Saturday, July 26, 2008 Hamilton boosts confidence in German GP By Steve Slater Special Contributor
I WONDER. Just wonder, whether the last two successive victories for Lewis Hamilton really have set him up for this year’s Formula One World Championship title?
Based on Hamilton’s domination of both the British and German Grand Prix races, it would on the face of it, look good for the British driver. At Silverstone, Hamilton simply found a level of pace that mystified his rivals. It was one of those rare occasions where the driver simply transcended the machinery.
At Hockenheim, it was a different story. On this occasion, it was a case of the McLaren finding a “sweet spot” with the track that simply eluded the Ferrari and BMW teams.
The fact also remains that Lewis had to dig deep into all his reserves of talent to retrieve the chances of victory after a huge McLaren tactical blunder regarding his second pit stop.
The deployment of the safety car was inevitable after Timo Glock’s accident on the 34th lap of the race. The Toyota driver’s rear suspension failure on the fast Sudkurve and pitched him backwards across the track into the pit wall, was a massive impact which left debris all the way down the start straight.
When the signal was given for the pit lane to open, someone on the McLaren pit wall committed an absolute howler.
Whether through poor communication, indecision or simply a wrong call, they left Hamilton out on track, when he should have led the pack down the pit lane.
In addition to Formula 1, I’ve spent a large part of the last 10 years reporting on American motor sports on their oval tracks, where they have countless “full course yellows” behind the safety car. Whether it’s the big V8 Nascar stock cars or their Indycar single-seaters, they have a simple maxim.
If you’re leading the race, you lead into pitlane and pretty well whatever happens, you’re still likely to come out in the first half dozen. They have a word for the place behind the safety car when you stay out behind it. They call it the “sucker hole.” If you’re in it, you’re likely to wind up at the back of the pack.
When the race restarted, only Hamilton, Nelson Piquet junior (more of him shortly) and Nick Heidfeld stayed on track.
Already Hamilton’s hard-earned 16-second advantage had been negated by the safety car. Now, with the rest of his rivals refuelled, he now had to build a 23 second lead just to stay ahead when he pitted.
Rocket
Hamilton set off like a rocket and drove a dozen successive laps at qualifying speed. He though, had only been able to claw back 15.7 seconds when he dived into the pitlane.
He rejoined in fifth place and was promoted by Heidfeld making his stop too and team-mate Kovalainen letting him by. Then he pulled off two of the best overtaking moves of the season, to pass Massa and Nelsinho Piquet who was leading a Grand Prix for the first time.
For Massa, it was must have been a particular blow. His pace consistently shaded teammate Raikkonen all weekend in a Ferrari which was visibly much more difficult to drive than the McLaren. As at Silverstone, the Ferrari showed it is much more susceptible to gusting winds and a bumpy track. At Hockenheim, as at Silverstone the conditions threw up both.
However it was the manner in which Hamilton outraced Massa, which will haunt the Brazilian. You have to give Felipe 100-percent for his fightback, which got the two cars wheel to wheel for a second time.
However the way Hamilton simply forced Massa into a no win situation was masterful. It was noticeable that a deflated Massa had no mind for fighting with compatriot Piquet for his second place.
That for me is the essence of Hamilton’s possible success in the World Championship. After he’d been blown away, Massa stopped fighting. Raikkonen knew he had a car that wouldn’t win, so he didn’t try. His mind was simply on getting a few more points.
But Hamilton simply never gave up. It would have been easy for him to finish third and make muted comments about McLaren’s poor tactics, but he didn’t. You have to admire not just his victory, but his racing spirit.
Talking of racing spirit, a few thoughts on Nelsinho Piquet. He started the race from 17th on the grid, but the Renault team took a gamble on a one-stop strategy—and it paid off.
Piquet, a driver whose form had led to some disquiet about his future, then drove an impeccable race, battling calmly and intelligently with Hamilton for the lead and pacing himself perfectly to deny Massa his second place.
Think back to Monaco, when running in fourth place boosted the confidence of Force India driver Adrian Sutil. He has outpaced team-mate Fisichella ever since. One wonders what finishing second will do for Piquet—and what those two stunning wins will do for Hamilton’s self-confidence!
