Alonso takes surprise Malaysia victory (April 8, 2007)
| 1
|
| |||
|
0 votes 
0 comments
| 2007 Formula One Season | |
 -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - -  -  -  -  -  -  -  - 
| |
 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix
| |
|---|---|
| Date | April 7, 2007 |
| Round | 2 |
| Track | Sepang |
| Laps | 56 |
| Weather | Hot & Sunny |
Sepang hosted the second round of the 2007 Formula One season.
The Williams seemed to return to form in practice, with Nico Rosberg in particular finishing high up the grid. Conversely, Renault and Honda struggled, continuing their slump in form.
Qualifying reflected this too. Alexander Wurz was the highest profile casualty after Qualifying 1, a gearbox problem leaving him unable to improve on 20th place. The two Spyker’s were in the last two slots, and Rubens Barrichello couldn’t get out of the bottom six either, coming in in 19th.
Qualifying 2 saw both Renault’s go out – with Heikki Kovalainen beating Giancarlo Fisichella. The Honda of Jenson Button also went out.
Qualifying 3 saw a great top 10 shootout. As the teams changed for new tryes, the McLaren and Ferrari were locked in a battle. First, Kimi Raikkonen went over the line in pole position. Fernando Alonso stole it just seconds later. Lewis Hamilton then went over the line in fourth, before a frantic Qualifying finished with Felipe Massa going over the line in pole position, leaving Alonso second, and Raikkonen third. Nick Heidfeld was fifth for the improved BMW, and Nico Rosberg was sixth for the improved Williams team.
The race started slightly later than usual, 3pm local time to allow a slightly later start for the European audience. The Ferraris had a poor start as Fernando Alonso led from Lewis Hamilton, with pole-sitter Felipe Massa third. Massa was then challenging Hamilton and looked to overtake him into Turn 4, before outbraking himself and flying off track, giving second back to Hamilton. Massa dropped back to fifth, behind Nick Heidfeld, and it was Kimi Raikkonen’s turn to try to pass Hamilton, but he was held up. This allowed Alonso to lead easily going into the first round of pit stops.
After the opening stops, Hamilton was shorter fuelled and not only pulled away from Raikkonen, but was catching Alonso, reducing his lead to within 8 seconds. Further back, Massa was still stuck behind the BMW of Heidfeld, with Rosberg driving excellently in sixth. The Renault’s were also working there way through the field towards the points positions.
The final stop saw no drama, and Alonso went clear after it to extend his lead and take the win. Behind him though, Raikkonen was catching Hamilton by half a second a lap, and reeling him in for second place. Rosberg unfortunately had to retire his Williams with a hydraulics failure. Hamilton managed to hold off Raikkonen on the last corner to secure second place, with Raikkonen third. Massa was a frustrated fifth behind Heidfeld. Giancarlo Fisichella was sixth for Renault, and Kovalainen got his first Formula One point when he finished in eighth place.
Fernando Alonso took the World Championship lead by two points from Kimi Raikkonen, with Lewis Hamilton two points further behind him. McLaren had a big lead in the Constructors’ Championship however, over the Ferraris.
| Pos/Lap | Driver | Team | Time/Retired | Grid | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 
| Fernando Alonso | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:32:14.930 | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | 
| Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | + 17.5 | 4 | 8 |
| 3 | 
| Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | + 18.3 | 3 | 6 |
| 4 | 
| Nick Heidfeld | BMW-Sauber | + 33.7 | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | 
| Felipe Massa | Ferrari | + 36.7 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | 
| Giancarlo Fisichella | Renault | + 1:05.6 | 12 | 3 |
| 7 |
| Jarno Trulli | Toyota | + 1:10.1 | 8 | 2 |
| 8 |
| Heikki Kovalainen | Renault | + 1:12.0 | 11 | 1 |
| 9 | 
| Alexander Wurz | Williams-Toyota | + 1:29.9 | 19 | |
| 10 | 
| Mark Webber | Red Bull Racing-Renault | + 1:33.5 | 10 | |
| 11 |
| Rubens Barrichello | Honda | + 1 lap | 22 | |
| 12 |
| Jenson Button | Honda | + 1 lap | 15 | |
| 13 | 
| Takuma Sato | Super Aguri-Honda | + 1 lap | 14 | |
| 14 | 
| Scott Speed | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | + 1 lap | 17 | |
| 15 |
| Ralf Schumacher | Toyota | + 1 lap | 9 | |
| 16 |
| Anthony Davidson | Super Aguri-Honda | + 1 lap | 18 | |
| 17 |
| Vitantonio Liuzzi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | + 1 lap | 16 | |
| 18 | 
| Robert Kubica | BMW-Sauber | + 1 lap | 7 | |
| 42 |
| Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | Hyraulics | 6 | |
| 36 |
| David Coulthard | Red Bull Racing-Renault | Brakes | 13 | |
| 7 | 
| Christijan Albers | Spyker-Ferrari | Gearbox | 20 | |
| 0 |
| Adrian Sutil | Spyker-Ferrari | Collision | 21 |
| Pole Position - Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 1:35.043 |
| Fastest Lap - Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, 1:36.701 |
 |
| 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008 |
| Tracks: Sepang |
Other Links
Date
April 8, 2007
