Username
Password
Rain Couldn't Dampen Lewis's Spirit
By Emma Aitken May 26 2008
In one of the most exciting races Monaco had seen for a few years, Lewis Hamilton showed yet again that when all around are losing their heads, he is a master at keeping his. Ferrari did not have the best of days with several offs from both drivers and neither turned a 1-2 on the grid into a race win.

The rain fell on the glitz and glamour of Monte Carlo on race day and we all knew we were in for an exciting Grand Prix and we weren’t disappointed. 

It was certainly one in the eye for all at Ferrari. Even with the wet conditions, with both F2008’s locking out the front of the grid, you’d be the type to be easily parted from your money if you were going to back anyone else for the race win. I thought Kovalainen deserved the prize for the best response to a question when Martin Brundle approached him on a packed out grid and asked, 

“Can you remember where you parked your car?” 

“It should be somewhere behind the Ferrari’s I think” was the young Finn’s reply.

Wonderful! 

But the boys of the Scuderia fluffed their lines. Raikkonen seemed to hesitate off the start line and Hamilton wasn’t about to wait for an invitation to claim the world champion’s second place. From there on in the two Ferrari’s seemed to be happy to just give it all away. Massa’s off at Ste Devote signalled game over as far as the win was concerned. Kubica quickly nipped past him as the BMW was always happy to keep the pace with the F2008.

Once Massa had come in and refuelled to the end of the race (a mistake, as it happened), he was no match for either Hamilton or Kubica and had to settle for third place. 

Raikkonen’s race was a catalogue of disasters from beginning to end; slow off the start line, a drive through penalty as a result of his tyres being put on too late before the start of the race, several trips back to the pits for repairs to damaged parts of the car and finally, running in to the back of poor Adrian Sutil who happened to be having the race of his life, due to losing control over a damp patch. All of this resulted in no points being claimed as his own leaving Monaco, putting Lewis three points ahead of him in the drivers’ championship. 

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, on the other hand, couldn’t have had a better day as far as Lewis was concerned. OK, he made a little trip in to the barrier and had to come in for a new tyre but that pit stop was the making of his race. The powers that be went with the decision to fill his MP4-23 to the brim with fuel and get him back out there to widen the gap between him and Massa and Kubica and it couldn’t have gone any better. By the time he came back in the track had dried out sufficiently enough for him to go back out on slicks and with a 38s lead on Massa, he had the win in the bag. 

Even Kovalainen was put to good use as the guinea pig to see if the tyres were a good idea at that stage. His race was over from the start when he stalled on the grid so why not use him to experiment with the rubber. You have to wonder when poor Heikki’s luck is going to turn. He certainly has an extremely competitive car there and if he could only start from the front and stay at the front, a win is surely not too far away for him. I am extremely curious to see what would happen should Heikki be in a position to win a race with his team mate just behind him. Would he be allowed to take the chequered flag? I am inclined to think not, but we can only wait and see. 

Mark Webber seems to be having a great time with his Red Bull. He has consistently been in the points this season. At the beginning of 2008 they weren’t too far up on my list of the best of the rest but they seem to be coming on in leaps and bounds. David Coulthard needs to sort out his qualifying demons and, once he starts races further up on the grid, he should be joining his team mate in collecting points. 

Alonso’s race seemed a bit manic to me. He was trying too hard to proceed through the pack on Sunday; the crash into Heidfeld had all the showings of a desperate man. Even though he is saying all the right things at Renault, as a former World Champion who is used to making it on to the podium at most races, he must be frustrated with Renault’s lack of pace, especially with the likes of BMW doing so well this year. Could a move to BMW be on the cards? Watch this space! 

Watching Sutil being interviewed after the race certainly pulled on the heart strings. There stood a devastated man if ever I saw one. It was tragic to watch him return to the pits after Raikkonen smashed in to the back of him and not return to the track again. Up until that point it had been a supreme race from the young man. Apart from the terrible end to his race, he showed that he is a great star of the future. 

So we move on to Canada. Lewis took his first win there (as if I needed to remind anyone of that fact) and things are looking good for the team. Ferrari have to be licking their wounds a bit after the weekend that has just gone and will be looking to get the balance of power firmly back in their favour in Montreal. McLaren will be ready for them though.     

Bookmark or share this story with: