[Race] The GROAT - Round 2 - 1998 Spa-Francorchamps vs 2008 Interlagos

[crmalcolm]

1998 Spa-Francorchamps
The race would be held in extremely wet conditions, conditions that naturally suited the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher.

As the cars left the grid, Jacques Villeneuve got a phenomenal start moving up into second position. Eddie Irvine did well to move into third ahead of Schumacher whilst David Coulthard had a terrible start dropping to fifth from second. It was about to get a whole lot worse for Coulthard when coming out of the first corner, he lost control of his car slamming into the barriers then rebounding onto the circuit into the path of the oncoming cars. Unable to avoid the out of control McLaren, the cars then piled into Coulthard causing a chain reaction of collisions down the field as nearly the entire field was wiped out in an enormous accident. Aside from Coulthard, Eddie Irvine, Alexander Wurz, Rubens Barrichello, Johnny Herbert, Olivier Panis, Jarno Trulli, Mika Salo, Pedro Diniz Toranosuke Takagi, Ricardo Rosset, Shinji Nakano and Jos Verstappen were all caught up in the accident.

Verstappen was able to drive his crippled Stewart back to the pits, but all the other driver's were eliminated on the spot, their cars well and truely wrecked. The race was unsurprisingly stopped in order to clear away the twelve car wreckage of the start. Eddie Irvine was notably limping on his way back to the pits whilst Rubens Barrichello nursed his arm, blood had visibly soaked through his overalls near his right shoulder.

Barrichello could be seen arguing with race doctor Sid Watkins about taking the restart, the Brazilian visibly feeling well enough to take the start. Ultimately however he was denied by the race doctors to take the re-start, although only suffering minor injuries he was denied taking the second start as a precaution.

Aside from Barrichello, Mika Salo, Olivier Panis and Ricardo Rosset would not take the restart, their cars wrecked in the accident and their teammates getting the spare car the three driver's were unable to continue to take part.

Eventually the carnage was cleared and the eighteen surviving cars took the re-start. The rain had not subsided and the second start would be held in similar torrential conditions to the first start.

On the re-start, Damon Hill got a phenomenal start taking the lead into the first corner, Michael Schumacher attempted to overtake Mika Häkkinen around the outside but instead Häkkinen spun his car right into the oncoming field. Johnny Herbert had nowhere to go and crashed into the McLaren driver, but all the other drivers were able to avoid the stricken cars of Häkkinen and Herbert. Both cars were eliminated from the race, for Häkkinen this was a devastating blow for his championship ambitions.

Up front Irvine had made another strong start to move into second but then conceded the position back to teammate Schumacher going into Raidillon. Coulthard who had made another poor start was then rammed from behind by Alexander Wurz's Benetton, the two cars spinning into the gravel trap. Wurz was eliminated from the race whilst Coulthard was sent to the back of the pack.

The incidents of the first lap saw the race officials bring out the safety car to clear away the debris. Under the safety car it was Hill leading Schumacher, Irvine, Jean Alesi, Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

On lap three the racing got underway and Hill sprinted away into the lead ahead of Schumacher. Villeneuve then managed to overtake Alesi going into the first corner for fourth place. A few corners later Frentzen had also overtaken Alesi.

Giancarlo Fisichella then spun dropping a position to eighth behind Ralf Schumacher's Jordan.

Villeneuve then made a mistake going into the bus stop chicane, losing positions to Frentzen and Alesi. Meanwhile up front Schumacher began to close the gap and apply the pressure to Hill's Jordan. Eventually on lap 8, Schumacher was able to overtake to take the lead of the race. The same lap saw Jos Verstappen retire with an engine failure.

The race then began to intensify, Eddie Irvine whilst chasing down Damon Hill then spun his car colliding with the barriers at Fagnes, Irvine losing his front wing and bargeboards. Irvine drove his crippled car back to the pits for repairs, rejoining the race in eleventh position. The same lap saw David Coulthard pit from eleventh to move into the full wet tyre from the intermediate.

Toranosuke Takagi then spun into the barriers at the first corner, bringing an end to his day. Lap eleven saw Ralf Schumacher come into the pits from sixth position for full wet tyres.

Frentzen then spun off the circuit at Stavelot, allowing Jean Alesi to take third position.

Lap 14 saw the two race leaders of Schumacher and Hill come into the pits for full wets followed by Alesi, Frentzen and Fisichella. Villeneuve who was still on the intermediate tyres in the continually deteoriating conditions then spun off the circuit going down the kemmel straight. Villeneuve's car significantly damaged was forced to stop.

Ralf Schumacher was now up to third position behind teammate Damon Hill, having made the early decision to come in for full wets.

Lap 17 saw Esteban Tuero make his retirement with gearbox failure.

At the front, Michael Schumacher was consolidating an enormous lead, however disaster was to strike on lap 25. Schumacher coming around to lap the McLaren of David Coulthard slammed into the back of Coulthard as the McLaren driver slowed to allow the leader through. In the wet spray Schumacher did not see Coulthard collided with the back of the McLaren ripping the front right wheel off.

Schumacher drove his crippled three wheeled car back into the pits and out of the race. Coulthard also came into the pits, his rear wing ripped off in the incident with Schumacher. Schumacher feeling angrily and agrieved following his accident with Coulthard, stormed down the pits and into the McLaren pit lane in an effort to get to Coulthard. His own Ferrari mechanics as well as the McLaren mechanics barring his way to his confrontation with Coulthard. After being unable to get to Coulthard, Schumacher stormed back to his own pit-box close to tears.

