A race that, despite fantastic performances among the middle-order drivers, only served to underline the fact that F1 is a business, not a sport – and the experience of European or North American fans in particular is currently a very long way down its list of priorities.
Overall race report
Business plan requires Ferrari championship win
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Drivers
- 1. Fernando Alonso
- Put down marker for 2009 championship
- 2. Robert Kubica
- Duelled with Alonso like old hand
- 3. Kimi Raikkonen
- What? Alonso isn’t the current champion?
- 4. Nelson A Piquet
- Was it enough to save him?
- 5. Jarno Trulli
- Gave sponsors’ guests something to cheer
- 6. Sebastian Vettel
- Punched above team’s weight once more
- 7. Felipe Massa
- Should be embarrassed by FIA behaviour
- 8. Mark Webber
- Got car home driving on canvas
- 9. Nick Heidfeld
- Underperformed for the entire race weekend
- 10. Sebastien Bourdais
- IRL return must look increasingly attractive
- 11. Nico Rosberg
- Reasonable showing at Toyota’s home race
- 12. Lewis Hamilton
- Even his mum couldn’t overlook this
- 13. Rubens Barrichello
- An uneventful showing amidst drive uncertainty
- 14. Jenson Button
- At least he’s beaten Force Indias
- 15. Kazuki Nakajima
- Not what Toyota had in mind
- DNF: Giancarlo Fisichella
- What fell off his car today?
- DNF: Heikki Kovalainen
- Did mechanical failure spare his blushes?
- DNF: Adrian Sutil
- Needs to find himself better drive
- DNF: Timo Glock
- Anonymous exit from Toyota home boy
- DNF: David Coulthard
- Didn’t even make it round once
Teams
- 1. Renault
- Might keep team on 2009 grid
- 2. BMW Sauber
- Poised to exploit opportunity that arose
- 3. Ferrari
- Nothing good to say – say nothing.
- 4. Toyota
- Could have done with better race
- 5. Toro Rosso
- Customer teams can’t get too presumptuous
- 6. Red Bull
- Pwned by Toro Rosso weekly now
- 7. Williams
- Can they continue through 2009 season?
- 8. McLaren
- It’s like Montoya’s made a comeback
- 9. Honda
- An open invitation to Alonso, eh?
- 10. Force India
- Should last until first Indian GP
Thumbnail image from http://wordle.net