Alvin's Formula One Blog

It was supposed to be a great race , with Formula 1 not returning to Hockenheim for the last 2 years. The track looked great and is great to drive as well. The championship is shaping up nicely with Red Bull the strong car at every track but McLaren able to reel them in at every opportunity and Ferrari trying to make a comeback. The last 2 races gave a suspicion that Ferrari got something right but didn't manage to show the potential because of their own mistakes. This race was where they were supposed to show their upgrades had worked. It showed in free practices and Qualifying. The raw pace of the Ferrari was beginning to match Red Bull and leave McLaren in the dust. That set up a nice race where anything can happen and raw pace would be tested to the fullest. Ferrari had the chance to show their comeback strength and claim a win or a 1-2 in glorious fashion. But instead they chose to show us how low they would go just to entertain someone's ego. The team orders they issued, ...

Re-published from Planet F1 Sunday 20th July 2008 STAR OF THE RACE Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 1st Another peerless drive from Hamilton who was in a class of his own at Hockenheim. It's a dramatic turnround for McLaren to be outgunning Ferrari by half a second a lap, as it was in the opening stages of the German GP. In 18 laps Lewis had carved out an 11 seconds lead over Massa. Though that worrying rush-of-blood-to-the-head looked to have descended on him as he approached Trulli after the first pit-stop on Lap 19, he reined it in. His passing moves on Massa and Piquet were clinical. But it's a good job for McLaren that their strategy hiccup came at a nice wide circuit. OVERTAKING MOVE OF THE RACE Lap 43: Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren on Robert Kubica, BMW Having received criticism for his lack of aggression at Silverstone, Kovalainen made amends with a superb overtaking move in front of a grandstand load of Mercedes fans at Turn 8. He...

Re-published from Planet F1 Sunday 20th July 2008 Lewis Hamilton put in a storming drive to win the German Grand Prix, after his McLaren team created more work for him during a Safety Car period. The McLaren driver led the grand prix from the start, easily putting time between himself and second placed Felipe Massa as he looked to be in a class of his own. However, what looked to be certain victory appeared to slip from his grasp when the Safety Car came out on Lap 35 after Timo Glock crashed heavily. All the front runners pitted except Hamilton, which meant that when the race re-started Nelson Piquet Jr and Felipe Massa were right behind him on the track but unlike Hamilton, they did not need to stop. Hamilton rejoined in fifth place and started a memorable charge to the front... Lewis's advantage was that he had a car that was about a second a lap quicker than the Ferrari. By Lap 55 the gap to Massa wa...

It would seem a forgone conclusion this weekend but as usual I don't like to count my chicks before they are hatched. The McLarens had good pace from Friday practice and Saturday practice looked good also. Lewis looked pretty strong this past 2 days and today's qualifying was the culmination of all that work. It was an extremely exciting qualifying today, especially the last part when Massa looked like he had pole but was snatched away by Lewis at the last minute. The other surprises were quite exciting as well. Alonso as usual managed to pull a rabbit out from his hat with fifth place and Vettel, the man of the hour, managed to get into the top 10. A truly incredible performance from Trulli. That last minute thing was incredible too, you'd think it was time to relax after punching the air when Lewis took pole but no..Trulli made it truly special by taking 4th with Alonso pushing Kimi to 6th. Kubica disappointed with 7th but worse was Heidfeld. I don't know what happene...

Re-published from Planet F1 Saturday 19th July 2008 Lewis Hamilton will start the German GP from pole position after beating Felipe Massa to the coveted grid slot in Saturday's qualifying. The McLaren driver, who led the way in both practice sessions on Friday, carried his pace through to qualifying on Saturday where he clocked a 1:15.666 to edge Massa by two tenths. Third place on the grid went to Heikki Kovalainen as the McLaren driver got within half a second of his team-mate while a last-gasp effort from Jarno Trulli put him P4. Fernando Alonso and an off-form Kimi Raikkonen complete the top six. Qualifying 1 There was a small threat of rain in the build up to qualifying, but when the pitlane exit light turned to green, the clouds had blown over. The ambient temperature was at 23C with the track at 32C. Local favourites Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel were out on track first and Vettel set P1 at 1:17.030. Kim...

Re-published from Planet F1. Friday 18th July 2008 Lewis Hamilton made it two from two in Germany on Friday when he posted the fastest time in the day's second practice session. The McLaren driver, who is determined to win this weekend's grand prix and take the sole lead in the Drivers' standings, clocked a 1:15.025 to beat the two drivers that he is tied with at the top of the Championship, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. Report: Sebastian Vettel set the first competitive lap time of the afternoon, a 1:18.431. The German, who recently signed on as David Coulthard's replacement at Red Bull for next season, continued lapping, shaving almost two seconds off his time before he was overhauled by the two McLaren drivers. Lewis Hamilton hit the top of the timesheets with a 1:15.817 while Heikki Kovalainen went P2. The Finn, though, dropped fast with Felipe Massa and Nick Heidfeld both edging ahead of him. K...

Re-published from Planet F1. Friday 18th July 2008 Lewis Hamilton may exude a cool persona moments before the start of every grand prix but he has conceded to suffering pre-race nerves. Hamilton admits to playing out in his mind numerous scenarios once the five red lights disappear to signal a frantic run down towards the first corner. But it is the kind of adrenaline rush that drives on Hamilton as he bids to become Formula One World Champion this year. "Well, I'm human," smiled Hamilton, quashing the thought he would have ice running through his veins in the race build-up. "There are nerves, but not the kind thinking I might fail. They are of excitement, with the adrenaline pumping. "It's about whether I will get the start perfect; what will happen in the first corner, because it's an unknown. You've no clue. "It's a question of: do I go left or right?; do I brake early...

Re-published from Planet F1 Tuesday 8th July 2008 Having taken the lead in the standings with his victory in Sunday's British GP, Lewis Hamilton is determined to hold on to win this year's World title. The McLaren driver entered this year's Championship with three goals in mind: win in Monaco, win in Britain and win the World title. Now having achieved two of those he has set his sights on clinching number three, the World title. After nine races the Brit is tied with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen on 48 points in the Championship. Hamilton, however, takes the lead as even though all his results as the same as Massa's, he has one P10 finish to the Brazilian's DNF. "It is straight back to work for me. I have a World Championship to win," the McLaren driver, who flew to Hockenheim on Monday to take part in a pre-Germany test, told The Sun. "I've ticked off Monaco, I've ticked ...