The GSOH - Round One - 1962 vs 2008

[crmalcolm]

The next match of the GSOH bracket puts 1962 up against 2008.

Summaries from Wikipedia:

1962 - Ferrari were completely eclipsed in 1962, partly as a result of internal upheavals, partly because the British teams had made great progress. BRM finally came up well with Graham Hill taking the championship after a season-long battle with the revolutionary monocoque Lotus 25 driven by Jim Clark. Dan Gurney gave Porsche their only Grand Prix win at Rouen, and Cooper won their last race until 1966. Lola made their first of their sporadic forays into Grand Prix racing, and Jack Brabham emerged as a constructor, scoring his first points in his own car. Stirling Moss, widely considered to be the greatest driver to never win the championship and one of the greatest drivers in motorsport, was due to drive for Ferrari this season however he crashed heavily in an off-season race at Goodwood and never raced in Formula One again. Ricardo Rodr?*guez, age 20 years 123 days, became the youngest driver to score championship points with his fourth place in Belgium, a record which stood for 38 years until Jenson Button, aged 20 years 67 days, broke it at the 2000 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Two drivers were to die during this season. Mexican Ricardo Rodr?*guez during the non-championship Mexican Grand Prix at the Mixhuca circuit, and noted Rhodesian motorcycle rider Gary Hocking during the non-championship Natal Grand Prix at the Westmead Circuit in South Africa. Ferrari started the year well, with Phil Hill in second place after having been on the podium in the first three races. However, personality differences, loss of most of the engineering team in the 1961 "walk-out", a prolonged industrial strike, led to Enzo Ferrari withdrawing his team from the last two races.



2008 - Hamilton took pole and his fifth career victory at the first race in Australia. BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld finished second while Williams's Nico Rosberg sealed his first podium finish. The race saw only seven drivers finish the race, reduced to six after Honda's Rubens Barrichello was disqualified for exiting the pits under a red light. Despite an engine problem, Toro Rosso debutant Sébastien Bourdais completed over 90% of the race distance, earning him points in seventh.

A grid penalty for impeding drivers and a pit stop mishap left Hamilton in fifth place at Malaysia, while Räikkönen took his 16th career victory after he qualified in second position. BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica finished second for the first time with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen third.

Hamilton qualified third at Bahrain despite a crash, with Kubica taking his first pole position. Massa won the race with teammate Räikkönen in second. Kubica made it onto the podium, while Hamilton had a bad race, finishing 13th. He was back in the points at Barcelona, while Räikkönen took Ferrari's third consecutive victory, Massa making it another 1–2.

Massa took pole and won for the third successive Istanbul race, Hamilton splitting the Ferraris on the podium. At Monaco, Ferrari locked out the front row with Massa on pole, but on a bad day for Ferrari, with Räikkönen ruining what could have been Sutil's chance to score, Hamilton won the race despite a mid-race barrier scrape causing him a puncture. Kubica finished second and Massa was third.

Hamilton was on pole position at Montreal for the first time since the beginning of the season, a drought of five races, however a pit lane mishap involving himself and Räikkönen eliminated both drivers from the race. Kubica (who also got caught up in the mess but made it through safely) won for the first time with teammate Heidfeld second. Räikkönen started the French Grand Prix on pole, but exhaust problems allowed teammate Massa to get the better of him, and he took his third season victory. Hamilton won back-to-back at Silverstone and Hockenheim. Kovalainen took advantage of Massa's engine failure to take his first career victory at Hungary.

The new Valencia Street Circuit was the new host of the European Grand Prix, Massa taking pole and winning with Hamilton second. At Belgium, Hamilton qualified on pole and finished in first, though he received a 25-second penalty for gaining an advantage during a scrap with Räikkönen. Massa was the classified winner.

Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel became the youngest ever pole man and victor after a stunning weekend at Monza. The race saw a downfall for the big teams, Kovalainen doing a good job for second.

Singapore hosted its first ever F1 race and F1's first ever night race, taking place at the Marina Bay Street Circuit. Massa qualified on pole, however, the race was to be a major blow to his championship. On lap 12, while Massa was leading, Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. purposely crashed (see 'Race-fixing controversy' below), although Piquet never released this until dropped from the team after the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, assisting teammate Fernando Alonso, who went on to win. He was victorious from a fuel feed problem in Q2 leaving him 15th on the grid, though he still out-qualified Piquet Jr. Rosberg finished on the podium for the second and last time in 2008. Massa was leading ahead of Hamilton, however, when he pitted under the safety car his fuel hose remained attached meaning that the pit crew had to run down the pit lane to detach it. This ruined Massa's race putting him in last position while Hamilton gained 6 points for 3rd place.

Alonso won again in Japan with Kubica second. Hamilton started the race on pole, however he was given a drive through penalty for running wide at the start and shortly afterwards was knocked into a spin by Felipe Massa. He was back to winning ways for the first time since Hockenheim, though, victorious at Shanghai.

At this point, Hamilton had a seven-point lead over Massa, meaning if Massa was to be the victor at his home race in Brazil, Hamilton would need to finish fifth, and he was holding this position though being stalked by Vettel, who eventually passed him on lap 69, as Massa won to momentarily take the title. Hamilton eventually regained fifth place, however, by passing Glock, who was struggling on dry tyres, and finished fifth to take the title by one point from Massa.

In a scandal that became known as "Crashgate" in the media, during the 2009 season around the time of the Belgium Grand Prix, allegations by former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. about his crash in the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix led to charges of race-fixing against Renault and the departure of team boss Flavio Briatore and engineering director Pat Symonds.

[BTCC frog]

1962 was good for being the emergence of Hill and Clark, but there weren't really any particularly memorable races that year.

2008 on the other hand had the famous wins for Kubica, Kovalainen and Vettel, crashgate, and the classic finale in Interlagos between Hamilton and Massa, as well as a tense title fight all season. My vote goes to 2008.

[S griffin]

Yes 2008 was another season where so many drivers had their day in the sun. Of the ten teams that did the full season, only Force India didn't get a podium. Plenty of wet races to spice it up and at classic venues too (Monaco, Silverstone, Spa, Monza and Interlagos). Plus the way the title came down to the last corner. "Is that Glock?" still sends shivers down my spine

Let's not forget it was finally a season without TC.