This German Grand Prix was sort of a for gone conclusion for me. Lewis Hamilton was fast in practice, grabbed pole position and was miles ahead of everyone on the track throughout the race. He really
was very strong this whole weekend and his mean passing toward the end of the race sending Massa very wide was a show of dominance.

I will be the first to admit that I have ‘bashed’ Nelson Piquet Jr. all season and now am beginning to eat my words. He did have some pretty good luck however when he pitted for a lot of fuel just seconds before Glock hammered the wall sending the safety car out. Lap 37 he was in 14th and 2 laps later when just about everyone pitted he was 3rd. Nevertheless Piquet was faster than Alonso and more importantly for his career he was mistake free.

I’m having a hard time figuring out the Ferrari drivers. Massa to me is faster, more aggressive, and just plain better than Raikkonen which I though I would never say, but at the same time I say he is more aggressive, it has been suggested he opened the door for Hamilton on the final pass. I’m not sure I agree with that at all. Lack of grip and overheating brakes were Massa’s undoing making it seem like he simply opened the door for Hamilton. Massa is known to be an aggressive hot headed driver and he did what he had to do in that situation. Kimi Raikkonen looks like an average driver in a Ferrari so where has he gone? This race he did nothing to impress me until it was far too late when he made a bit of a charge, but in the end he finished right where he started in 6th.

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2008 German Grand Prix Results

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Lewis Hamilton outlasted Felipe Massa to take the pole for tomorrows German Grand prix. He and Massa traded fast laps throughout qualifying seemingly with no competition from other drivers.

For Fernando Alonso, it was a strange but good day. He qualified ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and both BMW-Saubers, but team mate Piquet jr. didn’t manage to get past Q1. Alonso seems happy with his qualifying, but as always he is concerned about the race.

“I’m very happy,” he told ITV Sport’s Louise Goodman.

“It’s a nice surprise because we went into qualifying with some doubts [and were] unsure about the car performance.

“In fact Nelsinho [Piquet] went out of Q1 and we were a little bit concerned.

“Race pace is always one of our biggest problems,” he said.

“We slide too much so we wear the tyres more than the others and then at the end of the stints we are not as quick as the others.

Both BMW-Sauber drivers seemed off the pace toward the end of qualifying. In Q1 things looked good, but from there on in they were off the pace. Heidfeld went out in Q2 after making a mistake and running wide on his last flying lap. Kubica managed Q3 but will start alongside Raikkonen in 7th.

Mario Theissen doesn’t sound too optimistic:

“Obviously we expected more from qualifying. Both our drivers had not been happy with their cars in the free practice. In addition to this, we faced further incidents. In the first part of qualifying Robert got stuck behind a car. Nick spun off in the second part of qualifying which may have cost him Q3. From the given positions it will not be an easy race for us. The weather predictions are unstable. In our situation a wet race would certainly help.”

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The first half of this season has been a strange and unpredictable one for me. After diligently following pre-season testing and reading notes from all of the teams, the running order I figured would be much the same as last year. I figured either Lewis Hamilton or Kimi Raikkonen would have a fairly substantial lead in the drivers championship and either Ferrari or McLaren would be firmly atop the constructors championship.

I couldn’t decide which driver or which team would be out in front, but had a good idea Hamilton or Raikkonen would be squarely on top. Thankfully this isn’t the case as we enter the second half of the season. A good fight between drivers throughout the whole season could not be better and the fact we have a fight between three drivers makes this season the best in a while.

There are a few reasons we are in this great position. BMW-Sauber has entered the mix and disrupted ‘normality’ at the front between Ferrari and McLaren. Traction control and engine braking are gone now and life at the front without them isn’t as easy as drivers thought it would be. Lastly, stupid mental errors are rampant and appear just about every race.

