Japanese Grand Prix 07 - Lewis Retains Lead with 12 Points

In an extremely wet race of the Japanese Grand Prix, where the cars spent almost 20 laps behind the safety car, Lewis Hamilton managed to maintain his lead from pole position to clinch the victory. His teammate and closest rival Fernando Alonso however, crashed into the safety barrier after a suspected suspension failure, now trails the Brit by 12 points in the Drivers' Championship after failing to finish the race.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who started from third, finished in third place behind fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen from Renault. Heikki, who just scored his first podium finish, did a wonderful race to defend his 2nd position from the relentless attack of Kimi.

David Coulthard brought the Red Bull team to the fourth position behind the Finns and Giancarlo Fisichella, in the other Renault, although he qualified better than Heikki Kovalainen, managed a 5th position. Felipe Massa took a disappointing 6th position after being penalised for overtaking under safety car in the early stages of the race. However, his last-gasp duel with BMW's Robert Kubica left many of us breathless as the two took swipes at each other viciously before coming up to the start-finish line. Vitantonio Liuzzi then scored the first point for the Toro Rosso Team in the 8th position.

The most disappointed people, other than Fernando Alonso, were perhaps Mark Webber and rookie Sebastian Vettel. During the safety-car stint brought about by Alonso's crash, the two Red Bull affiliates, in 2nd and 3rd position respectively, lined up behind Lewis Hamilton while waiting for the race restart. However, an overzealous Sebastian unfortunately ploughed his Toro Rosso car into Mark Webber's Red Bull. Mark did not bother to hid his disgust as he threw his steering wheel out of the car before getting out, while a remorseful Vettel was seen in tears at the pitwall.

Results
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 2:00:34.579
02 H. Kovalainen Renault + 8.377
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 9.478
04 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 20.297
05 G. Fisichella Renault + 38.864
06 F. Massa Ferrari + 49.042
07 R. Kubica BMW + 49.200
08 V. Liuzzi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 55.600
09 A. Sutil Spyker F1 + 1:01.100
10 R. Barrichello Honda + 1:28.300
11 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
12 S. Yamamoto Spyker F1 + 1 laps
13 J. Trulli Toyota + 1 laps
14 N. Heidfeld BMW + 2 laps
15 T. Sato Super Aguri + 2 laps
Did not finish
16 R. Schumacher Toyota + 122 laps
17 A. Davidson Super Aguri + 46 laps
18 N. Rosberg Williams + 18 laps
19 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 21 laps
20 M. Webber Red Bull + 22 laps
21 F. Alonso McLaren + 26 laps
22 A. Wurz Williams + 48 laps


Source: PlanetF1