Formula One title comes down to last race

SHANGHAI, China — The Formula One season will go down to the final race with three drivers chasing the title. Lewis Hamilton missed his chance to clinch by gambling on one lap too many on bad tires.

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari won the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday, while Hamilton’s chances of becoming the first rookie to capture the title were put in jeopardy as he ran off the track in slippery conditions.

Fernando Alonso finished second to close within four points of his McLaren teammate. Hamilton now has 107 points, Alonso 103 and Raikkonen 100.

It will be the first time since 1986 that three drivers will enter the final race with a chance to take the title.

Hamilton and his McLaren team took a chance with his wet-weather tires deteriorating in drying conditions. They chose to wait through another lap of light rain before pitting. At the end of lap 31, Hamilton — nearly faultless all season — slid off into a gravel trap at the top of pit lane.

“Although my tires were in poor condition, we took a joint decision to get through the last rain shower before changing to dry tires,” Hamilton said.

“I was trying to be careful and as a result was not really fighting aggressively with Kimi. It would have worked out perfectly but I then made a mistake coming into the pit lane and that was it.”

With Hamilton out of the race, Raikkonen continued in the lead, followed by Alonso.

It was the fifth win of the season for Raikkonen. Alonso and Hamilton have four each. If there is a tie, the number of victories will break the tie. After that, the number of seconds will be counted.

“When I got out of the car, I was obviously gutted for both myself and the team,” Hamilton said. “I haven’t made a mistake all year but I am over it now.

“There is still one race to go so I can still do it. I will now focus on attacking in Brazil where I will do everything I can to bounce back.”

It was the first time this season that Hamilton failed to finish a race, but Alonso and Raikkonen acknowledged the young Brit remained the favorite to win the title.

“He has the capacity to do well in Brazil,” Alonso said. “Everything is looking good for him.

“For the championship, I still need something dramatic to win. With a normal race it will be impossible.”

Raikkonen would need even more unusual circumstances to clinch the title in Brazil, but was buoyed by Sunday’s victory.

“We just have to win the race and see what happens to the others,” Raikkonen said.

“We saw today anything can happen. We are just in a better position than we came here but still it will be difficult.”

Scelzi edges Capps: Four-time series champion Gary Scelzi earned one of four berths in the two-race championship, beating teammate Ron Capps in the Funny Car final Sunday in the Torco Racing Fuels NHRA Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park in Dinwiddie, Va.

Scelzi, who jumped from sixth to second place, was joined in the winner’s circle by Top Fuel’s Doug Kalitta and Pro Stock’s Dave Connolly, who has won five straight races overall to take the No. 1 seed in the Countdown to 1.

Capps secured the fourth and final berth in Funny Car with his semifinal win over Tim Wilkerson. Tony Pedregon and Robert Hight, first and third, respectively, will be the other two finalists in the Funny Car Countdown to 1.

The drama in Top Fuel played out in the first round when fourth-place Brandon Bernstein ousted fifth-place Bob Vandergriff to cement his position in Top Fuel’s final four. Larry Dixon, Rod Fuller and Tony Schumacher are the other three finalists.

In Pro Stock, Greg Anderson will be the No. 2 seed and the Pro Stock final four was filled out by No. 3 Jeg Coughlin, who drove his way in with a first-round win Sunday, and Allen Johnson, who clinched the fourth and final Pro Stock berth when his teammate eliminated fifth-place Kurt Johnson in the second round.

The top four drivers who remain alive in the Countdown to the Championship will have their points reset in 10-point increments, from 3,030 to 3,000, before heading to Las Vegas (Oct. 26-28) and Pomona (Nov. 1-4) for the two-race championship.

Hamilton started from the pole knowing he needed only to finish ahead of Alonso to become the first rookie to win the drivers’ title, but rain began to fall just as the drivers began the warm-up formation lap.

Eight laps into the race it stopped raining and a dry line emerged on the track. By that time Hamilton was leading, more than five seconds ahead of Raikkonen and nine up on Massa. Alonso was 11 seconds back.

Hamilton was the first to pit after 15 laps, giving Raikkonen the lead for four laps. Raikkonen managed some fast laps with clear track in front of him, and by the time the Finn had emerged from his own pit stop, Hamilton’s lead was down to four seconds.

Rain began to fall again, and Hamilton was having difficulty controlling his car on deteriorating wet-weather tires, allowing Raikkonen to close onto his tail.

By the 28th lap they were wheel-to-wheel. Hamilton fended off two passing attempts, but Raikkonen got by on the third.

Just three laps later, Hamilton’s race was finished.

He was coming into the pits to change to dry-weather tires, attempted to take the mild turn into the pit lane at speed, but lost traction and left the tarmac after twice trying to correct.

The McLaren slid into a gravel trap near the pitlane entrance. He remained in his car trying to get some bite from his tires or a push from the Chinese race attendants but eventually accepted his fate and calmly made his way back to the garage.

Raikkonen was eight seconds ahead at the start of the 35th lap, and he maintained that buffer the rest of the way as the rain held off.

Twenty-year-old Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso finished fourth and Jenson Button of Honda was fifth, followed by Vitantoni Liuzzi of Toro Rosso in sixth.

In 1986, drivers Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell went into the final race of the season in Adelaide, Australia, capable of winning the title. Mansell held a 7-point buffer going into the race, but retired after a spectacular tire failure, allowing Prost to win the drivers crown.