Take the normally bullet proof Ferrari and McLaren of last year and there is no resemblance at all as the consistency and focus factor jumps from one driver to another race to race. If you hadn’t watched a race all season and hadn’t read or listened to any news, you could easily figure this out just by looking at the current point totals of the leaders. A three way tie for first with these leaders having only 48 points has got to be the lowest in years. Last season after 9 races Lewis Hamilton was leading with 70 points and in 2006, Fernando Alonso led at this point with 84 points.

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Lewis Hamilton has now put his name in the books as one of the best wet weather drivers after mastering Fuji, Monaco, and now Silverstone. His performance in the rain yesterday can hardly be considered a fluke as he was clearly the fastest and most consistent on the track.

Ferrari are troubled with silly mistakes. The decision to leave worn intermediate tires on Kimi’s car was an error simply not acceptable and only matched by Renault doing the same thing with Alonso. Granted some of the choice is left up to the driver, knowing what the weather might bring is up to the pits. It’s hard to believe Ross Brawn would do the same thing.

Felipe Massa had a horrible day and I put a lot of the blame on him for letting frustration get the better of him as the race progressed. This wouldn’t have happened if his team had given him the chance to get out of the danger area of the grid and start near the front.
On the other hand, his car seemed undrivable as every time he touched the throttle he went around and around and around. It’s amazing he kept going and didn’t hit a wall.

Strategy master of the day has to easily go to Ross Brawn. While Ferrari were scratching their heads and messing around, Brawn quietly had Rubens Barrichello (on full wets) challenging for 2nd.

Pass master of the day has to go to Nick Heidfeld. Finally having figured out the car, he out performed team mate Robert Kubica and made 2 great passes taking 2 cars at once both times to secure his 2nd place.

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I must say it was an exciting British Grand Prix that threw it’s weather straight in the drivers faces beating up on Ferrari, but shining down on Lewis Hamilton.

It was Lewis Hamilton who tamed Silverstone today and did it in nothing less that great form. Lewis had a spectacular start from 4th almost passing team mate Heikki Kovalainen in first by the first corner. Both drivers drove head to head even touching until as expected Hamilton passed kovalainen quite easily on lap 5, most likely as a result of team orders.

It was Hamilton’s race to lose. He drove a perfect race and his only challenge came from Kimi Raikkonen after kovalainen spun on lap 10 Raikkonen began to challenge Hamilton, but after both pitted together and Hamilton took on new intermediate tires and Raikkonen elected to stay on his used intermediates Hamilton never looked back. By the end of the race he had lapped all but Nick Heidfeld in 2nd and Rubens Barrichello in 3rd, yes Rubens Barrichello in 3rd. When just about every other car on the grid spun at least once, Hamilton, Heidfeld, and Barrichello held it together finishing 1,2,3, but Hamilton was clearly in a league of his own today.

Heikki Kovalainen started on pole, but the super start and fast pace of Hamilton sent him back to 2nd by lap 5 and a spin on lap 10 down to 4th. Despite 2 spins, Kovalainen drove a good race, but in the rain he just didn’t have the pace to make up lost ground.

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After a full week of hair pulling, I’ve finally worked out enough blog bugs to be able to consider posting regularly again and start with my almost mid season driver report card.

Lewis Hamilton - McLaren Mercedes

Need I say 2008 has been a tough season for Hamilton? I call it the ’sophomore blues’ and he is certainly not alone. Many an athlete have found themselves in a second year mess after a barnstorming rookie season and all have had to work through it to prove their worth to the sport, media, team, and most of all themselves.
I cannot criticize Lewis too harshly for the mistakes he has made, but I can hope he learns from them. His recent lashing out at the media has caused him even more wide spread criticism and why, because he chooses to give the media what they give him. How unjust is that? Lewis has gone from darling of the sport to ‘goat’ in less than one year, a pill tough enough for anyone inexperienced or otherwise to swallow, but one he must. How ever unjust he feels he is being treated, his emotions must be kept in check.

Hamilton is by no means out of the fight for the championship and if and when he does win, the media and the British will love him once again.

