The sixth race into Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel’s rookie year saw Ferrari topping the Constructors’ Championship. Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikonnen won the first race of the season while his teammate, Felipe Massa achieved victory in Bahrain and Spain. McLaren had taken P1 in Malaysia and Monaco that year with Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton took pole position with a time of 1:15.707, followed by teammate, Alonso with a time of 1:16.163. With a front row lockout for McLaren, Hamilton took the lead off the starting line. Alonso ran wide, allowing the BMW Sauber driver of Nick Heidfeld to overtake him.
Jenson Button suffered a gearbox issue, forcing him to retire from the starting grid. On lap nine, the Toro Rosso of Scott Speed retired due to clipping the rear wing of Alexander Wurz’s Williams.
Alonso had a damaged car, resulting in him running off the track another three times. On lap 15 going into turn one, he fell further away from his teammate and by lap 18 he had fallen to fourth. The pit stop window had opened, Heidfeld pitted on lap 20, promoting Massa up to second after overtaking Alonso. Two laps later, the race leader pitted and was able to re-join in third.
Spyker driver, Adrian Sutil caused a safety car due to crashing at turn four. As the safety car was deployed on lap 22, the pit lane closed. However, Alonso and Nico Rosberg had to pit to refuel. They both received a 10-second penalty. The pit lane reopened and the rest of the grid pitted. Massa and Giancarlo Fisichella would later be disqualified for the mistake of leaving the pit lane while the red light was on.
On lap 26, Robert Kubica hit the back of Jarno Trulli’s Toyota as the race restarted. In the accident the car lost three wheels and suffered major damage to the sidepods. He came out of the incident with a sprained ankle and concussion.
The safety car was deployed for the second time. It was then deployed for a third and fourth time due to debris from Christijan Albers’ crash on lap 49 and Tonio Luisi crashing into the wall of champions on lap 55. They both made it a double DNF for Spyker and Toro Rosso.
Lap 37 saw a thrilling battle between Trulli and Rosberg. As they were going into turn one, they both were able to synchronise their spin off the track without touching each other. That lap also saw Anthony Davidson pit because he claimed a beaver had damaged his front wing, it was in fact a groundhog. David Coulthard, who was driving for Red Bull at the time, had to retire due to a gearbox issue on lap 38. With 16 laps to go, Trulli and Wurz were battling. Trulli tried to pass and his front track rod was clipped, resulting in a crash.
With the chequered flag closing in, Hamilton had miraculously not sustained any damage, despite the amount of retirements and safety cars. The Williams driver, Wurz also had managed to gain 16 places. Takuma Sato, Super Aguri driver was able to overtake the Ferrari of Raikkonen and also overtook Ralf Schumacher. Later, on lap 67 Sato passed Alonso, putting him in P6.
On 10th June 2007, the chequered flag flew for Hamilton. His first, but certainly not last, victory in his Formula One career. He went on to win a further three races, finishing second overall in his rookie season. He became and remains the most successful rookie to date.
Written by Chloe.
Featured Image Credit: cdn.24.co.za
The Fastest Sector 