And the F1 World Champion is????

[Vezna31]

Actually...we don't know yet.     As if this season wasn't already screwed up enough, we now have a new drama.
The official race results are Raikonen, Massa, Alonso with Hamilton finishing in 7th.  That gives Kimi 1 more point than both McLaren drivers and the championship.  BUT WAIT...both BMW and Williams are being investigated for fuel irregularities.  Under rule, the temp of the fuel cannot be more than 10 degrees different from the ambient air temp.  Apparently, Rosberg & Kubica & Heidfeld (who finished 4-6) were 12-14 degrees different.  The stewards have the authority to disqualify those drivers.  That would move Hamilton from 7th to 4th and give him the championship.  The race stewards decided not to penalize confirming Kimi's title, but now McLaren has informed the FIA that they are filing an appeal.  If the FIA international court of appeal overturns the race steward decision, Hamilton will be champion.

This is crazy.  I think Kimi drove awesome over the last few races and really earned the title.  It would be wrong to give it to Hamilton because 1) it is already suspect whether his car had an advantage over Ferrari from spy-gate and 2) he totally cracked under pressure, blowing the race in China on his own mistakes.  It would truly become a tainted title if it was given to him, even though he had an incredible season and totally outdrove his double world champion teammate.  God...F1 should rename themselves S2KCA   

[Vezna31]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/63569

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/071022/2/vuuq.html

[Vezna31]

From an article I just read:

"A precedent was set 12 years ago at this race when Michael Schumacher, then driving for Benetton Renault, and David Coulthard who at the time was with Williams, were initially disqualified as their fuel did not conform to samples approved by the FIA after finishing first and second respectively. However, a week later the FIA chose to reinstate the drivers' points, while the teams were not allowed to keep the points in the constructors' championship."


I hope for the same outcome if anything does happen.  It would mean the drivers won't be disqualified and Kimi stays champion.

[indiandi]

This season has been better than any soap opera.

[monkeymaker]

OMG, what a mess.   

[Vezna31]

Kimi Raikkonen - World Champion!
Wed 24 Oct, 01:20 PM


Kimi Raikkonen landed at Zurich airport in the afternoon. These are his first words as world champion back in Europe: "I am so happy it almost hurts! This is like a dream come true."

"This is something I wanted to reach since I've been a child. I was seven years old when I first saw a race track: it was an old, small kart circuit called Bembole; just five kilometres from where I lived. It was like a second home for me. Now, 22 years later, I have many favourite race tracks, but the most important one is Interlagos, more than 5,000 kilometres away from home!"

"I've always said that the aim of my career is to become world champion. I came very close a couple of times and in the end everything turned out fine. We have always given our best to try to win. Doing that in sport you have to always push to the max until the end. You never know what may happen in a race; you only have to look at the last three races and you know what I'm talking about. Fuji was really terrible for us: we were at the back of the pack and our race was over almost immediately."

"We left Japan and were 17 points behind, without the possibility to fight back. I think I can say that not more than ten people outside of the team would have bet on us. But we didn't give up. In a certain sense we believe in miracles. China was our joker: we won and the driver on the top of the standings didn't make any points. That gave us some hope, but there weren't many chances for us left. The last race was really emotional. The first four drivers in the field didn't retire, but there was a tough fight for positions between us and our competitors. Maybe I had the best start of the season and maybe I could have passed also Felipe at the first corner, but I had a plan and it didn't involve a fight with my teammate. I could see in my mirrors that Hamilton was next to Alonso in turn 3 and that he had a problem. I realized that we had the chance we had hoped for: this first lap seemed to be decisive for the whole championship."

"It was a great race and I think that I've never experienced such emotions in the cockpit. Everything worked perfectly fine. It was like a birthday present from heaven! We could have had more pace and I want to thank Felipe again for his support: he did what he could do, just like a perfect teammate. As a team we couldn't do more than a double-win, but when I had crossed the line the most important thing to know was what Hamilton had done. I asked for information over the radio but there was just silence for a couple of seconds: finally Chris told me that he came in seventh and my heart nearly went into flames due to happiness! This is it: now we're world champions!"

"I want to thank all those who have been close to me over all these years, all my fans. Thanks to the team: it is fantastic being a part of the greatest team of all times. This year I really enjoyed Formula One more than ever before. I dreamt about winning the title with Ferrari and I bet that this is every driver's dream. This team never stops: they work at the max and never give up. We had some difficult moments, but we always managed to come back. And this shows the quality of the people working there. Thanks again! But I also want to thank the sponsors and partners: together with them we really have the package of a world champion!"

"Now I go to the Finali Mondiali at Mugello, to celebrate with all of Ferrari: it's my first time there and it's the perfect moment to get there. And then it's time for a holiday, the first as world champion."

[monkeymaker]

Congrats to Kimi and Ferrari.  They did a helluva job catching the McLarens, and I think it's way cool that the winner isn't driving for a proven cheat.