Background Lewis Hamilton of
McLaren led the Drivers' Championship by two points from his team-mate
Fernando Alonso, who was a further 11 points ahead of
Ferrari's
Kimi Räikkönen. After McLaren's
exclusion from the Constructors' Championship, Ferrari had been confirmed as Constructors' Champions, following their
Belgian Grand Prix one-two. They were 71 points ahead of
BMW Sauber. Three
Japanese constructors and two Japanese drivers competed in the race.
Toyota were 6th in the Constructors' Championship, whilst
Honda were 8th, behind their own "B-team"
Super Aguri.
Takuma Sato was 15th in the Drivers' Championship for Super Aguri, whilst compatriot
Sakon Yamamoto had yet to score for
Spyker F1, having debuted at the
Hungarian Grand Prix.
David Coulthard changed his helmet design for this race, choosing to use the helmet design of former
World Rally Champion Colin McRae, who had died two weeks before the race in a helicopter crash. As with the 2006 race, the event was filmed and broadcast in
high-definition by
Fuji Television for the domestic Japanese audience.
Qualifying , qualified in twenty-first position. Although the weather had dried out by the time qualifying began, the track was still wet and all the drivers went out on wet tyres. Qualifying one saw the two
Spykers of
Adrian Sutil and
Sakon Yamamoto and the two
Super Aguris of
Anthony Davidson and
Takuma Sato eliminated, along with
Alexander Wurz in the
Williams and
Rubens Barrichello in the
Honda.
Ralf Schumacher's
Toyota also collided with Yamamoto, forcing both drivers out of qualifying. Schumacher was already through to Q2, but could not set a time in the second session and so qualified 16th. Qualifying two saw the elimination of the two
Renaults of
Giancarlo Fisichella and
Heikki Kovalainen,
David Coulthard's
Red Bull,
Vitantonio Liuzzi's
Toro Rosso and the Toyotas of
Jarno Trulli and Schumacher.
Sebastian Vettel in the Toro Rosso and
Robert Kubica in the
BMW Sauber occupied row 5, just behind
Jenson Button, getting his best qualifying of the season in the Honda, and
Mark Webber's Red Bull.
Nico Rosberg qualified 6th in the Williams, but was penalised ten places for an engine change. This meant that Vettel qualified eighth, the then best qualifying ever for Toro Rosso.
Nick Heidfeld qualified 5th for BMW Sauber, and the top four was once again the two
McLarens and two
Ferraris. The Ferraris failed to get on the front row, with
Kimi Räikkönen and
Felipe Massa 3rd and 4th respectively.
Lewis Hamilton then pipped his more experienced McLaren teammate
Fernando Alonso to earn the fifth pole position of his career.
Race Due to torrential rainfall, the race was started behind the
safety car, which led the field for the first 19 laps. The Ferraris of Kimi Räikkönen and
Felipe Massa were forced to pit during the first few laps after starting on standard wet tyres, as opposed to "extreme wet" tyres, which were better-suited to the treacherously wet conditions. Ferrari boss
Jean Todt later stated that the team were not informed about the requirements prior to the race, although all other teams were. During the initial safety car period, the FIA instructed the lapped driver
Vitantonio Liuzzi to pass the field and catch up to the back of the queue as quickly as he safely could, as a way of gauging whether the track was ready for the race to begin in earnest. was the last car to actually finish, and classified thirteenth for the
Toyota team. The Ferraris dropped back to 20th and 21st positions respectively following the pit stops, and Massa pitted again on lap 15. When the safety car finally left the circuit, the two McLarens began the race proper at the head of the field, in front of the quick-starting
Sebastian Vettel. The
Toro Rosso driver had taken third place from
Nick Heidfeld, after the latter and
Jenson Button's Honda collided.
Mark Webber was in fourth by the first racing lap as a result of the collision, A first-corner spin caused
Alexander Wurz to collide heavily with
Felipe Massa's Ferrari. Wurz's car sustained heavy damage and he retired on the spot. Later in the race, Fernando Alonso crashed out, later blaming aquaplaning for the accident, which once again brought out the safety car. It was the first time that a McLaren car had failed to finish during the 2007 season. During this safety car period on lap 45, third-placed Sebastian Vettel crashed into the rear of second-placed Webber in the wet conditions, Webber retiring immediately and Vettel returning to the pits to retire. Vettel had earlier became the
youngest ever driver to lead a lap of a Formula One race (aged 20 years and 89 days) – his record was subsequently broken by
Max Verstappen (aged 18 years and 228 days) at the
2016 Spanish Grand Prix. The collision put
Heikki Kovalainen's
Renault in second place, which he managed to hold until the end of the race, despite repeated overtaking attempts by Kimi Räikkönen. It was Kovalainen's first podium finish. Räikkönen would eventually finish third, ahead of
David Coulthard in fourth for
Red Bull Racing. This was the first time that two Finnish drivers had both finished on the podium. On the final lap,
Felipe Massa prevailed in his battle with BMW driver
Robert Kubica. The
Pole had previously served a drive through penalty for colliding with Hamilton. Massa finished sixth, and Kubica seventh, behind
Giancarlo Fisichella's Renault.
Vitantonio Liuzzi finished in eighth, scoring the first 2007 championship points for Toro Rosso. but the FIA decided not to impose any penalty. ==Problems with the circuit==