The 2007 European Grand Prix was certainly entertaining, but in a slightly farcical way. When the rain came down, despite all the pre-race predictions of it, the teams seemed completely un-prepared. I don’t understand why nobody took the gamble of starting on intermediate (or even full wet, but that’s a much bigger gamble) tyres given the big black clouds and the on-screen predictions of imminent rain.
It looked like Kimi would be first into the pits but then he changed his mind at the last second. What was he thinking? I suppose there was a chance that it was a quick shower but it was a very slim chance.
Jenson was the first casualty, sliding off at turn one, only to be followed by six, yes SIX, other cars. When Liuzzi came spinning off, almost taking out the safety car and hitting the tractor, it was time for the race to be stopped. Why did they wait another three minutes before waving the red flag? The situation at that corner was incredibly dangerous and getting worse as more cars piled in there; it was reckless to keep the race going as long as they did.
Spyker can now say they’ve led a Grand Prix, although Winkelhof’s car was soon swarmed all over after the restart. Hamilton put in a good effort to try to get his car into the points, including an incredible and brave overtaking move on Fisi, but it was never working for him this weekend and some bad or unlucky choices left him in the dreaded 9th place.
The race was capped off nicely by Alonso and Massa almost coming to blows in the weigh-in room. Alonso realised (or Ron Dennis told him) he was being an idiot though and apologised in the press conference.
The result of this silly race is that the driver’s championship is much closer now, although suddenly superstar Kimi is languishing in 4th place as his teammate overtakes him. The rest of the season is going to be a fun fight to watch.