2008

2007

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There was an interview in the Times Online F1 Blog where Bernie Ecclestone was asked who he thought were the top 5 drivers in F1 so far this year and a few comments as to why. You can see it at the link above, but here’s Bernie’s list anyway followed by mine. You will see I differ from him seeing things a little differently.

1. Fernando Alonso
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Kimi Raikkonen
4. Robert Kubica
5. Felipe Massa

and another driver from a lesser team who has potential:

Sebastian Vettel

I’m a bit surprised at him putting Massa down the list in 4th after he questions Raikkonen’s desire to win on and off the track. Massa is a driven guy, of that there’s no question this year anyway. Massa’s putting his driving where his mouth is and not only that, he’s driving clean of late. Well, I put him 4th in my list as well.

He thinks Robert Kubica along side Lewis Hamilton and he would blow Lewis away. That’s a competition I’d like to see.

My list does vary a bit from Ecclestone and yes it is objective without favoritism.

1. Fernando Alonso

Despite not liking him too much, I can’t place anyone currently racing above him. He is an electrifying driver always pushing to the limit. He makes any car look much better than it is just like Michael Schumacher did. He complains about his car this year because his hunger to compete is stronger than it is. This year if he was at McLaren, he’d show Hamilton and the others what winning is all about.

2. Robert Kubica

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What’s happening now in F1 is brilliant. We’re beginning to see cracks in the armor of the normally strong leaders and a level of immaturity on the part of Hamilton. The evidence is on the track and it shows in the standings when looking from 2007 to 2008.

The first thing staring me in the face it the lower point total by not only the top driver this year Robert Kubica, but also Lewis Hamilton in 2nd. Both drivers have a lower total than Hamilton did as the leader after 7 races last season.

Apart from Alonso being out of the picture, the usual names still remain, but with far less confidence than last year. Many mistakes have been made on track so far in 2008, mistakes that are showing the vulnerability of the normally better drivers. When first looking toward this season just after the end of 2007, most considered it a pretty good bet that Ferrari and McLaren would do battle for the top just as before with all 4 drivers capable of grabbing big chunks of points in every race. Now, introduce BMW-Sauber into the mix and I see both Ferrari and McLaren back on their heels a little.

I saw a fine example of that when Hamilton punted Raikkonen from behind in the pits. Hamilton comes into the pits in first, and leaves his pit in 3rd. The difference is Robert Kubica, not Kimi Raikkonen. Hamilton didn’t just see Ferrari in front of him, he saw BMW-Sauber as well and the possibility of only 6 points with 2 other teams grabbing 10 and 8 points. When you look at it, this is a big deal not only for Hamilton, but for McLaren as well.

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Is Lewis Hamilton having fun or what!? The price of stardom in his case requires the need for a good calendar and a little discretion, something Lewis is still learning.

The Cannes Film Festival is where we start. It was here Lewis Hamilton attended the Indiana Jones film premiere with the current Miss Grenada Vivian Burkhardt. It was also at this time that the proud mother of Burkhardt told the Grenada press that the pair are an item.

But at for the Monaco Grand Prix weekend, Lewis invited singer Dannii Minogue to Monaco to party and watch the grand prix as his girl/guest. hmmm.

Now it gets fun, in Monaco Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger spent time mingling on the grid and some reporters too serious about their job to really notice just who people really are mistakenly thought she was Vivian Burkhardt who had actually gone home to Grenada so she wouldn’t distract Hamilton. Her mother said Lewis needs time and space to prepare for the grand prix.

After Lewis wins the grand prix and no Vivian Burkhardt, he celebrates his win with none other than Nicole Scherzinger and according to the tabloids she told friends that her and Hamilton are an item and have “been seeing each other on and off for three months.”

Now Lewis, do what you want to do, but don’t head off to Grenada of all places for a holiday with Nicole, but that’s what he has apparently done. Oh, and where’s Sarah Ojjeh in all this?

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