2008 German Grand Prix
The title 'German Grand Prix' returned after a year absence from the calendar. From 2007 to 2010, the Grand Prix in Germany will alternate between the Hockenheimring and the Nürburgring. However officials at the AVD, the automobile club who organises GP race at the Hockenheimring, own the rights for the name, 'German Grand Prix'. Therefore the 2007 race at the Nürburgring was known as the 2007 European Grand Prix.
Report
Practice
Lewis Hamilton topped first practice session ahead of McLaren teammate Heikki Kovalainen. The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen came third and fifth respectively, with Fernando Alonso in fourth position. The track was wet in the initial half of the session but dried off towards the end. Robert Kubica spun off the track and Sébastien Bourdais had a mechanical problem with flywheel sensor towards the end of the session. Both ended up at the bottom of timesheets. Friday's second session again saw Hamilton as fastest driver. Massa and Räikkönen were second and third, pushing Kovalainen to fourth position. Mark Webber came in fifth, after earlier facing electrical and clutch problems with the car. Alonso, Rosberg, Kubica in a well recovered car after first session, Heidfeld and Coulthard made the rest of the top ten.
Kovalainen led the final practice session on Saturday, ahead of Massa and teammate Hamilton. Alonso continued his strong practice form at number four with Toro Rosso's Sebastian Vettel making it to the fifth position. Kubica once again was at the bottom of the table, this time due to a transmission problem.
Qualifying
Ferraris of Massa and Räikkönen were first and second in the first qualifying session, while their McLaren couterparts, Hamilton and Kovalainen, came third and fourth respectively. Vettel in Toro Rosso along with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock in Toyota were fourth, fifth and sixth fastest cars of the session. Kazuki Nakajima, Rubens Barrichello, Nelson Piquet Jr. and both Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella were eliminated in this session. Piquet Jr. later complained that he was blocked during his lap run by Vettel, affecting his lap timings. Second session was topped by Hamilton ahead of Massa and Kovalainen. Alonso came in fourth, closely followed by Räikkönen. Glock, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Button and Bourdais were eliminated in this session. Both Heidfeld and Button later said that they suffered from tire graining during this session.Hamilton took the pole position ninth time his career after he beat Massa two-tenths of a second in his final flying lap of the third session. Kovalainen, coming back after an error in his first run, was qualified third with Trulli taking fourth position. Alonso and Räikkönen ran a close fifth and sixth positions. The rest of the pack were ordered as Kubica, Webber, Vettel and Coulthard from seventh to tenth position.
Kovalainen was fined €5,000 for a breach of the refuelling regulations during qualifying. It was stated that the fine was imposed since Kovalainen's car was running while being refuelled using non-FIA approved system.
Race
At the start, Hamilton retained first place while Kovalainen threatened, but failed to pass Massa. Massa went on the defence so Hamilton could stretch his lead to 7 seconds. Kubica passed Räikkönen off the grid, and would go on to pass both Alonso and Trulli at the hairpin when Alonso's attempted pass on Trulli delayed both drivers. Hamilton began to quickly pull away from Massa at a pace of nearly 2 seconds a lap, while behind the leading trio, the fight for 4th-7th continued. Kubica ran wide at the final corner on Lap Four, impeding Trulli and therefore allowing Alonso an overtaking opportunity down the main straight. Trulli held on to his position though, and Alonso would in fact be passed by Räikkönen, moving the World Champion in to 6th. At the back of the field, Kazuki Nakajima would spin his Williams but recover on to the track.At the first round of stops, Hamilton had a lead of nearly 20 seconds over Massa, and fuelled longer than all others in the points positions. Coming out of the pits, Hamilton made an error and was passed by Jarno Trulli; the two drivers then nearly collided at the hairpin, with Hamilton holding back for the rest of the lap when Trulli came in. Trulli's teammate Timo Glock, however, caused somewhat of a stir as he stayed out on the track longer than all other drivers - meaning that when he pitted, he was actually in 3rd position. Hamilton regained the lead as others pitted, and had in the region of an 11 second lead over Massa at the half-way stage. Behind the leaders, Kubica was beginning to catch Kovalainen while Trulli, Räikkönen, Alonso and Sebastien Vettel battled over the final four points places.
On the 36th lap, however, Glock's right suspension failed coming out of the final corner. Spinning on the grass, he then shunted side-on against the pit wall, debris flying on to the track. The car, pointing the wrong way, rolled to a stop on the grass. A dazed Glock extracted himself before being treated at the medical centre. The treatment of Glock after the crash caused Toyota some concern, however. The safety car was then deployed.
