RUMBLING V8: The Wrecker

What could've been an historic Grand Prix for the fledgling Force India team was destroyed by a foolish mistake by Kimi Raikkonen. His drive wasn't worthy of a defending Champion and his mistake was frankly rookie material. I hope he gets suitably reprimanded for his reckless driving that not only ruined a competitor's race but also put an unwary life into risk at 180 mph. Fisichella made a far better overtaking manoeuvre in the same place in the past. He didn't crash into the driver in front of him and he actually made the move stick. Look what damage Raikkonen has inflicted upon Force India: if not for the incident, Sutil would've finished at least 5th. Those 4 points would have put the team level pegging on points with STR and Honda. Level on points with a car designed by a far higher funded team and a factory team. It was not only the points, it was the adulation that the team would've got back home, the sponsorship money, the increased coverage, which was reduced to shards of carbon fibre by Raikkonen. Of course, Raikkonen didn't do it on purpose. However, reckless drivers have no place in F1, which is what Raikkonen seems to be becoming. Massa comprehensively outpaced his team mate in this race and it has to be mentioned at this point that he was ridiculed by many to be a no-Raikkonen-material and a struggler in wet conditions and he put all of those into shame. I must confess that I too didn't think Massa would be this competitive in wet. Massa ran rings round Raikkonen in the wet and tricky conditions. Raikkonen for some reason doesn't seem to be the same Raikkonen of 2005 or 2006. If he had been, he would not have let his team mate dominate him and wouldn't have made silly mistakes. At the end of the day, I pity Adrian and Force India. Adrian Sutil was really superb to watch. His onboard views showed the controlled aggression-that was crucial to keeping the car on the narrow dry line that started to appear-befitting a thinking driver. He extracted everything out of his tricky-to-drive car but still kept it on the track. That's no ordinary fear when almost all other drivers, in better cars, made all sorts of mistakes.

And, what of the race winner, Lewis Hamilton. He put in a class drive to take the lead of the Championship. I now hope the title goes to either Massa or Hamilton. Formula 1 titles are prestigious and it should go to a deserving and thinking driver. Unlike Raikkonen of this race. This race is the second time as far as I can remember that Raikkonen showed himself undeserving of his status.