The Monaco Grand Prix has left the drivers’ championship race looking quite open, as three drivers have now each scored two victories.
Lewis Hamilton has a narrow lead in the drivers’ championship but Ferrari’s constructors’ championship lead is largely intact.
Hamilton’s second win of the year puts him three points ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who in turn has a single point’s advantage over team mate Felipe Massa.
Robert Kubica’s fifth top four finish in a row means he is within six points of Hamilton:
Here are the drivers’ championship points in full:
Lewis Hamilton 38
Kimi Raikkonen 35
Felipe Massa 34
Robert Kubica 32
Nick Heidfeld 20
Heikki Kovalainen 15
Mark Webber 15
Fernando Alonso 9
Jarno Trulli 9
Nico Rosberg 8
Kazuki Nakajima 7
Sebastian Vettel 4
Rubens Barrichello 3
Jenson Button 3
Sebastien Bourdais 2
David Coulthard 0
Anthony Davidson 0
Giancarlo Fisichella 0
Timo Glock 0
Nelson Piquet Jnr 0
Takuma Sato 0
Adrian Sutil 0
Meanwhile McLaren have moved back ahead of BMW in the constructors’ championship while Ferrari retain a 16 point advantage.
Ponzonha
25th May 2008, 16:58
We are having a nice season so far. I really see Lewis and Kimi as candidates for the Championship. I don’t think Massa is able to keep a good performance thorough all the season. Kubica is the big question now. He is the a great pilot but either he is not fast enough or the car is not ready to win a race. Nevertheless, he is the third option for me. It’s not the first time that we see a champion without winning a race in a motorsport…
Ago
25th May 2008, 18:26
Yep nice season, and a lot of changes in the top 3 after every race !
However figures should not be interpreted to quickly…
McLaren are still behind (after these 6 races McLaren had 86 points last year and Ferrari 74) by 33 pts in the championship and by 30 pts to Ferrari (McL was 14 pts in front and are 16 pts behind) compared to last year. Remember the championship is 18 races… So to win at this stage we can only assume that McLaren has to bag 30 more points in the 12 races to come. That to me is a challenge !
The conclusion is clearly that McLaren is badly missing Fernando Alonso who had taken home 42 points at the same stage last yeat and Heikki only 15 so far…
For the drivers the situation is a far better and can be easily improved Lewis (-4), Felipe (-9) and Kimi (+4). I will not dismiss Massa as quickly as Ponzonha does for a couple of reasons.
– After these 6 races last year Massa had taken all his victories of the 2007 year (Bahrain/Spain/Turkey)but he is only 9 points behind (34/43) and I believe he will win again more than once this year.
– I suspect that after his unexpected pole in Monaco Felipe might have got more confidence in his own abilities…
Number 38
25th May 2008, 18:52
Massa was clearly in control of this race, He drove VERY well in the early wet laps. Even late in the race but the tyre change on lap 57 doomed him. He likely should have struggled on the intermediates and saved second place, was that his call or the race manager? Still he did his personal best lap on the last lap, he never let up.
He’s better than most will acknowledge.
Robert McKay
25th May 2008, 19:17
Massa was impressive. I sad in the live blog that Kimi’s drive is what I would have expected from Massa. Massa has improved a lot even over the course of this season.
Kubica is the wild card, though. It would be great if he could get a win in the next couple of rounds, keep scoring consistently, and really join the title fight proper.
rahzamkhan
25th May 2008, 20:02
Everyone is talking about Kimi late collision with Sutil. I don’t know I am right or wrong but has anyone noticed it like me or not. On the first corner, Massa gave way to Lewis and blocked Kimi.
I think both Ferrari were supposed to be running parallel till first corner but Massa moved from his way to Kimi way to blocked Kimi and gave way to Hamilton to gain 2nd position.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
25th May 2008, 20:09
I don’t think so – Raikkonen just got a slow start, Massa moving across had nothing to do with Hamilton passing Raikkonen.
Pink Peril
26th May 2008, 2:15
I think that Kubica will come into championship contention sooner rather than later. Remember if it wasn’t for the collision in Melbourne, he would be a lot further along in his quest.
George
26th May 2008, 3:12
Massa, lest we forget, drove a largely excellent race today. If the cards had fallen better he could have finished second. You can’t really jump on his one mistake – many more were made by many others, and he recovered superbly from it. Just his luck to be on a wet Monaco circuit with an inspired Hamilton on a charge. Of course, if it had have been dry… who knows? We never will.
What is interesting is that Kubica’s consistent scoring has kept him just, just, just in the running. If (and it’s a big if) BMW could take that final leap forward into genuine race winning contenders, the championship chase could take a wholly unexpected twist.
Raikkonen had a day to forget, but I’m sure he will bounce back. Kimi is not dominating in the way some predicted however – rather, he is having another patchy first half of the season, much like last year. I’m not sure he’ll be sweating yet – firstly, it’s just not his style and secondly, he knows how far back you can come from to win the title and he’s a lot closer than that right now…
Lewis has regained the momentum he had lost in those difficult early races following Melbourne – and he was imperious at Montreal last year. He needs to take every win he can get in this mid-season – although it did look closer in Turkey, he must still fear what the Ferrari’s will be capable of on the fast sweeps of the summer at Spa, Silverstone, Magny Cours and so on.
Jonesracing82
26th May 2008, 8:12
I am the 1st to admit that since Malaysia, Massa has proved me wrong!
if he can keep up his good current form he can be a serious title contender!
Even at Monaco he suprised me!
how ironic if Kubica won at Montreal in the race he was nearly killed in last year!
so far been a very good season, lets hope it continues!
how dull the race would have been if they still had those driver aids!
good riddance to them……..
TomZ
28th May 2008, 19:34
With all respect to Kubica I don’t think he’s got a car to win WDC or even to be a major threat to Ferrari or McL. So far in every race at least one driver from those 2 teams had a problem: Australia – Rai,Mas engine, Malaysia – Mas spin, Bahrain – McL moved back 5 pos, Spain – Kov accident, Turkey – Kov – tyre damage, Monaco – Kov start, Rai – penalty. But this will not last for ever.
Dorian G
30th May 2008, 16:23
I agree with Tomz regarding Kubica. I don’t believe at this stage that he’s a title contender (only due to his car, it’s simply not fast enough……….yet!) though hopefully he could win a race this year (which I firmly believe is possible). I rate Kubica as one of the most naturally talented drivers in the game at present. At this point, I still think the clever money’s on Raikonnen for the title but Massa and Hamilton could win it too.