RBS race report
Silverstone, Great Britain 6/7/2008
Kazuki Nakajima finished eighth and claimed a single point for the RBS-supported AT&T Williams team, as Lewis Hamilton rocked Silverstone to its roots with a glorious win on home soil.
Silverstone, Great Britain 6/7/2008
Kazuki Nakajima finished eighth and claimed a single point for the RBS-supported AT&T Williams team, as Lewis Hamilton rocked Silverstone to its roots with a glorious win on home soil.
The McLaren driver, who had failed to score a point in his last two races, had his legion of supporters singing in the rain at the end of a chaos-strewn event as wet weather sent his rivals into a spin.
Hamilton finished an astonishing 68.5 seconds clear of BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, with Rubens Barrichello third in his Honda – his first podium-finish in three years. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, while team-mate Felipe Massa could only manage 13th.
Wet conditions meant fans were treated to one of the season's most incident-packed races. Williams made good pit calls to put both cars on the extreme wet Bridgestone Potenza tyre, allowing them to climb the order. However, Nico Rosberg's race was unfortunately compromised by a collision with Timo Glock's Toyota, which meant an unscheduled pit stop for a new nose.
The team had a difficult time in qualifying as a suspension problem prevented Nico from getting into Q2. However, Kazuki, starting 15th was able to achieve his fourth point-scoring finish of the season.
"It was great to be in the points again but a shame to lose seventh place to Trulli on the last lap," he said. "His tyres were in better condition than mine and he was a bit quicker than me when the track was drying out at the end."
Kazuki seems to be showing the same ability in the wet as displayed by his father Satoru. He added: "It was hard to control the car at times but it was enjoyable out there and the team made the right decision to put me on the extreme wet tyres."
Meanwhile, Nico remained philosophical after a disappointing weekend. "There were just rivers of water everywhere when the rain was at its worst," he said.
"The conditions changed every lap. We were right to go onto the extreme wets and everything was going well until I had the crash with Timo Glock. He was way slower than me but the visibility was zero in certain corners and the next thing I knew, I was in the back of him."
AT&T Williams retained sixth place in the constructors' championship and technical director Sam Michael said: "It was a mixed race for us. After a difficult first part the pit wall made some good calls on tyres and that would have enabled us to get both cars into the points but for Nico's accident. We will now look to do a better job in Germany."
Prior to the Silverstone race, FIA president Max Mosley sent a letter to the F1 teams requesting that they get involved in drafting new F1 rules for 2011 which address cost-cutting and efficiency initiatives. "The most important part was the statement that he wants to keep further downward pressure on costs," said Frank Williams. "We view the letter positively and, interestingly, Max is not saying 'I'. Max is saying please make the rules up and I hope I can underwrite them for you."
With Silverstone the home race for the AT&T Williams team, Nico Rosberg was disappointed not to be able to get out of the first qualifying session when he was troubled by a suspension problem that had afflicted him from the start of free practice. He said: "Basically the car was jumping around all over the place in the corners." Technical director Sam Michael confirmed that the team had not been able to get to the bottom of the problem and so changed all the components ahead of the 60-lap race, which Nico started from the pitlane.
The 2008 British Grand Prix was a celebration of 60 years of racing at Silverstone and 80 years of the circuit-owning British Racing Drivers' Club. It was unfortunate timing, therefore, when commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone announced that the race would be moving to Donington Park in 2010. "I'm delighted that the British GP will continue to be on the calendar," Frank Williams said. "Privately I would prefer to come to Silverstone. It is much closer to our factory staff, it's closer to Heathrow and closer to the largest number of spectators, but if it's at Donington, we will be there."
