While this season isn't quite over yet, pending the result of
McLaren's appeal against the decision not to penalise BMW and
Williams, let's take a look back at the past 8 months of
racing.
Australia: Massa goes out of Q2 with gearbox trouble while
Räikkönen dominates the race ahead of Alonso and Hamilton.
Malaysia: Alonso's turn to dominate after taking the lead from
pole-sitter Massa, who slips to 5th. Hamilton makes it a McLaren
1-2 and sets the fastest lap.
Bahrain: Massa takes the pole-win-fastest lap hat trick. Hamilton
takes another 2nd place, Alonso slips to 5th this time.
Spain: Massa takes another hat trick. Hamilton leads the
championship after taking 2nd again, Räikkönen retires with
electrical problems. Sato takes Super Aguri's first point.
Monaco: The start of a period of McLaren dominance, after Ferrari
run into troubles at the windtunnel. Alonso leads a disgruntled
Hamilton home as they are told to hold station. Räikkönen clips the
wall too hard in Q2, qualifies 16th and salvages 8th place.
Canada: A chaotic race where Hamilton takes his first pole and win.
Heidfeld and Wurz take their first podiums of the season.
Kovalainen takes 4th after crashing in qualifying, Sato squeezes
between Räikkönen and Alonso for 6th. Fisichella and Massa get
disqualified during the race and Kubica survives a horrifying
crash.
USA: Hamilton takes the pole and a hard-fought win again ahead of
Alonso. Massa leads Räikkönen to the flag. Kubica's stand-in Vettel
takes 8th and becomes youngest driver to have scored points.
France: Räikkönen takes the lead and win from Massa after the
pitstops. Clutch troubles for Alonso during Q3 mean he starts 10th
and finishes 7th. Kubica returns and finishes a superb 4th.
Great Britain: Hamilton takes a glorious pole on home turf, but
Räikkönen wins - not before Alonso takes the lead between the 2
pitstop windows. Hamilton finishes 3rd for a 9th consecutive
podium.
Europe: Hamilton starts 10th after tyre failure in Q3. Intermittent
rain creates another chaotic race. Race is stopped after 6 laps,
then resumed with Spyker's Winkelhock (the team having dropped
Albers and replaced him as such) in the lead. Räikkönen retires
with gearbox problems. Alonso takes victory on the last lap from
Massa on a drying track. Hamilton's run of podiums/points ends in a
bad tyre call and 9th place.
Hungary: New evidence in the dossier scandal emerges, which on
track, Alonso blocks Hamilton in qualifying, earning himself and
McLaren penalties. Massa fails to get into Q3 after fuel mix-ups.
Hamilton wins, Räikkönen 2nd, Alonso 4th. Yamamoto enters rest of
season as Spyker driver, Vettel as Toro Rosso driver after Speed's
altercation with management and poor performance.
Istanbul: Massa wins here for the second year in a row, ahead of
Räikkönen. Hamilton suffers yet another tyre failure in the race,
finishes 5th.
Italy: Massa retires with engine problems, Alonso takes a hat trick
ahead of Hamilton, who passed Räikkönen for the lead.
Belgium: Räikkönen leads Massa home, Alonso from Hamilton. McLaren
disqualified and fined as a result of tech director's
resigned.
Japan: Hamilton wins and does the hat trick in the driving rain
while Alonso crashes out and Räikkönen finishes 3rd after
misunderstandings between race control and Ferrari. Kovalainen
takes first podium. Massa mathematically out of championship
running after finishing 6th. Spyker earn 1st point at expense of
penalised Toro Rosso.
China: Intermittent rain. Hamilton gets stuck in gravel trap due to
excesive tyre wear and retires. Title race closes up as Räikkönen
and Alonso win and take second respectively. Toro Rosso and Honda
take first points of seasom. Wurz retires.
Brazil: Massa takes pole on home ground but Räikkönen wins race and
WDC. Alonso 3rd, Hamilton recovers to 7th after dropping to
tail-end. But it's too late, Räikkönen is world champion. Wurz
replacement Nakajima crashes into pit crew. Williams and BMW are
not disqualified for using cool fuel due to the lack of evidence
and McLaren's appeal is thrown out.
And in general: Honda's piss-poor form
Feel free to add your thoughts, pictures and corrections.
