The German Grand Prix returns to the Nurburgring for the first time since 1985, and comes at the optimum time. Red Bull have leaped ahead of the Brawn's, and McLaren no appear to have a package that actually works.
Of course, the Nurburgring is famous for the monstrous 14-mile Nordschlieffe that Formula One used to embrace, but as fears for safety grew larger, the current three-mile incarnation was built. Some call it boring, some say it is too say, I think it is a brilliant circuit that can throw chaos at any point.
I'm right too, chaos is almost a necessity here. One prime example is the unbelievable 2007 European Grand Prix, and a race which will go down in history as possibly the craziest race we have seen in this century.
The start was a classic Nurburgring scramble, everyone fighting for one piece of tarmac, particularly the BMW's, who managed to collide with each other at turn two. When Kubica spun, he hit Lewis Hamilton in the process.
Hamilton had started in 10th after a crash in qualifying, but managed to get to fourth place, but the contact with Kubica produced a rear tyre puncture, forcing him to struggle back to the pits.
To make matters worse, it began to rain as soon as the drivers came through turn two, and got progressively heavier.
As the leader, Kimi Raikkonen, came into the pits he lost control of his F2007 and slid across the pit entry, forcing himself to continue on for one more lap before pitting.
A few others bravely stayed out, but one person had every right to soldier on, because he was on intermediate tyres already.
That man was rookie Markus Winklehock, competing in his first and only Formula One race to date. His Spyker team had anticipated the rain and decided to bring him in at the end of the formation lap and gamble on the weather.
The gamble paid off, and Winkelhock calmly took Kimi Raikkonen at the hairpin for the lead of the race. But, the rain was getting even heavier, and soon turned into a gigantic thunderstorm.
Due to the undulation of the track at turn one, a small river began to form. Unfortunately, Formula One cars do not double at canoes, and as drivers approached turn one, they started to slid off the circuit at into the gravel.
Jenson Button was first, sliding out of fourth place, then came Adrian Sutil, followed by, of all people, Lewis Hamilton. More drivers arrived in the most expensive car park in Germany.
One particularly hairy moment came when the safety car was deployed. The driver, Bernd Maylander, went by the rule-book and chose to wait at the try of turn one to pick up the leader, Winklehock, to lead the drivers round the circuit, but cars were still out of control.
Vitantonio Luizzi exited the pits in his Toro Rosso and subsequently spun at high speed, and was heading straight for Maylander, but he was watching him rear-view mirror.
Maylander managed to plant his foot on the throttle in time to avoid been smashed into by Luizzi, who then made gentle contact with the tractor. The said tractor then removed Lewis Hamilton from the gravel shortly before the red flag was thrown down.
After the restart of the race, it was business as usual for most of the race, that was until the final eight laps. Yep, the rain was back.
Felipe Massa was leading Fernando Alonso, but Massa was struggling in the wet, Alonso saw an opportunity and simply knocked Massa out of the way in a brilliant move.
After the race they had a furious row, but Alonso was the better of the two on that day.
Anyway, on to this weekend.
He's finally done it, Mark Webber finally has a pole position, and he has been the fastest all weekend here. Weather permitting, he is a dead cert for the win as it still appears that Brawn still can't make the car work in cold conditions.
McLaren have finally figured out the way their car works, although only for Lewis Hamilton, for now at least. They only managed to produce one new diffuser, with the second coming in Hungary for Heikki Kovalainen. Hamilton lines up fifth on the grid, with the potential to be back on the podium for McLaren.
The star of qualifying, for me, was Adrian Sutil. A simply stunning performance all through the weekend, with Force India now appearing to have a car that can seriously think of Q3.
Giancarlo Fisichella would have been right with Sutil had he not been held up multiple on his qualifying laps.
So, my predictions:
- Mark Webber
- Jenson Button
- Sebastien Vettel
- Lewis Hamilton
- Rubens Barrichello
- Adrian Sutil
- Felipe Massa
- Nico Rosberg
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