SINGAPORE
And so, to Singapore, and our second virginal event of the season. Unlike the shabby mess of Valencia though, Singapore will be remembered as one of the best weekends of the season. Partly for the racing, and partly for the way it looked. The first ever F1 night race was a joy to behold, the twisting track and the surroundings of downtown Singapore looking glorious in the light of a thousand floodlights, to say nothing of the glinting cars themselves. In qualifying, Lewis Hamilton overcame an almighty scare in Q2, sneaking through to the final session by the skin of his pearly whites, to take second on the grid. But he couldn't live with the speed of Felipe Massa, who took the pole by over 6 tenths of a second. Despite the newness of the track, the grid had a familiar look to it, with the Ferraris, McLarens and BMWs monopolising the front three rows.
The race though, gave anything but a normal result. For the first 14 laps, Massa led comfortably, with Kimi Raikkonen looking like he was preparing to pass Hamilton at the first stops, but then Nelson Piquet Jr made what was only his 13,421st mistake of the year, crashing out and precipitating a safety car. The silly rules saw Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg pit "illegally" and garner drive throughs. But the main drama was in Massa's pit, the Brazilian getting the all-clear while his fuel hose was still attached, and farcical scenes then played out, as Massa took the hose with him, having to park at the end of the pit lane, while his mechanics, cheered on by McLaren's own pit team, ran the length of the lane to cack-handedly wrench the broken fuel nozzle off his car. All of this left the advantage with Fernando Alonso, who assumed the lead once Rosberg had served his drive through, and reminded us all of what he could do given the chance by racing off to an imperious win. Rosberg managed to hold off Hamilton for second, having benefited from lapping in clear air while the stewards dithered over issuing his penalty, while both Ferrari's ended with no points, Massa already out of it, and Kimi crashing out while scrapping with fourth placed Timo Glock towards the end, officially ending his title hopes around 7 races after they had unofficially ended.
Championship contenders - Hamilton 84pts, Massa 77pts, Kubica 64pts, Raikkonen 57pts.
JAPAN
Leading the championship by 7 points, Hamilton seemed to have taken a massive step towards securing the title in the thrilling climax of the qualifying session at Fuji, as he scrambled his way onto pole position, pipping Raikkonen at the last. Heikki Kovalainen took third and Alonso fourth, leaving Massa flailing about in fifth. Surely the scene was set for Hamilton to all-but secure the title?
Well, one thing we do know by now is that Hamilton is nothing but a sucker for taking things to the wire, and he conspired to guff away his advantage in spectacular style. After a tardy start, he then went flying down the inside into turn one, forcing half the field off the track and garnering a drive through for his efforts. Already out of position and with the penalty to serve, his afternoon went from bad to worse on lap 2, as he tried a move on Massa which resulted in the Ferrari man tapping the McLaren into a spin. Desperate to prevent more accusations of favouritism, the stewards quickly handed Massa an identical penalty. And that stopped the complaining. By which we mean it didn't. At all. Still, the comical mishaps of the chosen two left Fernando Alonso and Robert Kubica in a fight for the lead, one that Alonso decisively won during the first stops. The Spaniard went on to put in a flawless drive to pick up his second win in a row in an absolute heap of a car, leaving fans to wonder what might have been in 2008 had he have been properly competitive (i.e. not bailed out on McLaren). The title hopefuls finished well down after their errors, Massa picking up two points in 7th, and Hamilton ending out of it in 12th. Kubica, meanwhile, ended second to give himself at least a vague championship hope heading into the final two weekends.
Championship contenders - Hamilton 84pts, Massa 79pts, Kubica 72pts, Raikkonen 63pts.
CHINA
The field reconvened just a week after the chaos of Japan in China, and despite the three-way thrill of the championship, the weekend proved to be a damp squib for everyone save Hamilton's hopeful fans. The Brit once again strode to pole position ahead of Raikkonen and Massa, though his team mate Kovalainen had been looking on course to get up front with him, but made a hash of his last run and ended 5th. Another promising position for Hamilton, but as he had shown in the last race, anything could still happen.
In the end, nothing happened. Literally nothing. Well, not literally nothing, Hamilton took the lead at the start and dominated proceedings, in a polar-opposite performance from Fuji. Massa kept his championship hopes as alive as he could with second place, after Kimi Raikkonen went all Boobens and let the Brazilian past. Kubica, meanwhile, was never really at the races, ending the race, and his championship, down in 6th place. Kovalainen continued his miserable season with retirement, while Alonso continued his strong end to the season with 4th.
Championship contenders - Hamilton 94pts, Massa 87pts, Kubica 75pts, Raikkonen 69pts.
BRAZIL
And so, it all came down to Massa's home race. The seventeen races to date had failed to significantly separate the two title hopefuls, and it finally came down to whether or nor Hamilton would conspire to throw the championship away again, as he had done in 2007. Throughout the weekend, the tactics from McLaren erred decisively on the side of "cautious". While Massa stormed to his sixth pole position of the season in qualifying, the McLaren pair went for a conservative setup and ended up 4th and 5th with Hamilton and Kovalainen. Although Hamilton only needed 5th or better to secure the title, the perils of racing in the midfield pack seemed to be a risk that he could ill-afford to take.
The race then. Words probably can't do it justice, but suffice to say it will go down as possibly the closest fight for the world championship in history. There have been tighter points fights, and equally dramatic denouements, but none quite so close to the end as this. Massa put in one of the drives of the season to dominate proceedings up front despite the treacherous conditions as it rained, then stopped, then rained again. Meanwhile, Hamilton's hopes ebbed and flowed like nothing else. From the start, he was fourth, then McLaren made a bad call on returning to slicks and he dropped to seventh, then he forced his way back up to fourth, with Sebastian Vettel all over the back of him. And then, the final chaotic scenes played out. The rain returned, Hamilton fell to fifth behind the dry tyred Glock, he fell to sixth as Vettel passed him, Massa crossed the line the world champion, before Hamilton caught and passed the impotent Toyota at the very last corner to seal the most incredible of championships.
Championship contenders - Hamilton 98pts, Massa 97pts, Raikkonen 75pts, Kubica 75pts.
And so, that was 2008. Exciting? Yes. Frustrating? Most definitely. More a comedy of errors than an out and out thriller? At times, very much so. And yet, like a particularly average film that spends the last five minutes of run time killing off half the main characters in an orgy of spectacular action, the ending will ensure that it lives on in the memory for many years to come. It has been, at the same time, edge-of-the-seat tense, and facepalm stupid. It has been punch-the-air dramatic and doze-off-on-lap-23 dull. It has been a memorable scrap for the title, tinged by the frustration that some of the most deserving drivers weren't allowed to join in the fun. Above everything else though, it has been fun. Next year will not have to do too much to beat it in terms of quality, but will have a lot to do to match the entertainment.
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