As if by Divine Intervention it would just so happen that the clouds that gathered over the Nurburgring would burst open and turn everything upside down as soon as the second lap. The amount of water turned the track into a lake of aquaplaning madness as car after car slid of into the gravel on turn 1, neatly lining up next to each other, and coming to a gentle stop next to the barrier.
The frenzy of cars sliding off, teams scrambling to change tires and the battles that ensued as racers battled each other for position, whilst trying to stay on the track, made for a very exciting race!
Hamilton got stuck in the gravel after sliding off, but was lucky enough to be allowed to continue his race after being lifted back on to the track with his engine still running on lap 4. He was a lap behind however and with the rolling restart under the safety car, tried his best to unlap himself. During lap 45 Hamilton got blue flagged forcing him to allow Massa to pass and lap him. After that he got himself back up to 9th place where he finished the race.
Winklehock, Spyker’s new driver who replaced Albers for this race, started in 22nd position. Spyker decided to take a gamble on the dark clouds rolling in and got their driver a set of full wets with which to start his race, albeit from the pits. As the rain poured down, claiming a total of six victims on turn 1, Winklehock sets a fastest lap on lap 3. He was now leading the F1 GP on his debut race! Conditions turned nasty and the race was suspended with red-flags on lap 4. All the driver’s now had to start in the positions they were during the red-flag. What a day for Spyker and Winklehock! Unfortunately for him, the rain faded and the full wets couldnt churn out any kind of pace. The Spyker had to retire during lap 15 with small flames showing from the engine bay.
Massa had a good race and lead most of the way until the rain fell down again in the last ten laps, where the change to intermediates left him with vibrations from a bad set. Alonso fought very hard and after some aggressive driving bumped his way past Massa to gain pole position and win the race.
Raikkonen drove very well, and even after missing the pit entrance as he lost grip in the web on slicks, he still had a very good change of winning the race. He dropped from 1st to 7th before the restart, and back up to 3rd before his car gave problems and he had to retire. Very unfortunate since this race could’ve had him gain 10 points on the lead of Hamilton.
Ralf Schumacher made a mistake on the 2nd to last lap giving Heidfeld a gap to try and pass. Ralf didn’t see him there and they collided which had Ralf end in the gravel, very mad at what just happened. Heidfelt finished 6th just behind Coulthard who was the biggest gainer of the day, finishing in 5th after starting his race in 20th.
The final standings:
- Fernando Alonso
- Felipe Massa
- Mark Webber
- Alexander Wurz
- David Coulthard
- Nick Heidfeld
- Robert Kubica
- Heikki Kovalainen
A very exciting F1 race indeed, even though my man did not finish. I surely need to get this one on DVD, as it will probably be the most eventful race!
