Buzzin F1 - Formula One Blog

Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren took the victory yesterday at the German Grand Prix after leading from the first corner at the Hockenheim circuit.

The race ran smoothly until lap thirty-five, when Timo Glock in the Toyota, who had moved-up into eighth place, had a massive crash on the exit of the final corner.  The Toyota suffered a rear suspension failure as he went over the kerb and was sent flying into the pit wall.

The safety car was deployed as Glock was taken to hospital where he remained for the night under observation but is expected to leave there this morning.  Of course, this led to almost everyone heading to the pits as soon as the lane was opened.

Hamilton decided not to pit and tried to build a lead on the other drivers, but emerged from refuelling behind his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, Felipe Massa and Nelson Piquet.

Hamilton was let past by Kovalainen and was soon right on the tail of Massa before slipping up the inside of the Ferrari.  Three laps on and Piquet was given the same treatment as Hamilton took his place back at the front of the pack.

Nelson Piquet in the Renault took a fantastic second place after recent reports that he was under pressure to perform and to prove he deserves his place in F1.  It seemed that the one-stop strategy plus the deployment of the safety car, worked in the favour of the youngster who had only qualifyied in seventeenth position.

Massa finished in third place after never quite finding the pace at the Hockenheim circuit in the Ferrari followed by Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber in fourth.

Kovalainen in the second McLaren finished in fifth place ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen in sixth and Robert Kubica in the second BMW Sauber in seventh.

Jarno Trulli span his Toyota in the final laps to hand Sebastian Vettel the eighth and final points scoring position.   Nico Rosberg in the Williams, also benefited from a spin, from Fernando Alonso in the second Renault.

Mark Webber developed a problem with the Red Bull car while sat behind the safety car, when the Renault V8 began to expel smoke and after a further few laps was seen parked-up on the grass verge.  It was thought to be caused by debris that had collected in and damaged the oil cooler.

Giancarlo Fisichella in the Force India, was handed a 25-second penalty at the German Grand Prix after unlapping himself before he was allowed to, which moved his final position from fourteenth to sixteenth.

Here are the results;

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1h31:20.874
 2.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +     5.586
 3.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +     9.339
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +     9.825
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    12.411
 6.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    14.403
 7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    22.682
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    33.299
 9.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    37.158
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    37.625
11.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    38.600
12.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    39.111
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    54.971
14.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +    59.093
15.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:00.003
16.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +  1:09.488
17.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Heidfeld, 1:15.987

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Barrichello   Honda                 (B)    52
Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)    41
Glock         Toyota                (B)    37