Formula 1 News

Lewis Hamilton dominates 2008 German Grand Prix 

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, after succeeding at the British Grand Prix, has taken the lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings by dominating today at the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring circuit. The Briton, who managed to overcome a wrong strategy call when the Team decided not to pit during a Safety Car period caused by Timo Glock’s heavy crash, overtook Felipe Massa and Nelson Piquet jr a few laps before the end of the race. The Renault driver, thanks to a one-stop strategy took his first ever podium finish in his F1 career and finished ahead of third placed Felipe Massa.

BMW’s Nick Heidfeld finished fourth ahead of the other Kovalainen‘s McLaren, fifth. The Finn was followed by a disappointing Kimi Raikkonen (P6), Robert Kubica (P7), Sebastian Vettel (P8), Jarno Trulli (P9) and Nico Rosberg (P10).

2008 German Grand Prix lap by lap highlights:
Lap 1: On pole position for the ninth time in his Formula One career, Lewis Hamilton makes a flying start to break away from Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen. The Englishman leads by 1.8s at the lap’s end. Robert Kubica gets away well to lie fourth from Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Timo Glock, Nick Heidfeld, Sébastien Bourdais, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, David Coulthard, Kazuki Nakajima, Rubens Barrichello, Nelson Piquet, Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil.

Lap 2: The leader’s advantage grows to 2.5s. Coulthard passes Rosberg. Barrichello passes Nakajima.

Lap 3: Sutil spins at Turn Eight.

Lap 4: Hamilton leads by 3.7s. Alonso has a sideways moment at Turn One and subsequently loses a place to Räikkönen.

Lap 6: Hamilton posts a 1m16.420s. His lead is 4.6s.

Lap 10: Hamilton laps in 1m16.078s and leads by 7.0s. Kovalainen is another 5.2s behind in third.

Lap 11: Sutil passes Fisichella for 19th.

Lap 13: Coulthard passes Button for 13th.

Lap 17: Hamilton posts a 1m16.039s: he leads by 11.0s. Nakajima spins at Turn Two and drops from 17th to 19th.

Lap 18: Hamilton and Kubica pit. Massa leads. Hamilton rejoins fourth, behind Trulli.

Lap 19: Trulli and Alonso pit.

Lap 20: Massa pits. Kovalainen leads by 10.2s from Hamilton.

Lap 21: Kovalainen pits. Hamilton regains the lead. Vettel and Coulthard pit, too.

Lap 22: Räikkönen pits. Kovalainen passes Heidfeld.

Lap 23: Webber and Bourdais pit.

Lap 25: Sutil pits.

Lap 27: Heidfeld, Button and Fisichella pit.

Lap 28: Hamilton leads by 10.5s from Massa and Glock, who has yet to stop. Rosberg pits.

Lap 29: Glock and Nakajima pit.

Lap 31: Barrichello pits.

Lap 32: Barrichello passes his team-mate Button.

Lap 34: Hamilton leads Massa, Kovalainen, Kubica, Räikkönen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock, Alonso, Webber, Heidfeld, Piquet, Bourdais, Coulthard, Rosberg, Barrichello and Button. Nakajima, Sutil and Fisichella are lapped.

Lap 35: Glock loses control at the final corner and he spins into the pit wall. Safety Car deployed. Piquet and Button pit.

Lap 38: Pit lane opens. Massa, Kovalainen, Räikkönen, Trulli, Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Coulthard, Bourdais, Rosberg and Fisichella all pit. Webber’s engine is smoking as he rejoins.

Lap 39: Hamilton leads Heidfeld, Piquet, Massa, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Räikkönen, Bourdais, Coulthard, Barrichello, Nakajima, Sutil (who pits), Fisichella and Button.

Lap 40: Nakajima pits.

Lap 41: Webber pulls off.

Lap 42: The race resumes.

Lap 43: Kovalainen passes Kubica. Räikkönen passes Rosberg.

Lap 44: Räikkönen and Rosberg pass Alonso.

Lap 45: Hamilton leads Heidfeld by 3.7s. Räikkönen passes Vettel.

Lap 46: Räikkönen passes Trulli.

Lap 49: Barrichello and Coulthard collide. The Scot loses two positions; the Brazilian loses his front wing and heads for the pits.

Lap 50: Hamilton pits and drops to fifth, 0.4s behind Kovalainen and 4.8s behind Massa. Barrichello retires.

Lap 52: Leader Heidfeld sets fastest lap – 1m15.987s. Hamilton passes Kovalainen. Alonso passes Rosberg.

Lap 53: Heidfeld pits and slips to fourth. Piquet leads by 2.0s from Massa and Hamilton. Coulthard passes Nakajima.

Lap 54: Hamilton takes more than a second out of the first two. He trails Massa by 1.4s.

Lap 55: The lapped Button pits again.

Lap 56: Piquet is 1.8s clear of Massa, 2.2s ahead of Hamilton.

Lap 57: Hamilton passes Massa. The Brazilian attempts to respond but goes across the kerbs.

Lap 58: Piquet leads the closing Hamilton by 1.1s. Alonso spins at Turn Six and loses one place: he’s 11th.

Lap 59: Piquet leads by 0.4s.

Lap 60: Hamilton leads again following a decisive pass at the hairpin. Räikkönen passes Kubica for sixth. Vettel passes Trulli for eighth.

Lap 61: Coulthard passes Fisichella.

Lap 67: Hamilton wins by 5.5s from Piquet, Massa, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Räikkönen, Kubica and Vettel.

2008 German Grand Prix Provisional Race Results: