20/07/2008
NEWS STORY
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While the last four or five laps of yesterday's GP2 race were held in the wet, there has been very little rain since.
There was some rain overnight, however, all of this morning's events, including the GP2, Procar, Porsche Supercup and Formula BMW, were held in the dry, albeit with varying degrees of sunshine.
Therefore, despite what the weather experts might have said, it looks as though today's race will take place in almost perfect conditions.
On paper, only a fool would bet against McLaren taking the win here, and in particular, Lewis Hamilton. However, Felipe Massa has looked good for much of the weekend, and is still clearly hurting and keen to make up for his Silverstone debacle.
The word in the paddock is that Hamilton is slightly lighter than his McLaren teammate, while - with all due respect - Trulli and Alonso must have been running on fumes to take fourth and fifth.
Kimi Raikkonen has looked uncomfortable for much of the weekend, the Finn being one of those drivers who does occasionally appear to suffer a mental block that tends to prevent him performing at his very best. Yes, there is talk of retirement, but it is clear, if only from his string of fastest laps in recent races, that the 2007 World Champion must never be written off.
Although a shadow of its former self, courtesy of Bernie Ecclestone and his sidekick Herman Tilke, Hockenheim does still offer some decent racing with a couple of good places for overtaking. While we might not be able to rely on the rain to provide some excitement today, the high winds, together with the obvious difficulty drivers are having at a number of corners, could spring a few surprises.
Also, with conditions better than they have been at any other time over the course of the weekend, it will be worth paying attention to the tyre situation, with the Ferraris appearing to make better use of their boots than McLaren.
By its own standards, BMW has been disappointing this weekend, and while we expect to see Kubica (at least) in the points, it is to be hoped that the German team isn't going to continue losing ground to McLaren and Ferrari in the remaining races.
While McLaren, Ferrari and BMW look set to claim the lion's share of the points, the fight for the 'best of the rest' look likely to be as hard as ever, with Trulli, Alonso, Webber and Vettel all in with a chance of adding to their teams' tallies. Just ten points separate the five midfield teams, with Toro Rosso looking likely to join the fight in the coming races… maybe even today, what with Sebastian Vettel racing in front of his home crowd and fired up by the Red Bull deal.
All in all, we can look forward to a hard fight today, particularly in the midfield, and if some rain should fall in the final laps, as in yesterday's GP2 race, would you really complain?
On a lighter note, ahead of the race, Premiere is showing a competition between the five German F1 drivers in which they are in a race to see who can be first to assemble a tent. We would say 'erect' a tent, but for some reason we keep thinking of Max. Anyway, Timo Glock wins the tent contest, though we will never forget the image of all five nibbling their sausages at the picnic table afterwards.
With fifteen minutes before the race gets underway, there is lots of blue sky, the sun is shining, but there is talk that - like yesterday - there could be some rain at the very end of proceedings. Time will tell.
As the cars head off on the parade lap, the air temperature is 22 degrees, and the track temperature is 31 degrees. Wind speed, at 4.8 mps, is lower than yesterday.
As we wait for the cars to head off on the parade lap, the big story is what was Ron Dennis saying to the pretty brunette grid girl, and why wasn't he spending the final moments before the race doing serious work? Bad Ron!
Teams are running hard and medium today, however, we will refer to them as hard (hard) and soft (medium).
Most drivers are starting on the hard compound, the main exceptions being Trulli, Kubica, Webber, Vettel, Coulthard, Glock and Heidfeld. Indeed, it is mainly the guys at the front who are on hards.
A great start from Lewis, as Raikkonen loses a couple of places. Kovalainen all over Massa, with Kubica making up a couple of places to take fourth. Although a couple of drivers run wide there are no incidents.
At the end of lap 1, Hamilton leads Massa by 1.8s, with Kovalainen third, ahead of Kubica, Trulli, Alonso, Raikkonen, Vettel, Webber and Glock.
After just 2 laps, the first few cars are spread out, while Raikkonen has Vettel and Webber all over him.
Alonso and Trulli are having the mother of all battles which allows Raikkonen to close in. Alonso makes a move on Trulli but it fails, indeed, Raikkonen slips through, pushing the Spaniard back down to seventh and into Vettel's clutches.
After 4 laps, Hamilton is lapping 1.4s quicker than his teammate, and 0.6s quicker than Massa.
As Hamilton posts a new fastest lap (16.522), extending his lead to 4.6s, Raikkonen closes in on Trulli. Kovalainen, 3.2s clear of Kubica, is now 3.7s down on Massa.
