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Lewis Dominates China, Ferrari Looked Lost

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Lewis Dominates China, Ferrari Looked Lost

All Lewis needs now is a third place or above to win the WDC. His car was in a class of its own at China. But what happened to Heikki? His brakes were bad from the start? It's hard to believe such a top-notch team would have such a simple problem.

Anyway, back to Lewis: If he scores fourth, and Massa wins, it becomes a tie. Massa wins by victories and it is clear Ferrari has got a team order in place. Kimi did his best to stay behind Massa, but had a really hard time doing so because of the pressure from Alonso.

Massa will have fresh horses at his home GP and also will have no competitor within his team. Heikki will have a fresh motor as well.

Alonso and the Renault are on par with the McLaren from last year. He finished third in Brazil last year. Lewis came in a lap down from second on the grid. Kimi of course won. Massa moved over for him last year, clearly faster than Kimster, and we know Massa can be faster in F2008 on any given Sunday—it just boils down to tyres on the Ferrari.

McLaren has enjoyed more consistency with the Bridgestones in this area. I am sure Bridgestone will not be bringing their two hardest compounds that they had at China, and Ferrari probably started making calls to Japan Saturday night to make sure of this.

It remains to be seen, due to the lack of inconsistency, if McLaren will be allowed to play their joker engine for Lewis. I think the FIA needs to make a ruling on its own accord for last race joker engine play; that Mfg should be awarded for the last race if they haven't played their joker; and that Lewis should be allowed to have a fresh motor.

Remember the brake check that Alonso gave Hamilton on the very first lap? Then Hamilton's gearbox issue and a crudely thought out pit-stop strategy destroyed his bid for the championship. Robert Kubica is now out of the WDC but could be a big factor in the race—as is Alonso. Both McLaren and Ferrari have got to be praying.

McLaren have really got all their eggs in one basket. With Lewis considering they couldn't give Kimi a reliable ride, they lost him and then they lost Alonso last year with inter-team politics, giving up that much talent for a rookie F1 driver.

They go into Brazil with the same pressure for their driver but much more for the Constructors Championship. Two DNFs have got to have McLaren worried, or they just aren't giving Heikki a good ride. But, why would they shoot themselves in the foot for a chance at the Constructor's Title? It just doesn't make sense.

It just leads you to think how frenetic McLaren is and how their past behaviours have hurt them. What is the one key consistency in their self-destructive tendencies? Ron Dennis perhaps?

Scuderia Ferrari were flawless in China, but they have had a horrid year, especially with Massa's engine woes. Then, they Shanghaied themselves at Shanghai, and have some really bad inconsistencies with the chassis.  

So, what a showdown in Brazil.

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