- By the time Kimi Räikkönen pits at the end of lap 2, Felipe Massa, leader of the people who pit, has caught up and is right behind Kimi because the weather conditions are so bad. It’s amazing to think that dry tires were 23+ seconds a lap slower than intermediates, but this proved it.
- Felipe Massa is now pulling away from Alonso, who is being caught by Jenson Button in the Honda.
Lap 3
- Markus Winkelhock now has a 36 second lead that he can use for the rest of the race, as he is not out of sync with pit strategy.
- By the beginning of lap 3, the Severe Thunderstorm now hits with full power, even hail is falling for the first time in an F1 race (remember that the sun was out on the formation lap).
- Turn 1 is about to become a parking lot.
- 6 cars crash in seconds, starting with Jenson Button who had just driven from 17thto 4th. Then Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg, Scott Speed, and Anthony Davidson (who doesn’t completely go in the gravel and gets away after a minute or so).
- Lewis Hamilton luckily (and skillfully) Just misses hitting the wall. Others come flying by, tapping him (but not damaging him) in different places, as he sits in the gravel.
- Now the Yellow Flag/Safety Car comes out.
- The Safety Car can’t even drive.
- Now Vitantonio Liuzzi spins, Almost hits the Safety Car, and Does hit the crane (first time ever I’d say) that’s heading to help any of the 6 cars to hoist them back onto the track. Issue is – Who gets First Precedence?
- Lewis Hamilton gets very lucky and the crane gets him first (this may have happened because he was still in his car as others had abandoned them). He gets going and is just behind the Safety Car and leader Markus Winkelhock, who has now lost his 36+ second lead.
- Since Markus Winkelhock knew the Safety Car was deployed, he pit for Full Wets and still of course retains the lead after he comes out. He’s now ahead of a McLaren (Hamilton) in a Spyker by 1 lap on lap 3!
- Flood on the track – and yes, this all happened in just 3 minutes. What a storm, What timing.
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