In one of the most fantastic races of the year, the formula 1 race at Nürburgring, Germany was a topsy turvy race. It all started in lap 3 when it started raining, nay, pouring cats and dogs. As a result, almost all cars (with the exception of rookie Winklehock who had changed to wet weather tyres ahead of the race start) were caught out and started slipping and sliding with 5 cars aquaplaning at the same spot and getting “beached” out on the gravel.
By lap 3, the situation was quite dangerous that the safety car had to be deployed. Further, by lap 4 the race was in such a disarray and the mass of slipping forced the stewards to red flag and suspend the race for about 10 minutes.Just before the safety car was out, Hamilton who was also beached on the gravel got a lucky helpful lift out of the gravel onto the track where he resumed the race a lap down to the leaders.
The race soon restarted behind the safety car with Kimi Raikkonen, who missed the entry to the pit lane after slipping out of the pit lane entry, being the biggest loser going down to seventh position and the rookie Winklehock leading the race in his debut grand prix. Winklehock was followed by Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.
The race completely restarts on the 7th lap with Winklehock leading and quite a few drivers taking the opportunity to pit. Massa soon retook the lead with Alonso close behind him followed by Coulthard, Kovalainen and Kimi.
Hamilton who had just changed to dry weather tyres as the race restarted lost significant amount of time since the quickly drying track was not dry enough for the slicks on his car.
By lap 13, the track was dry enough to allow the drivers to switch to the slicks causing a traffic jam in the pit lane as most drivers trooped in to change tyres and take on fuel. In this middle stint, Hamilton drove a brilliant race passing multiple cars and setting 5 consecutive fastest laps matching the pace of Massa who was blazing away from Alonso and Kimi in 3rd.
On lap 36, disaster struck Kimi as his car slows down and finally drowns at the start of the pit lane due to possible mechanical failure.
With less than 12 laps to the end, the meteorologists predicted rain in 10 minutes which was slightly off because the rain came earlier. And by lap 52, it was starting to pour again on some parts of the track causing the drivers to make another bee-line into the pit lane.
The rain turned out to be a bad turn for Massa who seemed to have lost the edge he enjoyed in the middle stint with Alonso closing up right on his tail and overtaking him on lap 56 and then pulling away.
Alonso finally won the see sawing race followed by Felipe Massa and a brilliantly deserving Mark Webber taking the final podium position. Lewis Hamilton made a final lunge for the points but ran out of laps and had to settle for 9th.
This was a must watch race, one of the best in recent years.
Read Full Post »
