Hamilton’s supreme win in the German Grand Prix was the team’s first at Hockenheim in a decade, marking ten years since Mika Hakkinen won in a McLaren-Mercedes MP4-13 in 1998.
Starting from the pole position, Hamilton quickly established a comfortable lead over title rival Felipe Massa. A safety car mid distance however saw the British racer remain on track as the other front-runners pitted. This would prove to be quite a challenge as Hamilton was forced to try and pull out over 20 seconds over Massa before stopping a second time in order to retain the lead.
Despite driving on the limit, Hamilton was forced to pit and emerged behind team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, Massa and Nelson Piquet. Such was the pace of the McLaren at this circuit, Hamilton was able to make the passes and was soon back in the lead and duly recorded his eighth career victory.
Hamilton now leads the series with 58 points. He lies ahead of Ferrari drivers Massa (54 points) and Kimi Raikkonen (51). Heikki Kovalainen is sixth overall with 28 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, McLaren Mercedes is third with 86 points; Ferrari leads with 105 points.
Lewis Hamilton"I nailed it this afternoon: when the team told me I had to build a 23-second gap in just seven laps, I knew I had to drive over the limit - and I did. But I knew we had the best car this weekend and felt comfortable pushing hard to make up the gap. In the final stint, I had to work for today’s win - when the Safety Car came out, I questioned whether I should pit but I trusted the team to make the best decision on strategy. It didn’t quite work out - but I knew we had the pace in the car to keep pushing and want to say a big thank-you to Heikki, who realised I was quicker.”
“I was able to slipstream past Felipe and then thought my work was done; then I had to do it all again to get past Nelson. But I made a couple of textbook moves to get past them both. Everybody in this team has worked so hard to make this victory happen. We mustn’t grow complacent but must feel assured that our efforts are being rewarded. We couldn’t have asked for more today."
Heikki Kovalainen"A very difficult race for me. I had a good start and almost managed to pass Felipe but, unfortunately, my speed was not good enough, and I couldn’t make the tyres work to their best. The Safety Car period didn’t help me either, and I lost positions during my pitstop. Then I lost time behind Kubica. However, I managed to overtake him again two laps later and, from then on, it was a rather uneventful race. Fifth position was not what I had hoped to achieve here, but I am now looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix, where I will try my hardest to fight for a podium finish."
