Fernando Alonso continued his good performance after Singapore, as he won again in Fuji. This was his second in a row win, this season, after he stated in the beggining of the season that it is very difficult to be even in the podium this year. His teammate Nelson Piquet Jr, was 4th, proving that Renault team has made big steps of improvement. Robert Kubica managed to keep the second place, after a battle with Kimi Raikkonen, gaining 8 points, as his main rivals Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa were far behind him. Considering that Lewis Hamilton was out of the points, Robert Kubica got back in the fight for the championship just two races before the end, giving more interest to this fantastic season.
Kimi Raikkonen was 3rd, completing the podium. Jarno Truli got the 5th place with his Toyota and Sebastian Vettel was 6th. Felipe Massa was 7th, gaining two points and closing the gap with Lewis Hamilton. Mark Webber got the 8th place taking the last point.
The race has been a great one once more. We have seen battles and overtakings, but we have also seen things being decided outside the track. The stewards had plenty of work to do, once more. Their decision may have been correct but I think we all agree that we need more in track battles, than decisions out of it.
Also there are some conclusions after this race. The first one is that Lewis Hamilton, lost his focus in the race and is risking the title one more time, like he did last year. Is he going to loose it again? We have two more races to find out.
The second is that Kimi Raikkonen has a big issue with his performance. He has proven that he can be fast, as he has made the most fastest laps in race this season. Unfortunately he just seems unable to keep his pace during a whole racing session. Maybe it is because of his tyres' performance curve, maybe he is unlucky, or maybe he started losing his cold blooded temper which helped him avoid mistakes in the past.
The third is that Renault made a big step forward, and has given a chance to Alonso to prove his quality. The spaniard played a big role of course as he currently is one of the best evolution, and setup pilot in the grid. Looking at Renault's performance during the last races, we can say that Alonso will be staying with the team for the next year, as his other options are nowadays looking poor, in terms of performance.
So the championship moves forward to its end, and we believe we will watch a grand finale in the remaining two races.
Just two more races before the end of the championship and everything can happen. With three drivers fighting for the championship it is interesting to wait and see the surprises this championship is keeping for us.
The results are as follows :
01 F. Alonso Renault 1:30:21.892
02 R. Kubica BMW + 5.200
03 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 6.400
04 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 20.500
05 J. Trulli Toyota + 23.700
06 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 34.000
07 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 39.200
08 F. Massa Ferrari + 46.100
09 M. Webber Red Bull + 50.800
10 N. Heidfeld BMW + 54.100
11 N. Rosberg Williams + 1:02.000
12 L. Hamilton McLaren + 1:18.900
13 R. Barrichello Honda + 1 laps
14 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
15 K. Nakajima Williams + 1 laps
Did not finish
16 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 46 laps
17 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 51 laps
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 58 laps
19 T. Glock Toyota + 60 laps
20 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 67 laps
Update:
Sebastien Bourdais took a 25 sec penalty as a result of his incident with Felipe Massa, and demoted to 10th place from sixth. That means that Felipe Massa gained another place and got promoted to 7th place. That means that the gap between him and Lewis Hamilton is now only 5 points, with two races remaining.
