Results of the 2008 German F1 Grand Prix.
The defining moment of the 2008 season might eventually be seen as the bold overtaking move 11 laps from the end of this race, when Hamilton effortlessly passed Massa to claim his 10 points here and a four point lead in the DriversÕ Championship.
Massa finished third behind a surprised Nelson Piquet Jnr, who gave Renault their first podium finish this season. A shrewd gamble for a full-tank, single pit stop, strategy put him in the lead towards the end but Hamilton quickly caught him, having fought back from fifth when his own team botched his pitting strategy.
The Briton lead comfortably from pole in a Mercedes McLaren which seems to have caught and outclassed rivals Ferrari for pace. But it all went wrong on lap 35 when the safety car was deployed following a serious crash by Timo Glock. Almost every car took the chance to pit except Hamilton, with McLaren presumably surmising he needed to stay out and improve on his lead to avoid emerging into traffic, but after several laps under red flags it was immediately evident that he may have thrown the victory away.
Later in the race, with only a 10 second lead over Massa he had to relinquish the lead to Nick Heidfeld, who in turn also pitted and finished fourth, while rookie Piquet Jnr found himself out in front. Although caught and passed by a storming Hamilton, he was able to defend against Massa to the very end, while Heikki Kovalainen finished fifth ahead of fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen.
Robert Kubica had an uninspiring race to finish seventh, ahead of another German driver; promising rookie Sebastien Vettel who picked up points for Red Bull Racing. Both Kubica and Raikkonen, contenders for the championship, progressed no further than their qualifying positions on the grid, while Piquet climbed 15 places from 17th and Heidfeld did well after a woeful 12th place start.
Hamilton now once again leads the championship points on 58, four ahead of Massa, with Raikkonen a further three back. Robert Kubica now finds himself 10 points adrift of the leader. McLaren clawed back five more points on Ferrari in the ConstructorsÕ standings but they are still 19 points behind midway through the season, and still three points behind BMW. But with their renewed pace and the sheer determination of Hamilton might set them up for an exciting finish to the season.
Results of the German Grand Prix:
1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes one hour 31 minutes 20.874 seconds
2 Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault at 5.586 seconds
3 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari at 9.339
4 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber at 9.825
5 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes at 12.411
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari at 14.483
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber at 22.603
8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari at 33.282
9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota at 37.199
10 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota at 37.658
11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault at 38.625
12 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari at 39.111
13 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault at 54.971
14 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota at 1:00.003
15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari at 1:09.488
16 Giancarlo Fisichella* (Ita) Force India-Ferrari at 1:24.093
17 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda one lap behind
R Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 50 laps completed
R Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 40 laps
R Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 35 laps completed