NOVEMBER 21, 2004

Hamilton wins Macau heat

Lewis Hamilton won the 10 lap first heat of the Macau Grand Prix after the usual mayhem and destruction on the first lap. At the first corner Hamilton outbraved his team mate Robert Kubica with an all-or-nothing move. Kubica decided that there was no point in crashing and backed off and Hamilton only just made the corner. But behind them there was inevitable drama with Richard Antinucci, who had qualified third, making a slow start and being hit from behind by Nelson Piquet Jr. Behind them there was an even bigger crash when Kazuki Nakajimi failed to make the start and was hit by Eric Salignon, who then hit the barriers as well backmarkers Marchy Lee, Ho Pin Tung and Rodolfo Avila were also involved and the Safety Car was sent out for four laps. At the restart Hamilton was able to get away from Kubica who had to fight off Nico Rosberg who managed to scramble through to second. Kubica lost third soon afterward to Alexandre Premat but finished fourth ahead of Jamie Green, Fabio Carbone, Loic Duval, Lucas di Grassi, James Rossiter and Danny Watts. This will be the starting order today.