Hamilton takes victory in German Grand Prix

Formula One News

Jul 20, 2008, 14:06 GMT

Hockenheim, Germany - Lewis Hamilton celebrated his second Formula One victory in succession on Sunday as the McLaren-Mercedes driver overcame the disadvantage of a safety car to win the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton of McLaren Mercedes leads the pack after the Start of the Formula One Grand Prix of Germany at Hockenheimring race track in Hockenheim, Germany, Sunday, 20 July 2008. Lewis Hamilton celebrated his second Formula One victory in succession as the McLaren-Mercedes driver overcame the disadvantage of a safety car to win the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. EPA/ROLAND WEIHRAUCHRenault's Nelson Piquet Jr was a surprise second and Felipe Massa of Ferrari finished third behind Hamilton, whose fourth season win was the first for McLaren-Mercedes at Hockenheim in a decade. Nick Heidfeld in a BMW-Sauber took fourth, followed by Heikki Kovalainen in the second McLaren with defending world champion Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari sixth. BMW's Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso completed the points placings. Hamilton, who also won the British GP a fortnight ago, now heads the drivers' standings with 58 points after 10 of 18 races thanks his victory in a time of 1 hour 31 minutes 20.874 seconds for the 67 laps. Massa sits second on 54 with teammate Raikkonen third on 51 points. Starting from pole position on the grid ahead of Massa, Hamilton got a flying start into the first corner and immediately started building up a commanding lead. The 23-year-old Briton pitted on lap 18, taking on a significant amount of fuel for his second stint, but was briefly held up by Jarno Trulli of Toyota before the Italian pitted. Once Kovalainen and Massa pitted, Hamilton once again started building up his advantage on track, running up a lead of nearly 10 seconds after 25 laps. However, the cars bunched back together with 32 laps remaining when the safety car was called out following a spectacular crash involving Timo Glock. The Toyota driver's right rear suspension appeared to snap, sending his car careering into the pit wall at high speed and sending debris flying all over the track. Both Ferraris and Kovalainen were among a host of cars to take advantage of the presence of the safety car to pit while Hamilton remained out on track, a decision that initially looked like it might cost him victory. The drivers to gain most advantage from Glock's misfortune were Heidfeld, who moved up to second thanks to pitting on lap 27, and Piquet Jr, who had also pitted just before the German's accident and found himself in third when racing resumed five laps later. Hamilton began to pull away again in an effort to build up a lead on Massa but had to pit again on lap 50, returning on soft compounds in sixth place behind Kovalainen. The Finn appeared to allow his teammate pass him a lap later while once Heidfeld pitted, Piquet Jr found himself the surprise leader from Massa. Hamilton immediately began closing down on Massa and passed the Brazilian at the hairpin on 57 to move up to second behind Piquet Jr. The Brazilian's Renault was no match for the power of the McLaren and Hamilton regained top spot with eight laps remaining before then cruising to victory.

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