The 2007 season is perhaps the most fascinating year in the history of Formula 1.
Intense rivalries. Bright new stars. Crazy races. Turmoil between teammates. A cheating scandal that led to the largest fine in the history of professional sports. And a three-way points battle that went all the way to the checkered flag of the final race.
There have been seasons where the racing has been better, the rivalries have been even crazier, and the memories burned brighter. But there has been no season in all of motor racing quite like 2007 – with the destinies of three drivers being changed forever.
To fully understand how big the 2007 season was, it’s important to set the stage first.
The 2006 season was the last of Michael Schumacher’s reign as king of the sport, dramatically announcing his retirement in the post-race press conference following his win in the Italian Grand Prix. (Although he would eventually return years later, by that point he wasn’t quite the same driver.)
The following race, Schumacher won the Chinese Grand Prix (which ended up being his final win) to take the points lead with two races to go.
At the Japanese Grand Prix, Schumacher’s campaign to go out with one last championship went out along with his engine. He had led the majority of the race, but his DNF handed the lead of the race to the driver he was tied with in the point standings.
Fernando Alonso had won the 2005 championship in his age 24 season driving for Renault, and his win that day in Japan all but ensured a repeat in his age 25 season. All he needed to do was finish in a point’s position (note: F1 used a points system in from 2002-2009 that awarded points to the top eight finishers of a race on a 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 system) in the Brazilian Grand Prix, and the Spaniard was easily able to.
Alonso finished second to Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate, Felipe Massa. Massa took a very popular win in São Paulo, as the lone Brazilian on the grid that season, but it wasn’t enough to stop Renault from also winning the constructors’ championship. Schumacher finished fourth and spent what was supposed to be the last few laps of his F1 career chasing down Alonso and third-place Jenson Button.
Alonso, in his joy of winning his second straight championship, was also saying goodbye. Before the season, he had signed to drive for McLaren on a three-year contract, beginning in 2007.
2005 JAPAN
GRAND PRIX RACING AT ITS ABSOLUTE FINEST
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