Tuesday, November 04, 2008 F1’s greatest 30 seconds By Steve Slater Special Contributor
FOR me, in 20 years of motor racing commentary, and 10 on ESPN Star Sports, I cannot think of any more dramatic 30 seconds of motor racing than the final corners of the Brazilian Grand Prix. It was nerve-wracking, it was dramatic, it was motor racing at its very best.
Last year, Ferrari won the World Championship by a single point in Sao Paolo. This year they lost it by a single point, regained by Hamilton on the run to the chequered flag. It was the cruellest of endings for Massa, who had driven a perfect race in the toughest of conditions.
Felipe had soaked up the pressure of a nation gone crazy with F1 fever. I doubt that there was a living room or bar in the whole of Brazil that did not have their TV tuned to the race, with both the set and its audience, at full volume.
Massa handled the expectations of his home crowd as admirably as he handled the Ferrari in the wet. I have gone on record a few times this year rating Massa above Hamilton as more of the purists’ racing driver.
He’s more of a throwback to an earlier era. He drives with his heart and he’s breathtaking to watch in his best moments such as his magical pole position laps in Singapore and in Sao Paolo.
Resilience
Massa has always been fast, he’s also sometimes been erratic, but he has grown up hugely this season. His performance in the last few races has shown he is a very much different, tougher and better, driver than even at the start of the season.
His resilience was shown in Japan. After his penalty for clashing with Hamilton on the second lap, his charge back through the field showed a new steel in his driving. I’m sure he was proud to hear it described as Schumacher-esqe.
More importantly, it was the two points that he gained in Japan that gave him the final chance of the crown in Sao Paolo. I hope now that Ferrari can deliver him the car with which to challenge again for the 2009 title.
As for Hamilton, he too has run the full roller-coaster of emotions in the past few days. Not least in the closing stages of the race, when he knew that his McLaren, with a deliberately low-downforce setup to prevent others from challenging him at the end of the straights, was going to be hopeless when the rain came.
He was right. He could do nothing about the pace of the Ferraris, or Alonso’s Renault and ultimately Sebastien Vettel’s Toro Rosso.
Even then it was a wildcard strategy from Toyota and Timo Glock that so nearly ended Hamilton’s hopes.
As the rain shower turned into a proper tropical storm, Glock, who had last stopped at half-distance, was skating around the track on a set of worn-out dry-weather tyres.
Had the rain held off for one more lap, he’d have claimed fourth place and Massa would have been champion.
As it was, he finished sixth, Vettel grabbed fourth and Hamilton fifth, and with it Lewis fulfilled what he sees as ‘his destiny’.
The big question for me is now, can Hamilton be a popular champion?
While he is an awesome racing driver and a smooth PR professional, he is perceived by some as being just a little too slick. A little too smart. Dare I say arrogant?
While in London on Monday morning the British newspapers are all frothing about his success in becoming the ninth Briton to take the title, there isn’t the massive groundswell of popular support behind Hamilton that we saw when Nigel Mansell or Damon Hill took the world title. In a way, I suspect that it is because he is so much a part of the ‘McLaren machine’.
They are seen as slick, smart, efficient and in many eyes too, arrogant. It is sad because anyone that gets inside the silver walls of ‘Castle Dennis’ knows that this is a team that is just as passionate as Ferrari. It is just that they can’t seem to show it.
Think of David Coulthard. While he was at McLaren, he was perceived by the public as ‘Mr Boring’. It seemed that only the insiders could realise what a character he really is. When he went to Red Bull, we saw the true ‘DC’ and now he’s retired everyone thinks he’ll be sorely missed!
The biggest feeling though, that Sao Paolo’s stunning finale has given me is a sense of anticipation already for next year. Come March, we can look forward to the Hamilton and Massa being renewed.
A hungry Raikkonen awakening from his hibernation this year? Alonso in an on-form Renault perhaps? Vettel battling Webber at Red Bull and possibly, another major championship contender in Rober Kubica and BMW.
Roll on next year, I can’t wait!
(Steve Slater is the expert half of the popular F1 commentary duo on STAR Sports. Slater is a veritable encyclopedia of motor racing. He has been involved in the sport at many levels, including as journalist, race organizer, radio broadcaster and now commentator.
