Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) has won the tenth round of the FIA Formula OneWorld Championship from pole position after using a hard - hard - medium tyre strategy in an excitingand tension-filled German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
Hamilton won the race at the same location where the 100thrace win on Bridgestone Potenza tyreswas achieved in 2006. He crossed the finish line 5.5 seconds ahead of ING Renault F1 Team driverNelson Piquet, who made a single pit stop to change from Bridgestone’s hard to medium compoundtyre on way to his first Formula One podium finish. He was the only driver to make a single stop.
Felipe Massa (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro) finished in third position, using a hard – medium – hard tyrestrategy, illustrating the diversity of tyre strategies possible in this race. Nick Heidfeld (BMW SauberF1 Team) finished in fourth, ahead of Heikki Kovalainen (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes). Sixth placewent to Kimi Raikkonen (Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro), seventh was taken by Robert Kubica (BMWSauber F1 Team) and the final point was taken by Sebastian Vettel (Scuderia Toro Rosso).
Today’s race had looked like it would be an easy race for Hamilton, who comfortably displayedsuperior pace. However, a safety car brought out by the high speed exit of Timo Glock (PanasonicToyota Racing) meant that the field was bunched up, and Hamilton’s advantage was extinguished.Following his final pit stop, Hamilton blasted past his opposition, using the medium compoundPotenza tyre to his advantage. Piquet’s second place came from taking full advantage of the safetycar to complement his one stop strategy. Today’s fastest race lap, a 1min 15.987secs, was set byHeidfeld, using the medium compound on lap 52.
Leaving Hockenheim, Hamilton now leads the drivers’ championship with 58 points from Massa on54. Raikkonen was in third place on 51. Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro lead the constructors’championship with 105 points, ahead of the BMW Sauber F1 Team on 89. Vodafone McLarenMercedes are in third place with 86.
Formula One teams will be testing next week at Jerez on July 22-25, using the medium compounddry grooved Potenza tyres as well as two compounds of 2009 specification slick tyres. The next raceis the Hungarian Grand Prix, at Budapest, on August 1-3 where Bridgestone’s soft and super softcompound Potenza tyres will be used.
Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development, said:“As predicted, today’s race was very exciting in terms of tyre strategy, especially after theappearance of the safety car. Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren Mercedes had a good pace advantage andhe made the most of this to score his eighth grand prix win. Congratulations to Nelson Piquet for hisperformance, he demonstrated good maturity and also the durability and consistency of our tyres byonly making one stop to take second. We saw many different strategies throughout the field and thiswas a vital ingredient to a thrilling race.”
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