When pit lane opened, most drivers headed in, including all the leaders - except Hamilton. McLaren believed they had enough fuel for Hamilton to stay out then pull away when the race went green again. This would prove to be very risky, as Massa rejoined in 4th position, fuelled to the finish. Nelson Piquet had fortuitously pitted immediately prior to the safety car and was already fuelled to the end of the race. In 3rd place, he was set to take the lead once Hamilton and Heidfeld (who too had stayed out) pitted for their final stops. During the mass pitstop, Vettel muscled past Alonso at pit exit, pushing him over the white line; Alonso complained over his radio but no action was taken against either driver. When the lapped cars were given permission to unlap themselves Button mysteriously decided to stay between second and third. This decision caused him to finish last.
As the safety car came in, Räikkönen quickly passed the squabbling Vettel and Alonso on the way down to the hairpin, while Hamilton desperately tried to pull away at the front. Räikkönen passed Trulli two laps later, while David Coulthard and Rubens Barrichello collided on the 48th lap, both cars pitting for repairs. Barrichello retired three laps later. Hamilton pitted on lap 50, coming out behind Heidfeld, Piquet, Massa and Kovalainen (who had passed Robert Kubica after the safety car period). He easily got by Kovalainen (ref: coopetition) at the hairpin. Heidfeld entered the pits with a sizeable gap over Piquet, returning to the field comfortably ahead of Kovalainen, but behind Hamilton.
Hamilton's speed allowed him to quickly catch Massa in second position, with Piquet in the lead by 3 seconds. An aggressive wheel-to-wheel pass at the hairpin on Lap 57 put Hamilton into second. Three laps later he used a similar move to overtake Piquet - although the Renault driver put up a greater fight than Massa had. Hamilton led easily to the finish, although Piquet kept within five seconds of him. Heidfeld, again with surprisingly good race form, threatened a slowing Massa in the last laps, while Räikkönen was able to pass Kubica for 6th place.
Hamilton took the chequered flag first, while Piquet enthusiastically celebrated his drive from 17th to second, just 5.5 seconds behind. Massa held on to take third ahead of Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Räikkönen, and Kubica. Sebastian Vettel secured 8th for Toro Rosso, having bested Trulli and Alonso for most of the race.
Classification
Qualifying
| Pos | No | Name | Constructor | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.218 | 1:14.603 | 1:15.666 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:14.921 | 1:14.747 | 1:15.859 | 2 |
| 3 | 23 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:15.476 | 1:14.855 | 1:16.143 | 3 |
| 4 | 11 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:15.560 | 1:15.122 | 1:16.191 | 4 |
| 5 | 5 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:15.917 | 1:14.943 | 1:16.385 | 5 |
| 6 | 1 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:15.201 | 1:14.949 | 1:16.389 | 6 |
| 7 | 4 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 1:15.985 | 1:15.109 | 1:16.521 | 7 |
| 8 | 10 | Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.900 | 1:15.481 | 1:17.014 | 8 |
| 9 | 15 | Sebastian Vettel | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:15.532 | 1:15.420 | 1:17.244 | 9 |
| 10 | 9 | David Coulthard | Red Bull-Renault | 1:15.975 | 1:15.338 | 1:17.503 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 1:15.560 | 1:15.508 | 11 | |
| 12 | 3 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1:15.596 | 1:15.581 | 12 | |
| 13 | 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:15.863 | 1:15.633 | 13 | |
| 14 | 16 | Jenson Button | Honda | 1:15.993 | 1:15.701 | 14 | |
| 15 | 14 | Sébastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:15.927 | 1:15.858 | 15 | |
| 16 | 8 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1:16.083 | 16 | ||
| 17 | 6 | Nelson Piquet Jr. | Renault | 1:16.189 | 17 | ||
| 18 | 17 | Rubens Barrichello | Honda | 1:16.246 | 18 | ||
| 19 | 20 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Ferrari | 1:16.657 | 19 | ||
| 20 | 21 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Ferrari | 1:16.963 | 20 |
Race
Notes
- Lap Leaders: Lewis Hamilton 54 (1-18, 22-37, 39-50, 60-67), Felipe Massa 3 (19-20, 38), Heikki Kovalainen 1 (21), Nick Heidfeld 3 (51-53), Nelson Piquet Jr. 6 (54-59)
- Giancarlo Fisichella was penalized 25 seconds for unlapping lead cars during the safety car period despite having made a pit stop during the period. This dropped him two places from 14th to 16th.
- For the first time since 1991 Belgian Grand Prix two Brazilian drivers finished on the podium.
- First podium: Nelson Piquet Jr.
- This was McLaren's first victory at Hockenheim since 1998.
References
External links
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Last updated on Friday October 03, 2008 at 09:10:50 PDT (GMT -0700)
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