Britain’s Lewis Hamilton used two dramatic overtaking moves to overcome a McLaren strategy gaffe and win the German Grand Prix on Sunday, seizing the lead in Formula One’s championship race.
Hamilton dominated the early stage of the race, which he began in pole position, and looked destined to win comfortably as he surged to an 11.5secs lead over Ferrari’s Felip Massa.
What had been billed as a head-to-head between Hamilton and fellow front row starter Felipe Massa in the Ferrari ultimately turned into a head-to-head between Hamilton and the clock - and whilst both men were present up on the podium at the end of the race, Hamilton’s day was completed by having an unexpected ‘joker’ in-between them.
A severe shunt involving Toyota’s Timo Glock just beyond the midway point of the 67-lap race at Hockenheim had resulted in the evaporation of a comfortable lead established by Hamilton.
But with a helping hand from McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen and two stunning overtaking manoeuvres on title rival Felipe Massa in his Ferrari and Nelson Piquet in the closing stages, Hamilton triumphed to open up a four-point cushion in the championship standings.
Eleven drivers dived in for new rubber, fuelling to the end, but surprisingly Hamilton did not do so, and instead Kovalainen was the McLaren man who came in.
McLaren appeared to have taken a considerable gamble with Hamilton, especially as he emerged in fifth behind Kovalainen when he finally made his second stop on lap 51.
But Hamilton worked his way through the field and overtook Piquet on lap 60 and had a clean run to the finish and the eighth win of his career.
Piquet Jr., who earned his first career podium after starting from 17th, couldn’t hold off Hamilton when the 23-year-old Briton closed in at the same corner three laps later.
“Sorry we had to make it a little bit difficult for you,” McLaren team principal Ron Dennis told Hamilton over the radio. “Absolutely fantastic job.”
Nick Heidfeld worked his way up from 12th to finish fourth ahead of McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen was sixth and is seven points behind Hamilton, while Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber and Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso also earned points.
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