More bad news for Ferrari when the sole running car of Eddie Irvine spun off the circuit whilst trying to apply pressure to Heinz-Harald Frentzen's Williams.

Following the incidents with the Ferrari's, Damon Hill led a Jordan one-two ahead of Ralf Schumacher, Jean Alesi, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, Giancarlo Fisichella and Pedro Diniz.

Ralf Schumacher then came in for his second pit-stop in the race, a lap later race leader Hill came into the pits. Fisichella then collided at full speed with Shinji Nakano's Minardi going into the bus stop chicane. Fisichella ripping the entire left hand side pod off his car, leaving fire spurting from the side of his car. Fisichella exited his wrecked car without injury as Nakano crept back to the pits in his crippled Minardi.

The safety car was then brought out for a second time following Fisichella's accident. Following the second safety car only six cars remained in the race with Hill leading Ralf Schumacher, Alesi, Diniz and Jarno Trulli. During the safety car period, David Coulthard was brought back out on track, his car sufficiently repaired albeit rejoining multiple laps down. The following lap, Minardi brought Shinji Nakano back onto the track.

The final laps saw little action, Ralf Schumacher was commanded by his team to hold station behind teammate Damon Hill and maintain the one-two finish for the Jordan team. Hill brought his car home to take his first victory since his win in Japan with Williams in 1996. Ralf Schumacher was second to take Jordan's first ever win and their first ever one-two finish. Jean Alesi came home to take his first podium of the season with Heinz-Harald Frentzen fourth, Pedro Diniz fifth and Jarno Trulli taking Prost's first points of the season.


2008 Interlagos
Arriving in Brazil it was Hamilton who held the advantage in the Championship, holding a seven point lead over Massa. Likewise, they're teams McLaren-Mercedes and Ferrari would arrive with the Constructors Championship to fight for, with the latter starting the finale on the upper-hand with eleven points in hand.

Qualifying for the finale saw Massa gain an advantage, as he claimed pole position ahead of Jarno Trulli. Hamilton would manage to secure fourth behind Massa's teammate Kimi Räikkönen, with the Brit knowing that fifth place in the race, regardless of Massa's finishing position, would get him the title.

Rain would plague race day, with a late-shower resulting in everyone bar Robert Kubica changing their tyres to intermediates on the grid. The Polish racer instead gambled on slicks, although he would dive into the pits at the end of the formation lap having found the conditions too tricky, meaning he started from the pitlane.

The start saw Massa sprint into an early lead, with the rest of the field getting away in grid order to leave Hamilton in fourth behind Räikkönen. At the back, meanwhile, David Coulthard's final race ended at the second corner when he was tapped into a spin by Nico Rosberg, which pushed him into Kazuki Nakajima and broke his suspension.

Nelson Piquet, Jr. then had an accident all on his own at turn three to bring out the Safety Car, with the circuit already drying enough for some to gamble on slicks even behind the SC. When the race resumed on lap five Massa retained the lead from Trulli, Räikkönen and Hamilton, while Rosberg and Jenson Button made early stops for slicks a lap later.

The latter duo's strong pace soon saw the rest of the field flood into the pits, although there would be some major changes to the order. Indeed, while Massa had retained the lead, Sebastian Vettel had leapt into second, Fernando Alonso had jumped to third, Räikkönen moved ahead of Trulli but dropped to fourth and Giancarlo Fisichella streaked up from last to fifth, and was harassing Räikkönen having been the first to stop.

Massa and Vettel exchanged several fastest laps at the head of the field, as Hamilton found himself stuck in sixth behind Fisichella. Indeed, it was only on lap eighteen that the Brit finally elbowed his way through, before being promoted an additional place when a low-fuelled Vettel stopped on lap 27.

The order settled after that, with the second round of stops seeing Massa retain the lead ahead of Alonso, while Räikkönen remained in third ahead of Hamilton. That order would hence give Hamilton the Championship title, and even a charging Vettel could do little to affect the title picture.

However, the skies over São Paulo were darkening, and on lap 63 the rain returned, prompting Heidfeld to dive in for inters very early. The rain increased and Alonso and Räikkönen dived in on lap 65, with Hamilton and Vettel following in a lap later, while Massa remained out until lap 67.

Timo Glock was the only driver to remain on slicks, and hence jumped to fourth in the field as the rain intensified in the final two laps. Hamilton, meanwhile, had slipped to sixth as Vettel had elbowed his way ahead of him, and hence started the final lap looking as though he would miss-out on the title for a second season.

Massa duly crossed the line to claim the race victory, while Alonso and Räikkönen completed the podium. Hamilton, meanwhile, would remain in sixth, until he and Vettel passed a very slow Glock, whose pace had collapsed on the final lap, at the final corner, promoting the Brit to fifth. That simultaneously made Hamilton the World Champion by a single point, and broke the hearts of Massa, Ferrari and the 80,000 strong home crowd.

[S griffin]

While Spa was a dramatic race from start to finish, nothing can beat the 2008 Brazilian finale for a title that was decided at the last. Still makes the hairs stand up watching

[crmalcolm]

Another tie-break - 2008 Interlagos gets my vote.