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Tuesday, 23 August, 2011, 3:21 ( 1:21 GMT )
Editorial/OP-ED




Formula 1: Hamilton Surprises With German GP Win
24/07/2011 16:54:00
Lewis Hamilton so satisfied to win German GP his second fivtory since the China Gp in April

McLaren's British Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton won a Formula 1 grand prix for the first time since April at the Nurburgring on Sunday when he finished ahead of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's Mark Webber to win the German GP.

It was also for the first time World champion and current drivers' leader Sebastian Vettel failed to win a top three place and missed out on a podium finish.

Lewis Hamilton led at the start after surging past the pole-sitting Red Bull of Mark Webber, and thanks to some stunning driving and clever strategy, held off both Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Webber to the line.

Claiming it was one of his greatest victories in the sport, Lewis Hamilton brilliantly breathed new life into his season after emerging on top of a thrilling battle with Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber as the championship race gained some much-needed fresh impetus.

Ut was a difficult home event for hitherto runaway points' leader Sebastian Vettel only finished fourth after early struggles with pace and brakes were compounded by an uncharacteristic spin. Hamilton took full advantage by delivering his second victory of the season thanks to particularly strong mid-race speed and some typically swashbuckling overtaking.

The McLaren driver beat Webber away from the start line and although he slipped behind the Red Bull man at the first stops just laps after a ding-dong wheel-to-wheel battle, regained the position after the second round of stops - although both drivers then found themselves behind Alonso, who had pitted even later.

But McLaren’s unexpectedly strong qualifying form carried through to the race and almost before his Ferrari rival had realised he was in the lead, Hamilton drove clean round the outside of him going through turns two and three. From there he never looked back to claim his first win since China in April with Alonso and Webber having to settle for second and third respectively.

Vettel eventually limited the damage to his big points lead by finishing fourth as his Red Bull crew won a late pit-stop duel with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari squad, both teams delaying their mandatory switch to the hard tyre to the penultimate lap.

So while his record of finishing either first or second in 2011 has now gone, while his wait for a maiden German GP win continues, Vettel only loses three points to closest championship challenger Webber - his lead still a massive 77 points although Hamilton’s win takes him to within 82 points in third with Alonso four more adrift.

Meanwhile, what were already Jenson Button’s faint hopes of winning a second drivers’ title appear over after he retired for the second race in succession courtesy of a hydraulics problem on his McLaren, the Briton having been only seventh at the time after a poor start.

McLaren though will head into the short turnaround before next week’s Hungarian GP full of renewed confidence in their MP4-26’s pace after Hamilton’s latest stunning victory.

For once fortune appeared to be favouring Vettel's team-mate in the Red Bull team, but he could not take full advantage as Hamilton managed to rebut Webber’s advances going through the long turns two and three, and from there the 2008 champion didn’t look back.

Seemingly more comfortable than either of his two pursuers, Alonso and Webber, on his latest set of ‘option’ tyres, Hamilton posted a series of well-timed fastest laps and pulled more than 2s clear of Alonso, Webber strangely beginning to lose touch with both.

The mandatory switch to the medium compound was still to come though and McLaren brought Hamilton in for the final time on lap 51, yet neither Ferrari nor Red Bull responded immediately and gambled on getting some more lap time yet out of the now well-worn softs.

One man who did deliver his best result of the year was one of the less high-profile Germans in the field, Adrian Sutil, who rivalled Hamilton for drive of the day as he took a strong sixth for Force India at the expense of Germany’s effective national team Mercedes who took unspectacular seventh and eighth finishes.

Nico Rosberg again finished ahead of Michael Schumacher although the seven-time champion again recovered well from an earlier mistake when he spun at the same spot as Vettel.

Ninth place went to Kamui Kobayashi who repeated the feat achieved by Jaime Alguersuari in each of the last three races by turning 18th on the grid into a points finish on a two-stop strategy.

Vitaly Petrov took the final point for Renault who had earlier seen Nick Heidfeld drop out in spectacular fashion at the chicane after a coming together with Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi.

German GP Full Results

1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes)
2. Fernando Alonso Ferrari
3. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)
4. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault)
5. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
6. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes)
7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
8. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)
9. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber-Ferrari)
10. Vitaly Petrov (Renault)
11. Sergio Perez (Sauber-Ferrari)
12. Jaime Alguersuari (STR-Ferrari)
13. Paul di Resta (Force India-Mercedes)
14. Pastor Maldonado (Williams-Cosworth)
15. Sebastien Buemi (STR-Ferrari)
16. Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus-Renault)
17. Timo Glock (Virgin-Cosworth)
18. Jerome d'Ambrosio (Virgin-Cosworth)
19. Daniel Ricciardo (HRT-Cosworth)
20. Karun Chandhok (Lotus-Renault)
Retired
Vitantonio Liuzzi (HRT-Cosworth)
Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes)
Rubens Barrichello (Williams-Cosworth)
Nick Heidfeld (Renault)

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