German GP: Sublime Hamilton wins at Hockenheim

Sunday 20th July 2008

Lewis Hamilton put in a storming drive to win the German Grand Prix, after his McLaren team created more work for him during a Safety Car period.

The McLaren driver led the grand prix from the start, easily putting time between himself and second placed Felipe Massa as he looked to be in a class of his own.

However, what looked to be certain victory appeared to slip from his grasp when the Safety Car came out on Lap 35 after Timo Glock crashed heavily.

All the front runners pitted except Hamilton, which meant that when the race re-started Nelson Piquet Jr and Felipe Massa were right behind him on the track but unlike Hamilton, they did not need to stop.

Hamilton rejoined in fifth place and started a memorable charge to the front...

Race Report
With the ambient temperature at just 22C and the track at 32C, it was not going to be the blazing hot afternoon that Ferrari wanted. The good news for Felipe Massa was that the rain looked like holding off too.

As the red lights went out after a long delay, polesitter Lewis Hamilton slotted across in front of Felipe Massa and took the lead into Turn 1. Further back, Robert Kubica (P7) managed to slot his BMW in front of Kimi Raikkonen (P6) to take a place off the line.

Third on the grid Heikki Kovalainen got a much faster line through Turn 1 and tried an abortive move round the outside of Massa into Turn 2. Running down towards the hairpin, the Finn lost any chance of moving past Massa by hitting the brakes early. Behind, Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso were taken aback and the pursuing Robert Kubica used the opportunity to nip past them both into 4th place.

So as they crossed the line on the opening lap it was Hamilton from Massa, Kovalainen, Kubica, Trulli, Alonso, Raikkonen, Vettel, Webber, Glock and Nick Heidfeld in 11th place.

An impatient Fernando Alonso wanted to get past Jarno Trull and on Lap 4 had a look down the inside into the 130mph Turn 1. It would have been an epic move if he'd made it stick, but he backed out and got off the throttle at the last minute, allowing the chasing Raikkonen to close and make a pass on the exit of Turn 2. Raikkonen up to 6th.

At the front Lewis set about opening as big a gap as he could, and was able to do it at a regular half a second a lap - or more. By Lap 6 he'd reduced the Fastest Lap to 1:16.420 and increased the gap to 4.6 seconds. On Lap 7 Hamilton's 1:16.376 was a second quicker than Massa's lap.

By Lap 12, Hamilton was lapping in 1:16.566 with Massa putting in a 1:17.642 and edging the gap out to 8.5 seconds. On Lap 17 he set the Fastest Lap at 1:16.039 which gave him an 11 second advantage. At which point he dived into the pits for his first stop. The fuelling time indicated that he was heading for a long middle stint. Kubica pitted from 4th place.

As Hamilton exited the pits he was in front of 4th place Jarno Trulli but lost the place after a moment's lapse of concentration. Trulli pitted immediately and so his progress wasn't checked. Lewis had elected to take on another set of hard tyres, but when Felipe Massa came in on Lap 20 he chose the softer Bridgestone.

Kovalainen pitted on Lap 21 and Raikkonen a lap later. With some cars electing to go a long way into the race before pitting the order on Lap 24 was now, Hamilton in the lead, 8.5 seconds in front of Massa, who had the yet-to-stop Timo Glock behind him. In fourth place was Heikki Kovalainen, the yet-to-stop Nick Heidfeld in 5th and Kimi Raikkonen in 6th.

Raikkonen had jumped JarnoTrulli in the stops and the Toyota driver was 7th in front of Sebastian Vettel in 8th who'd got ahead of 9th place Fernando Alonso in the pit-stops. Mark Webber followed in 10th.

The official F1 timing screens were having a lot of fun during the race, especially with Heikki Kovalainen's car. On Lap 14 they had flashed up that he had 'STOPPED' the race and on Lap 26 they announced that he was 'IN PITS'. He was still out, lapping as usual. His sector times remained constant all afternoon scoring a Personal Best in sectors 1 and 3 for the remainder of the race...

Lewis set about opening the gap to Massa again, but this time his rate of acceleration was not so great. By Lap 34 he was only 11.7 seconds in front and his speed adavantage was only 0.1 to 0.2 a lap.

Timo Glock had elected to run a very long opening stint in his Toyota and was up to P3 before he needed more fuel at the end of Lap 29. He managed to rejoin ahead of the Vettel vs Alonso battle in P7 and looked to be in a strong position.

He then threw it all away on Lap 35 by running wide at the exit of the final turn, running too far over the kerbs, destroying the suspension and bouncing backwards across the track before slamming his Toyota gearbox into the pitwall barriers.

With debris strewn across the track and Glock slow to get out of the car it was clear that the Safety Car would be deployed immediately. Now it was time for the team strategists to rush into action.

