You thought with the Long Beach Grand Prix in our back yard we’d forget about Formula One?! Not bloody likely!  Anyway lets get on with it.  In the first race of the season that a Brawn GP car doesn’t take the pole is also the first race that Red Bull Racing gets its first pole position ever thanks to Sebastien Vettel.  While announcers and on lookers were surprized that Lewis Hamiton finally made it to the Q3 session Vettel was busy masterminding his blazing lap.  Once he got out of the pit he didn’t put a wheel wrong and just when it looked like Mark Webber was going to win the pole position Vettel swoops in and snatches it away from his teammate and then Fernando Alonso swoops in and takes second position away from Webber but the Austrialian still hung onto third.

Stay tuned to SPEED this weekend to watch the Shanghai GP.

Qualifying Results

1 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) 1:36.184
2 Fernando Alonso (Renault) +0.197
3 Mark Webber (Red Bull Renault) +0.282
4 Rubens Barrichello (Brawn Mercedes) +0.309
5 Jenson Button (Brawn Mercedes) +0.348
6 Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +0.651
7 Nico Rosberg (Williams Toyota) +1.213
8 Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +1.905
9 Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren Mercedes) +2.411
10 Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso Ferrari) +3.137
11 Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)
12 Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren Mercedes)
13 Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
14 Timo Glock (Toyota)
15 Kazuki Nakajima (Williams Toyota)
16 Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso Ferrari)
17 Nelson Piquet (Renault)
18 Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
19 Adrian Sutil (Force India Mercedes)
20 Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India Mercedes)

In a hard fought season between Robert Kubica, Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, and Lewis Hamilton a conclusion was finally reached over the weekend in Brazil.  As Formula 1 2008 came to a close Kubica and Raikkonen were mathmatically out of the championship chase and it came down to Felipe and Lewis.

As the points stood Lewis only needed to net a 5th place finish to lock out Felipe and secure the title.  However it looked as if the Vodafone McLaren team over compensated by litterally setting up the car and their strategy as a 5th place contender.  The plan worked out for most of the race however towards the end it began to fail as Red Bull bad-ass Sebastien Vettel snatched 5th place away from Lewis during the last 3 laps while Massa was in first place.

Due to extremely worn and graining tires combined with a wet track Lewis struggled to take 5th back from the blazing fast German but was fading fast.  Salvation came for Lewis in the last lap when Toyota driver Timo Glock fell back from 4th place also due to worn tires which allowed both Vettel and Hamilton to blow by.  This controversial occurance placed the Brit back into 5th place thus securing his championship crown as he crossed the line.

I couldn’t help but hurt for Massa as he and his team were litterally informed at the last possible moment that they had not won the championship.  Cameras captured the very moment when Felipe’s father was jumping up and down cheering then the imediate drain of joy from his face and the other red coats as they were told the unfortunate news that Lewis swooped the title away.

I also couldn’t help but get a tad emotional as I saw Lewis take the title and celebrate with his team, family, and friends.  A while back it had been a dream of mine to be the first African American in Formula 1 and to win the title.  Obviously that isn’t going to happen now and even though the media has generally tried to keep the issue of race out of the amazing story that is Lewis Hamilton I can’t help but feel proud that history was made.  If I couldn’t do it I’m happy that Lewis could.  Congrats!

Well I guess this means Alonso’s win in Singapore wasn’t just a fluke.  The Japanese Grand Prix was more of a boxing match with cars between Ferrari and McLaren.  While the silver and red were slap-fighting the Spanard shoved them both out of the way and took his spot on the top of the podium.

As the race started Lewis Hamilton decided to bum-rush his way through the two Ferraris while his teammate Hekki followed suit and ran both reds off the track.  Later on Felipe Massa returned the favor by nosing in on Hamilton in a corner which spun the brit out.  Later on Massa took out some extra aggression on Bourdais who was just minding his business but since we know how the FIA goes it was Bourdais who got the penalty instead of Massa (what a surprize right?).

In all this hub-bub (yes I said it!) Fernando and the Renault squad fought their way to the front with Robert Kubica giving chase and that was all she wrote.  Those two remained ahead of the carnage and in the end Alonso crossed the line first with Mr. Kubica right behind him.  Kubica’s second place finish keeps him mathamatically alive for the title being only 11 points behind Hamilton.

Formula 1 is fun…

Check out what Varsha and the guys had to say about the whole thing: