It was Lewis Hamilton's lowest qualifying position of his career, but should we give up on him yet? I don't think so, and this is why…
Heikki Kovalainen drove a great session all day and stuck his car on the front row of the grid. With fuel strategies taken into consideration, he could certainly get the jump on the young Toro Rosso driver to be first into the chicane and from there he can control the race and hope that his strategies are working well for him and there are no safety car periods.
So to Hamilton, what are his options?
I think for him to go on a two-stop strategy, he is making things very hard for himself. Yes, he is in a quicker car, but to go on a two-stop strategy the same as the front runners would be an uphill struggle and leaves everything to be done on the track.
Also he needs to consider the threat around him from Kubica and Raikkonen.
Because Lewis is out of the top 10, he now has all the options at his disposal. He doesn't have to start the race on his closing qualifying fuel load and set up. Only the top 10 have to do that.
He could fuel very lightly and run it out on a three-stop strategy. Yes, he would have to make one more stop, but he will be very light and overtaking will be easier and his pit stops will be very short.
Just a splash-and-dash pit stop can be done in five seconds; the way Lewis runs his tyres down, this would be an excellent option for him to consider.
Lewis' second option would be to go on a one-stop strategy, fuel heavily and get the jump in the field's second round of pit stops.
This means he would have to take it easy when running on the soft tyres, but when on the hards he will be heavy and will have to work very hard and hope that the raw performance of the MP4-23 is enough to help him make the passes he needs.
I think realistically, with either the one- or three-stop option, he can look to getting a points finish and why not even a podium?
Lewis loves a challenge and certainly can overtake with the best of them, providing all passes are done legally and the FIA are in a good mood, then he will be laughing.
He can forget about Felipe Massa for this race; the best he can hope for is a reliability problem with the F2008 and maybe bringing his GP to an early end. Apart from that, Massa WILL outscore him in the race and the championship table will have a new leader.
He should just concentrate on damage limitation and remember that Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen are the ones he is racing, as they are in the same boat as he is come lights out on Sunday. It will be VERY interesting to see what strategies they try.
As a McLaren fan, I want to see Heikki dominate the race from the start. I want to see Lewis going for glory on a three-stopper and hopefully get a top five, maybe a podium with some bad luck on other driver's parts.
One thing is for sure, DONT BLINK… You might just miss it, its going to be a VERY interesting race from lights out to chequered flag.
Ben, Over and Out!
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