St Devote was manna from heaven for the BMW crew, for although the Brazilian recovered quickly Kubica cruised by and into the lead. His team-mate was shortly into the pits to have that punctured tyre replaced, and took on a new front wing as a precaution. The damage was to the left side of the car, however, and was irreparable.

With a dry line beginning to appear the lap times began to tumble, and Massa was now taking fractions out of Kubica each lap. The Pole pitted on lap 26 for a setoff inters and some fuel, and emerged just behind Raikkonen. He must have thought Christmas had come early as he watched that Ferrari perform a carbon copy of Massa’s earlier mishap and run straight on at the first corner. Raikkonen went a bit further, though, and damaged his front wing, thus necessitating another visit to the pits, following his earlier drive through penalty.

The World Champion came outin sixth position, but the men to watch were – at this point- Webber and Sutil, running in fourth and fifth and lapping very quickly, albeit a long way behind the front three.

On lap 33 Massa came in for his scheduled stop, taking on more inters and a standard fuel load, leaving Hamilton in the lead for the first time of the afternoon. Massa came out – just – ahead of Kubica, and the two settled down to a frantic fight for second place.

Webber was flying now, the Australian loving the conditions, and set a series of fastest laps hence proving the track was drying more. Kubica, too, was not letting Massa get away.

Out front, however, Hamilton began to fly, pulling out a steady gap over his pursuers, but he was by no means the fastest man out there at this point as an extraordinary exchange of fastest laps took place between Webber and the quite astonishing Sutil.

We were at half distance now, and the rain began to fall again – nowhere near as heavy as before, but it rained, nevertheless. It didn’t last long, though, and Hamilton continued his relentless pace, by now extending the gap by sometimes a second and more over the Ferrari behind him. Massa, meanwhile, had shrugged off Kubica, but only by a matter of a couple of seconds.

A little further back and Rubens Barrichello was having his best race for a long time, the veteran Brazilian lapping the Honda at the very top of the lap times, and looking secure for a points paying position.

The next significant moment came on lap 45 when Renault, with nothing to lose, switched Alonso to dry tyres. Initially he found little grip, but within a few laps was matching the times of the front runners. Time for a change, then.

Webber was first of the front men to go for dries on lap 48, and he, too, found things difficult to get to grips with. He lost a few places as a result, but was still running closely with those around him.

Kubica was now back on Massa’s tail, the Ferrari struggling on inters as the track dried, and Piquet put another nail in his coffin by crashing out at this point in proceedings. To the youngsters credit this drive had been fine up to this point, and he was on his first lap on dry tyres. He has a lot to learn, but may not have enough time to learn it in.

Sutil, meanwhile, was running serenely on in fourth place – yes, fourth place – between the two Ferrari’s, and pulling out time on Raikkonen who was being caught by now up to speed Webber, who was glued to the Ferrari gearbox.

The other Ferrari was fading fast, Hamilton now easily extending his lead to appoint where it would be safe to pit and not lose it. On lap 53 Kubica pitted from a very close third, and took on the now obligatory dry tyres, and Sutil did the same, the Force India boys turning their man around in good time. Kubica kept his place, being easily ahead of the German, but Sutil dropped behind Raikkonen by a couple of seconds.

Force India had told Adrian not to be concerned about the Ferrari, who we expected to run to the end of the race, but were delighted he had leapfrogged Webber in the pit stop routine. Fifth place would be a dream come true for the little team.
Hamilton duly made his stop for dry tyres just after this, and emerged safely – fifteen seconds – in the lead, with Kubica gaining on Massa behind him and Raikkonen running a few seconds ahead of Sutil, who had Webber some 18 seconds down the road.

Massa finally stopped shortly after Hamilton, and found himself behind Kubica when he came back out – and it must have been a scene of jubilation at Force India when Raikkonen made another stop on lap 57. He came out just ahead of Webber, and a good way down the road from Sutil.

Hamilton was home and dry – some 40 seconds ahead of Kubica – when Rosberg missed his braking point and slammed into the wall at the swimming pool. With bits of Williams all over the road, the safety car was called out again, and it was here that the fairytale began to go wrong.

Not for Hamilton, who took the restart – with fifteen minutes left (the race lasted the maximum two hours) – perfectly, and nor for Kubica and Massa, who could do nothing about Hamilton but were settled for the podium places, but – heartbreakingly – for Sutil and Force India.

Sutil – naturally – found Raikkonen eager to get pass, but held his line perfectly, and that should have been all he had to do for the next few minutes, however. Out of the tunnel, though, Raikkonen got things totally out of control in the braking zone. Sutil, it must be said, had also braked a little late for the chicane, but this in no way contributed to the wildly snaking Ferrari smashing into him from behind as it fought to shed speed.

Mike Gascoyne, Force India technical director, quoted afterwards that ‘Raikkonen was looking like he would do something stupid, and he did.’

I could not have put it better. This was not the sort of thing one expects from a World Champion, and Gascoyne had rightly reminded us that this was a thoroughly ragged race from the Finn. That it ruined Sutil’s race was the tragedy of it all, for Raikkonen will have more opportunities this season. Sutil, and Force India, may not. This was, mind you, a tremendous drive from the young German – and a much needed one as he has had a troubled time this year – and came in conditions that separate the men from the boys. For me, the drive of the day, if not the season, had gone to waste.

So, as a heartbroken – rightly so – Adrian Sutil sat almost in tears in the garage, Hamilton went on his way to a well deserved win – for this was a great drive, too – and Kubica to another very fine second place. Massa, and Ferrari, have a lot of thinking to do about what went wrong today, for starting from pole and finishing third is not standard procedure at Monaco.

Mark Webber – a man very much on form at the moment – drove another measured and excellent race to net some much deserved points for Red Bull with fourth, and somehow Sebastian Vettel, another in need of a good result – sneaked into fifth in the Toro Rosso.

Sixth went to Rubens Barrichello with a very feisty performance, his best for a year, and seventh to Kazuki Nakajima, the Japanese salvaging something from a disappointing race for Williams. The final point went to Heikki Kovalainen, who charged hard following the safety car to head home Raikkonen by less than a second.

The world championship lead has swung back to Hamilton, then, the McLaren man leading Raikkonen by three points as we go to the next race at Canada, but the lost five points that should have gone Adrian Sutil – and Force India’s – way will feel like a title lost to the team from Silverstone.

Written: Sun, 25 May 2008 15:22:03