Lewis Hamilton Wins a Tricky German Grand Prix

Qualifying

The qualifying session proved that the practice session was in some way an indication of what was to come. Kimi Raikkonen most notably being well off the racing line. Notable scalps to fall in the opening session were Rubens Barrichello and the Brazilian Nelson Piquet.

The second session saw the McLaren of Hamilton and the Ferrari of Massa swapping fastest laps and Raikkonen again looking particularly off colour with a horrible handling Ferrari. Jenson Button was another high-profile driver not to make the cut to Q3. Heidfeld suffered a continuation of his qualifying woes as well.

Raikkonen's poor pace continued throughout the afternoon, landing the Finn only sixth position. It was Massa and Hamilton taking the front row, with the McLaren ahead. Kovalainen managed third and Alonso and Trulli were the usual stars, with the two men taking fourth and fifth places, respectively.

 

The Race

What appeared to be an ordinary Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring this weekend turned itself into a stunning and gritty race for many drivers, not least Britain's Lewis Hamilton. Here's the run down of how events transpired at the German Grand Prix.

From the lights, everyone made a decent getaway, all barring David Coulthard and Robert Kubica. The BMW made a great start, surging ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen from the off.

At the front, Lewis Hamilton held off Felipe Massa and stretched out an impressive lead of over a second by the end of the opening lap. Coulthard was bogged down by the shuffling pack, and the retiring Scot ended up down in 14th place, behind Jenson Button.

Further down the order there were battles all around. Coulthard settled into a long bout with friend Jenson Button. The Red Bull was clearly much quicker than the Honda.

Fernando Alonso was scrapping up and down the field with various close battles with Rosberg, Trulli, Heildfeld, and also a monumental tussle with Sebastian Vettel.

The onboard footage revealed a Renault that was very frustrating to drive, with the two-time world champion turning the steering wheel frantically to maintain direction and momentum.

Hamilton, at the head of the field, had managed a massive lead of over 10 seconds by the time the Safety Car made its appearance at around the halfway stage in the Grand Prix.

Timo Glock in the Toyota had been driving an impressive race and was in the points when on the exit of the Sud Kurve, leading to the pit straight, his car suffered suspension failure, pitching the German into a heavy collision with the pit wall, backing into it sending debris across the circuit.

When the Safety Car was out, everyone pitted except, Lewis Hamilton and one or two others, notably Renault's Nelson Piquet. When the race got back under way, the young Brazilian was in second place.

Not too long after the race was back under way, the two most experienced drivers on the grid had a big coming together. Coulthard and Barrichello collided, breaking the Honda's nose and ending its Grand Prix. The other Red Bull of Webber retired earlier with what looked like engine failure under the Safety Car.

Alonso was forced onto the circuit outside of the white, pit-lane exit lines by Toro Rosso's young gun Vettel frustrating the Spaniard in typical fashion and leading to a vendetta.

Alonso's anger led to losing two positions to both Raikkonen and Rosberg within the same stretch, and later, Alonso spun further down the field.

With not pitting under the caution, Hamilton had to make a green flag pit stop and lost position to his team mate Kovalainen, the Ferrari of Massa, and the charging Renault of Piquet. On the outlap, Kovalainen allowed his faster teammate past him and the chase was on to catch Massa.

Felipe Massa, in the next couple of laps, had the worst couple of laps of his season so far, losing position to Hamilton at the Spitzkeher and then launching an embarrassing reattempt at the chicane section further on. Massa was abruptly muscled off the circuit.

It was then only a matter of time before Piquet was dispatched. The Brazilian did not disgrace himself though, fighting hard, but not pointlessly hard, leaving him in second place. Hamilton then went on to charge to another victory, the second one in a row and another sound beating of rivals Ferrari.

A special shout out must go to Heikki Kovalainen who performed his best overtaking maneuver on Robert Kubica at turn six, going around the outside before switching back for the inside for turn seven. A brilliant move, proving the Finn has some aggression and fight in him.

It was a particularly bad afternoon for Kazuki Nakajima in the Williams, spinning at least twice and generally struggling by the Japanese driver's usual standards.

In all, it was a terrific Grand Prix to behold. Not much mention has been made in this article of Raikkonen in the other Ferrari. Take from that what you will, but this was the colour of the reigning world champion's race. He ran ordinarily all weekend. Cementing the reason why he now sits in third place in the standings.