Lewis Hamilton was hailed by Formula One legend Michael Schumacher after he stormed to a miracle win at the German’s home track yesterday.
“That was a fantastic performance,” said the seven-time world champion who had been watching from the Ferrari pitwall - and rooting for protege Felipe Massa.
Lewis Hamilton was forced to use all his bravery and skill to overcome a strategic blunder by McLaren which almost cost him the German Grand Prix.
The Briton seized the lead in the Formula One championship when he won at Hockenheim after overtaking Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Renault’s Nelson Piquet Jr at the same hairpin corner.
Australian Red Bull driver Mark Webber saw his run of points end when his car collected debris from a heavy crash by Toyota driver Timo Glock.
McLaren admitted their mistake, with team boss Ron Dennis telling Hamilton over the radio: “Sorry we had to make it a little bit difficult for you, absolutely fantastic job.”
Hamilton, who earned his eighth career win from 27 races, replied with a chuckle but said later he was baffled by the call.
“I think we probably should have come in, (but) at the end of the day I don’t always know what’s happening (in the garage).
“I would have much preferred to have come in earlier (for my second pit stop) but the way it worked out I knew I had a lot of work to do. They let me stay out and I just had to push hard, as hard as I could,” said the Briton.
“I really pushed, right over the limit, but it was not enough and then I had to fight my way back. So a big thank-you to my McLaren team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who saw I was faster and did not make life more difficult.
“I had two great fights with the other guys, it was very fair and it was exciting.”
Piquet, whose father won three world titles, admitted that even when he briefly led the race in the closing stages it would have been a huge job to stay in front.
“When I was leading, I knew Lewis would come by quickly and I knew Felipe wasn’t that much quicker than me. If I’d taken too many risks (trying to hold Hamilton off), Felipe might have overtaken me,” said the rookie.
“So I decided I had to save second place rather than end up in third or fourth and not be so happy.”
“I think it has been our best weekend up until now,” said Hamilton, who was dominant in practice and qualifying. “The team have done a great job and we are really on top of our game right now, but we cannot get too far ahead of ourselves - we have got a lot of work to do for the rest of the season.”
“We’ve got a long way to go and we’ve got to make sure that we can continue with this performance.”
“We’re looking strong, but as you know in a Formula One season things change, the teams always make steps here and there.
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