German Grand Prix

It is so easy and perhaps so unfair to recall the dozens and dozens of times Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt managed to quickly adopt perfect race strategies for a variety of situations. Unfair too, to recall how at all the critical, crucial times when every last bit had to be extracted from the car, Schumacher consistently came up with those lightning laps to complement Todt‘s calculations.

It is unfair to think in these terms, or is it? Schumacher may be occasionally in the pits as an advisor, but we aren’t seeing the Todt/Schumacher skill and teamwork at Scuderia Ferrari today. Instead, the team of Dennis and Hamilton over at McLaren are looking more and more like the old Ferrari dream team and have shown that they have the stuff it takes after all. Hamilton doth screw up once in a while; so did Schumacher but clearly, Hamilton is the heir apparent but in the wrong camp.

Massa qualified on the first row but didn’t get pole, meaning that he immediately was relegated to second spot. Kimi was back in row three after another miserable qualifying session. A first lap shake-up left the Finn in sixth position with which he seemed to be very happy, running contentedly a full 17 seconds behind leader Hamilton. On or about the 11th lap the race settled down and Massa, tenaciously holding second, couldn’t catch Hamilton and Kimi could not catch Trulli.

Well, we thought, both Ferraris must have enough fuel for a one-stopper. Wrong. Hamilton, still way off on his own, pitted on lap 18, Massa on lap 20 and Kimi pitted on lap 22. And neither one made any hay while Hamilton was in the pits. Now it’s pretty easy to figure out the other team’s fuel strategy; just time the fuel delivery during the pit stop, multiply the seconds by three gallons and you can figure it out from there. But apparently the Scuderia didn’t come up with the right numbers to guess the McLaren’s race strategy.

In the meantime 21-year old Sebastian Vettel in the Torro Rosso was thrashing all over Alonso, passing the ex-world champ in grand style. Flavio was not pleased and even less so later in the race when Alonso spun not once but twice, or so it was reported. Vettel supporters were going wild.

On lap 35, Timo Glock, running in 17th, had an almighty shunt due to a suspension failure on the Toyota. This was a frightening accident and one was reminded of the death of Jim Clark, also at Hockenheim, in 1968. Timo was walking, but obviously complaining of back pain.

After the pits were opened for fuel, both Ferraris checked in, while Hamilton stayed out. Uh oh. This was not good. In the swapping around after Glock’s accident, Massa suddenly came up in 4th place, and Kimi was racing Vettel for 8th. Hamilton was going like the hammers, or excuse us, Hamilton was now doing exactly what Mr. Schumacher used to do, making up time like crazy so he could dive in for a last gulp, which he did on lap 50.

And then the German Grand Prix had a new leader. No, not Kimi, not Massa, come on, gimme a break. Try Nelson Piquet, Jr., whose future at Renault up to this point was very much in doubt. Piquet held the lead while Massa, now back in third, and Hamilton had it out in no uncertain terms. And in no uncertain terms, Massa lost. Period.

Hot onto Piquet, on lap 59 with only 8 to go, Hamilton got by but not without a good fight even though the winner in that case was never in doubt. Hamilton therefore finished 1st, again. Piquet hung on to second, not being threatened by Massa who managed 3rd, while Kimi finally got by Kubica for 6th spot and some much needed points.

So who’s race was it? Maybe Hamilton’s, but we all realize the pressure is on him to perform and stop screwing up. Maybe Vettel’s, who drove a great race to finish 8th. Maybe Piquet’s, as this race saved his seat (or ass) and may give him the confidence he needs to mature as a driver. But the race did not belong to Massa, nor to Kimi, nor to Ferrari. My bets are on Hamilton this year, at least for the Driver’s Championship.

Race Results

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	1h31m20.874s
2	PIQUET	Renault	+ 5.5s
3	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 9.3s
4	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	+ 9.8s
5	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 12.4s
6	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	+ 14.4s
7	KUBICA	BMW Sauber	+ 22.6s
8	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	+ 33.2s
9	TRULLI	Toyota	+ 37.1s
10	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	+ 37.6s
11	ALONSO	Renault	+ 38.6s
12	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	+ 39.1s
13	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	+ 54.9s
14	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	+ 60.s
15	SUTIL	Force India-Ferrari	+ 69.4s
16	FISICHELLA	Force India-Ferrari	+84.0s
17	BUTTON	Honda	+ 1 lap
18	BARRICHELLO	Honda	+ 17 laps, accident damage
19	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	+ 27 laps, oil leak
20	GLOCK	Toyota	+ 32 laps, accident
Fastest Lap	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	1m15.987s

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	58 Points
2	MASSA	Ferrari	54 Points
3	RÄIKKÖNEN	Ferrari	51 Points
4	KUBICA	BMW-Sauber	48 Points
5	HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	41 Points
6	KOVALAINEN	McLaren-Mercedes	28 Points
7	TRULLI	Toyota	20 Points
8	WEBBER	Red Bull-Renault	18 Points
9	ALONSO	Renault	13 Points
10	BARRICHELLO	Honda	11 Points
11	PIQUET	Renault	10 Points
12	ROSBERG	Williams-Toyota	8 Points
13	NAKAJIMA	Williams-Toyota	8 Points
14	COULTHARD	Red Bull-Renault	6 Points
15	VETTEL	STR-Ferrari	6 Points
16	GLOCK	Toyota	5 Points
17	BUTTON	Honda	3 Points
18	BOURDAIS	STR-Ferrari	2 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	FERRARI	105 Points
2	BMW SAUBER	89 Points
3	MCLAREN-MERCEDES	86 Points
4	TOYOTA	25 Points
5	RED BULL-RENAULT	24 Points
6	RENAULT	23 Points
7	WILLIAMS-TOYOTA	16 Points
8	HONDA	14 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	8 Points

NOTE: Super Aguri withdrew from the championship after round four.