Coulthard is struggling. The Scot who has already lost a couple of positions, is passed by Button, and is now running fourteenth. Rosberg, who is running behind the two, is told that he has to pass them. AS if he didn't know.
On lap 10, it's another fastest lap for Hamilton (16.078), who now leads by 7s. Massa is running 0.6s slower and Kovalainen around a second off the leader's pace.
Coulthard takes back thirteenth from Button, and immediately the Englishman finds himself under pressure from Rosberg. Barrichello is having an equally hard time courtesy of Nakajima.
Webber, like Trulli before him, is told to keep the gap to Vettel to 2s, although the German is running eighth the other teams are clearly aware of his fuel load and that they are actually racing him.
A 16.039 from Hamilton on lap 17 as he extends his lead to 11s. Elsewhere, Nakajima spins, allowing Piquet and Sutil to slip through.
At the end of lap 18, Hamilton pits. Another set of hards go on as the Englishman prepares for a long middle-stint. Kubica also pits.
Although, Hamilton rejoined ahead of Trulli, he is passed by the Toyota shortly afterwards. The McLaren driver fights back but the Italian is having none of it. At the end of the lap Trulli duly pits, as does Alonso.
Massa pits at the end of lap 19, leaving Kovalainen in the lead. The Brazilian fits softs, rejoining ahead of Webber.
At the end of lap 21, Kovalainen pits. He fits another set of hards, has a tweak of the front wing, and rejoins behind Heidfeld, and immediately begins to scrap with the German. Vettel also pitted.
At the end of lap 22, Raikkonen pits. Like Massa, he fits softs, rejoining in ninth ahead of the, Trulli Vettel and Alonso battle.
Webber and Bourdais both pit at the end of lap 23, as Hamilton now enjoys an 8.9s advantage over Massa.
Glock, who has yet to stop, is running third, ahead of Kovalainen, with Heidfeld fifth and Kubica sixth. That said, the Pole pits at the end of lap 25.
Raikkonen running in seventh, ahead of Trulli, Vettel, Alonso, Webber and Button, who still has to stop.
The timing screen shows Kovalainen as making another stop, but it's actually a glitch with the official timing system rather than a problem on the McLaren.
At the end of lap 27, Heidfeld pits, as does Button. Rosberg pits a lap later, leaving Glock, Barrichello, Piquet and Nakajima as the only drivers still to stop.
Timo Glock finally pits at the end of lap 29, the German sticking on another set of softs. He rejoins ahead of Vettel and Alonso, the Toro Rosso taking advantage of the fact that the Toyota is fuelled up and on warm rubber.
An intriguing moment as the Hondas go head-to-head, after Barrichello pits. The two are battling for sixteenth, and it is the Brazilian who has the edge.
After 34 laps, Hamilton leads Massa by 11.4s, with Kovalainen third, a further 6.4s down the road. Kubica fourth, ahead of Raikkonen, Trulli, Vettel, Alonso, Glock and Webber.
On lap 36, there's a massive crash on the pit straight as Glock's rear suspension appears to fail. The safety car is immediately deployed.
The German is still in the car as doctors arrive. If anything, he is merely stunned by the impact of the crash. It's a vicious, violent incident which begins with the right-rear suspension collapsing as Glock rides the kerb at the start of the pit straight, and sees the Toyota crash at full force into the pit-wall and then bounce across the track. Thankfully, the reigning GP2 Series champion is out of the car, albeit limping.
At the end of lap 38, with the safety car still on track, almost all the front runners pit, except for Hamilton.
With smoke pouring from the back of Webber's car, Alonso complains that Vettel forced him over the white line as he left the pits, which does indeed appear to be the case.
Behind the safety car, Hamilton has a 'comfort zone' of just two cars - Heidfeld and Piquet - until Massa. However, the Englishman still has to make a second stop.
Webber pulls to the side of the track, thereby becoming the second retirement of the day.
At the end of lap 41, the safety car is brought in, the race is back on.
While attention is focussed on Hamilton at the front, there are some great scraps going on behind, particularly Kovalainen/Trulli and Alonso/Vettel. Kovalainen goes around the outside of Kubica, much to the Pole's surprise to take fifth.
Alonso makes a move on Vettel, but it all goes wrong and allows Raikkonen through. The Spaniard is immediately under pressure from Rosberg, who duly passes the Renault. The two-time champion will be so frustrated.