When the pitlane opened for drivers to take their pit-stops behind the Safety Car, the majority of the field dived in for their final fuel and tyres. The Ferraris double-stopped Massa and Raikkonen. The big shock was that McLaren left leader Lewis Hamilton out while only stopping Kovalainen.

Had they brought him in, Hamilton would have had to run the final laps on the softer tyre that he dislikes and so the team elected to leave him out. They banked on the fact that with a lot of fuel on board he had time to open up a gap at the re-start. Perhaps what McLaren didn't bargain for was the length of time it took the marshals to clear the track.

As the drivers dived for the pitlane exit, Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso was released right alongside Fernando Alonso's Renault, much to the Spaniard's anger. It's hard to reconcile the FIA's petty fines for using the wrong refuelling procedure when an action like this is overlooked by the stewards.

The cars reformed behind the Safety Car and it was Hamilton in front from a lapped Button (who didn't unlap himself) Heidfeld, Piquet, Massa, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Alonso, the smoking Red Bull of Webber, Rosberg and Kimi Raikkonen who had slumped to 12th place ecause of the double-pit-stop.

Webber's car gave up the ghost on Lap 40 and we were racing again on Lap 42 - with an angry Alonso keen to get past Vettel as soon as he could. Heikki Kovalainen pulled off a majestic overtaking move around the outside of Robert Kubica at Turn 8 opposite the Mercedes fans on Lap 43. His fellow Finn, Kimi Raikkonen was making even more rapid progress through the field making short work of Rosberg, Alonso and finding the time to wave to Sebastian Vettel as he swept past him on the back straight.

Hamilton, who needed to stop again, was trying his hardest to sprint away at the front, Heidfeld too, but Nelson Piquet Junior was on a one-stop strategy and wouldn't have to come in again. On Lap 46 the order was: Hamilton, Heidfeld, Piquet, Massa, Kovalainen, Kubica, Raikkonen, Trulli and Vettel. What's more, Massa was not catching Piquet.

Hamilton had stretched out a 15.7 gap on Lap 50 when he suddenly dived into the pits for his final stop. He emerged in only 5th place behind Kovalainen. It would need a great effort to get the win from here.

While Nick Heidfeld was setting the fastest lap of the race at 1:15.987 on Lap 52, Hamilton was diving past his team-mate into the hairpin, but while Heidfeld was due in again, he would need to pass both Massa and Piquet for the win. He had 15 laps left to do it.

Lewis's advantage was that he had a car that was about a second a lap quicker than the Ferrari. By Lap 55 the gap to Massa was just 0.6 of a second and on Lap 57 Lewis got the perfect tow down to the hairpin and stick his McLaren up the inside, carefully running Felipe out wide and onto the run-off area (a la Schumacher).

Massa wasn't finished, though, and tried to get back at him through Turn 8, but only succeeded in losing time and putting himself into the clutches of the chasing Nick Heidfeld. The German had managed to pit and emerge in P4 ahead of team-mate Kubica and now wanted Massa's P3.

Hamilton set off after Nelson Piquet and did the same professional job at the hairpin on the Brazilian on Lap 60, just as Raikkonen got the better of Robert Kubica.

In the closing stages, Piquet put in a series of Personal Bests to keep his Renault clear of the Massa vs Heidfeld battle, as Hamilton took an impressive win. Despite some distinctly old rubber on his F2008 Massa kept hold of the final podium place.

Heidfeld took 4th, Kovalainen an unthreatened 5th and Raikkonen 6th place. Robert Kubica's 7th place probably heralded the end of his title challenge, while Vettel's single point for 8th place will not have pleased Fernando Alonso who spun towards the end of the race.

It was a fine win for McLaren, their first since Mika Hakkinen's victory in 1999. That year Hakkinen went on to be World Champion. With McLaren's current car advantage it could be a very good omen.

Results
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:31:20.847
02 N. Piquet Jr Renault + 5.586
03 F. Massa Ferrari + 9.339
04 N. Heidfeld BMW + 9.825
05 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 12.411
06 K. R�ikk�nen Ferrari + 14.483
07 R. Kubica BMW + 22.603
08 S. Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso + 33.282
09 J. Trulli Toyota + 37.199
10 N. Rosberg Williams + 37.658
11 F. Alonso Renault + 38.625
12 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 39.111
13 D. Coulthard Red Bull + 54.971
14 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 59.093
15 K. Nakajima Williams + 1:00.003
16 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 1:09.488
17 J. Button Honda + 1 laps
Did not finish
18 R. Barrichello Honda + 16 laps
19 M. Webber Red Bull + 37 laps
20 T. Glock Toyota + 42 laps