Hamilton takes brilliant win in Germany

Felipe Massa had to settle for third, ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen.

The first half of the German Grand Prix was uneventful in the extreme, as Hamilton (McLaren) pulled away from Massa's Ferrari and his teammate Kovalainen with ease.

BMW's Robert Kubica benefited from a rapid start then passed Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso as they diced with each other on the opening lap to run fourth ahead of the Toyota, with Alonso (Renault) also falling behind Raikkonen's Ferrari at the same point.

The field then stretched out during the first stint, with Massa running two laps further than Hamilton before his first stop but failing to keep the McLaren in sight, allowing Hamilton to lead by up to 12 seconds.

It looked like a straightforward victory for the McLaren driver until Timo Glock - who had run as high as third in his Toyota thanks to a very long first stint and was up to eighth between Sebastian Vettel and Alonso - had a massive accident at the exit of the final corner on lap 35.

The Toyota had suffered a rear suspension failure and slammed heavily into the pit wall, causing a safety car period. Glock was taken to hospital for checks, but appeared to have escaped injury.

The full course yellow was a huge stroke of luck for Renault driver Piquet, who had been running near the tail of the field on a one-stop strategy but pitted just moments before the caution.

The majority of the rest of the field then pitted, allowing Piquet to move up to third behind Hamilton and Heidfeld, who chose to stay out in the belief that they could pull far enough away from the pack before making their last stops.

However the strategy looked destined to fail for Hamilton, as in the nine laps between the green and his stop he could only establish a 13 second advantage over main rivals Piquet and Massa.

He rejoined behind Kovalainen but quickly re-passed his teammate and then started hunting down the Renault and the Ferrari - gaining over one second per lap.

Hamilton caught Massa on lap 56 and wasted no time in surging past the Brazilian into the hairpin. Massa tried to retaliate into the following complex, but was edged out onto the asphalt run-off and had to let the McLaren go.

Piquet's lead lasted only three more laps before he too fell victim to a Hamilton out-braking move into the Spitzkehre, after which the McLaren easily pulled away to score another memorable victory.

With Massa lacking the pace to challenge Piquet, Renault's rookie driver emerged with a surprise second place from 17th on the grid.

Heidfeld also benefited from his strategy gamble to take fourth ahead of Kovalainen, with Raikkonen charging past Rosberg, Alonso, Vettel, Trulli and Kubica in the closing stages to take sixth having lost ground queuing behind Massa in the safety car pitstops.

Kubica held on to seventh, as Vettel secured the final point with a late move on Trulli. Alonso only finished 11th behind Rosberg after a late spin.

Toro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais took 12th, with David Coulthard finishing 13th after a poor start and a later tangle with Rubens Barrichello that ended the Honda's race.

The only other retirement was Mark Webber, whose Red Bull expired in a cloud of smoke while running behind the safety car.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The German Grand Prix
Hockenheim, Germamy;
67 laps; 306.458km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1h31:20.874
 2.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +     5.586
 3.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +     9.339
 4.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +     9.825
 5.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    12.411
 6.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    14.403
 7.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    22.682
 8.  Vettel        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    33.299
 9.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    37.158
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    37.625
11.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    38.600
12.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    39.111
13.  Coulthard     Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    54.971
14.  Fisichella    Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +    59.093
15.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:00.003
16.  Sutil         Force India-Ferrari   (B)  +  1:09.488
17.  Button        Honda                 (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Heidfeld, 1:15.987

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Barrichello   Honda                 (B)    52
Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)    41
Glock         Toyota                (B)    37


World Championship standings, round 10:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Hamilton      58        1.  Ferrari               105
 2.  Massa         54        2.  BMW Sauber             89
 3.  Raikkonen     51        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       86
 4.  Kubica        48        4.  Toyota                 25
 5.  Heidfeld      41        5.  Red Bull-Renault       24
 6.  Kovalainen    28        6.  Renault                23
 7.  Trulli        20        7.  Williams-Toyota        16
 8.  Webber        18        8.  Honda                  14
 9.  Alonso        13        9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      8
10.  Barrichello   11       
11.  Piquet        10       
12.  Rosberg        8       
13.  Nakajima       8       
14.  Vettel         6       
15.  Coulthard      6       
16.  Glock          5       
17.  Button         3       
18.  Bourdais       2       
       
All timing unofficial