Raikkonen makes short work of Vettel, showing the Ferrari's pure grunt.
While Hamilton leads Heidfeld by 3.7s, the battle isn't with the German, or even with Piquet in third, all of whom have to stop, but with Massa, who is 10.8s down on the race leader.
For reasons best known to himself, Massa holds steady behind Piquet, which is surely playing into Hamilton's hands.
Another clash for Coulthard, this time involving Barrichello. Both return to the pits, where they are joined by Hamilton. 6.6s later the McLaren driver is heading down the pitlane, rejoining in fifth behind Kovalainen.
Heidfeld leads, and immediately goes quickest in the first sector. However, like second-placed Piquet he still has to stop. Therefore, all eyes on third placed Massa, who has stopped, and now has a 3.9s advantage over Hamilton who has passed his McLaren teammate.
At the end of lap 53, Heidfeld pits, which promotes Piquet into the lead. The German rejoins in fourth, ahead of Kovalainen.
With 14 laps remaining, Hamilton is third, 1.4s behind Massa. Elsewhere, Raikkonen is all over Kubica while the Hondas make their third stops of the day.
Hamilton's McLaren tantalisingly closes in on the Ferrari, and finally the Englishman makes his move at the hairpin. The Englishman comes down on the inside and though Massa tries to fight back it appears half-hearted, Hamilton doesn't wait for a second invite, he's through. The Brazilian attempts to fight back a couple of corners later but it's too little too late. On the pit-wall Rob Smedley looks less than impressed, as well he might.
More misery for Alonso, who spins 360, thereby losing position to Rosberg.
Hamilton closes in on his former GP2 rival Piquet, once again it is at the hairpin where the McLaren driver makes his move. Elsewhere, Raikkonen is finally past Kubica.
Therefore, with 6 laps remaining, Hamilton leads Piquet by 2.2s, with Massa a further 3.5s down the road. Heidfeld is fourth, ahead of Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Kubica, Vettel, Trulli and Rosberg.
While Massa seems unwilling or unable to make a move on Piquet, Heidfeld is only 0.9s down on the Brazilian and appears keen to claim his second podium visit of the month. Elsewhere, Trulli runs wide, which allows Vettel through to take eighth.
Hamilton takes the flag, his second win in as many weeks, and a win that gives him the lead in the World Championship. "A great drive," says Ron Dennis, "sorry we made it a bit more difficult than you might have liked," he adds, which has the race winner laughing in delight.
A stunning performance from Piquet, who takes a second place that has probably surprised him as much as the rest of us. The safety car and his team's strategy clearly helped him, but that doesn't take away from a fine performance, and one shat will silence his critics. Now, having finally got the monkey off his back, he must give more performances of this calibre.
While Felipe Massa looked happy on the podium, one wonders whether deep down he knows that he failed to take advantage of what was clearly an error by McLaren. While he might well argue that his Ferrari was no match for Hamilton's McLaren, especially with new boots, one wonders how he might explain his failure to take on, far less beat, Piquet.
Another canny performance from Nick Heidfeld who came so close to making it another podium finish. If the German can only get to grips with his qualifying he might make things a little easier for himself on Sunday afternoons.
Kovalainen will rightly be disappointed not to have finished on the podium, and while he made a stunning move on Kubica, the overriding feeling that this was a bit of a mediocre performance from the Finn. Make no mistake, we rate him highly, it's just that we want to see him stamp his authority on a race, just once.
Damage limitation for Kimi Raikkonen on a weekend when he merely wasn't 'in it', how he was able to keep Kubica at bay is a mystery. The Pole takes a point, but even he will be baffled as to how, having out-qualified his BMW teammate, and made such a great start, he finishes three place behind, and loses further ground in the championship fight.
Another strong performance from Vettel, though it remains to be seen whether Alonso will pay him a visit. That cheeky grin will only allow him to get away with such things for so long.
We didn't get the rain, and therefore we have to thank Timo Glock's accident for finally bringing the race alive, which it did. Try as they might, the TV crews couldn't conceal the amount of empty seats in the stadium. And that with Germans filling twenty-five percent of the grid.
That said, another great performance from Lewis Hamilton, who looks to be growing in confidence with every race ever since the media bashing last month.
He said earlier this week that he expects the title fight to go down to the wire, well, barring a miracle from BMW or Ferrari, we don't see it, and we certainly don't see him going head-to-head with Kovalainen. Another couple of weekends like this and he'll have the title sewn up before we leave Europe.