Formula: Lewis Hamilton celebrated his second Formula One victory in succession yesterday as the McLaren-Mercedes driver overcame the disadvantage of poor team tactics during a safety car phase to win the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr was a surprise second and Felipe Massa of Ferrari finished third behind Hamilton, whose fourth win of the season 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 a disappointing sixth.
BMW’s Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso completed the points placings.
Hamilton, who also won the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, now heads the drivers’ standings with 58 points after 10 of 18 races thanks to 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 and Kubica fourth on 48 points.
“We had the best car, the quickest car this weekend and we came out on top,” Hamilton said.
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 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 the 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 to 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 lap 57 to move up to second behind Piquet Jr.
Piquet Jr’s Renault was also no match for the power of the McLaren and Hamilton regained top spot with eight laps remaining.
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