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.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set