The Hindu : Sport / Racing : Motor : Hamilton wins German GP

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Hamilton wins German GP

Nelson Piquet finishes an astonishing second

HOCKENHEIM: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won a thrilling German Grand Prix on Sunday to forge four points clear of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa at the top of the Formula One championship. Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet, who had started in 17th place, on a one-stop strategy finished an astonishing second for Renault after leading for six laps in the race of his life. Compatriot Massa was third.

Hamilton led from pole position at engine partners’ Mercedes home track but the 23-year-old had to make an inspired fightback from fifth place with 16 laps remaining after a safety car interlude shook up his strategy.

The victory was his second in a row, and eighth of his career, after a dominant performance in the wet at the previous British Grand Prix two weeks ago and made him the first driver to win four times this season.

Spectacular crash

The safety car was deployed on lap 36 after the Toyota of Germany’s Timo Glock suffered a dramatic high-speed suspension failure and slammed into the concrete wall backwards at the entrance to the straight. The driver was helped groggily from the wrecked car, with debris scattered across the track, and taken to the medical centre, where he was declared to be out of danger.

With the exception of Hamilton, the leaders all came in to refuel and change tyres when the pit lane opened.

When the McLaren driver then came in nine laps later, he found himself behind teammate Heikki Kovalainen, Massa, Piquet and Germany’s Nick Heidfeld. Heidfeld came in three laps later, leaving Piquet as the frontrunner, while Hamilton slipped past Kovalainen when the Finn obligingly ran wide.

Hamilton then barged his way past Massa 10 laps from the end and took Piquet with similar determination to hand Mercedes its first win at Hockenheim since Mika Hakkinen in 1998.

Massa’s appearance on the podium with him made it the first time two Brazilian drivers had stood in that position since Piquet’s father and namesake joined Ayrton Senna in the top three in 1991.

Race classification: 1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 1:31:20.874; 2. Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) +5.586sec; 3. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +9.339; 4. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) +9.825; 5. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) +12.411; 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +14.483; 7. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +22.603; 8. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) +33.282; 9. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +37.199; 10. Nico Rosberg (Williams) +37.658; 11. Fernando Alonso (Renault) +38.625; 12. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) +39.111; 13. David Coulthard (Red Bull) +54.971; 14. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) +1:00.003; 15. Adrian Sutil (Force India) +1:09.488; 16. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India) +1:24.093; 17. Jenson Button (Honda) +1 lap. Retirements: Timo Glock (Toyota) 36th lap; Mark Webber (Red Bull) 41st lap; Rubens Barrichello (Honda) 51st lap.

Overall standings: Drivers: 1. Lewis Hamilton 58pts, 2. Felipe Massa 54, 3. Kimi Raikkonen 51, 4. Robert Kubica 48, 5. Nick Heidfeld 41, 6. Heikki Kovalainen 28, 7. Jarno Trulli 20, 8. Mark Webber 18, 9. Fernando Alonso 13, 10. Rubens Barrichello 11, 11. Nelson Piquet Jr. 10, 12. Nico Rosberg 8, 13. Kazuki Nakajima 8, 14. David Coulthard 6, 15. Sebastian Vettel 6, 16. Timo Glock 5, 17. Jenson Button 3, 18. Sebastien Bourdais 2.

Constructors: 1. Ferrari 105, 2. BMW Sauber 89, 3. McLaren 86, 4. Toyota 25, 5. Red Bull 24, 6. Renault 23, 7. Williams 16, 8. Honda 14, 9. Toro Rosso 8. — Agencies

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