2008 German GP

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Round 10 of the 2008 F1 season at Hockenheim.

Transcript

00:00:00Nine races and 1,700 racing miles. There are four contenders vying for the championship

00:00:06The first time ever that the battle has been so close among so many so deep into the season

00:00:13Tied for the lead with 48 points apiece

00:00:16McLaren's Lewis Hamilton along with Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Kenny Raikkonen

00:00:22BMW's Robert Kubica is just two points back

00:00:25So far none of the four has been able to pull away from the other three

00:00:29In fact, it's been characteristic of this strange exciting season that almost every time one of the top four has won

00:00:38He's run into trouble in the very next race

00:00:41When will this cycle end? When will one of these four men jump ahead and stay ahead until the championship is his?

00:00:49That journey may begin today in the Grand Prix of Germany

00:00:54Next on Fox

00:00:56You

00:00:58You

00:01:23There are nine races down and nine to go in the 2008 Formula One World

00:01:27Championship and as you've heard we have the closest points battle in the 59 year history of the sport

00:01:33Welcome to the kickoff event of the second half

00:01:35It's all on the table at round 10 the German Formula One Grand Prix from historic Hockenheim. Hello everyone

00:01:42I'm Bob Varsha with David Hobbs Steve Batchett Peter Windsor is down in the pit lane

00:01:46Let's get right to the themes of today's race with our Toyota storylines David

00:01:50Well coming off his crushing victory two weeks ago in Britain Lewis Hamilton is on the pole today

00:01:55His momentum continues at the test last week. He topped the timesheets and yesterday afternoon in setting his third pole of the season

00:02:02He was quickest to every time sector on the track. The first time a pole sitter this year has done that

00:02:08Well for me, it's that three-way tie in the championship Hamilton Massa and Raikkonen

00:02:12The first tiebreak is wins Raikkonen has just two to Hamilton and Massa's three

00:02:17So he is third technically then you go to other placings and Hamilton and Massa are tied on

00:02:24Second third fourth fifth sixth seventh eighth and ninth place finishes this year

00:02:28Tenth place in the French Grand Prix at Manicour two races ago means Hamilton is technically the championship

00:02:35leader Steve Matchett

00:02:37Well for me, it's BMW and Robert Kubica this fellow right here despite that early pace in the opening race of the season

00:02:44They have struggled here at Hockenheim broke a bit

00:02:47So that's struggling to get a clean lap here at Hockenheim, but there were problems two weeks ago

00:02:52Here is spinning off into the gravel

00:02:56At Silverstone Friday practice back in Germany more problems for BMW and Kubica bang heavy impact

00:03:03Into the tire barrier and we're gonna see it again

00:03:05These fellows have got a lot of work to do to get on pace with McLaren and Ferrari up front

00:03:10Now, let's go down and join Peter Windsor on the grid with Robert Kubica's teammate at BMW Sauber

00:03:16one of five German drivers in his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim Nick Heidfeld

00:03:22Nick

00:03:24Obviously, we wish you good luck for a good race a disappointing qualifying for you though with that spin

00:03:28Yeah, I was I didn't actually spin off, but it was close. I locked the rear tires completely and

00:03:34That's bad because the weekend didn't go so bad until then so when it counted I had two mistakes that can happen

00:03:42So I think I have the chance to overtake some people but as we all know, it's not easy in Formula One

00:03:46I look forward to seeing that. Thank you very much. Good luck

00:03:49No, it's not easy in Formula One will we be tied for the World Championship lead at the end of the day

00:03:55That's the story about to unfold in a moment. They'll send the crews off the grid and we'll get ready to race. We'll be back

00:04:03Welcome back to the Hockenheim ring engines are started crews have cleared the grid

00:04:08And now the drivers are left alone with their thoughts before they set off on their formation lap and then face the lights

00:04:14here at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim

00:04:18There is Kimi Raikkonen tied for the lead in the World Championship, but unhappy with his Ferrari. He starts sixth

00:04:26Let's turn to our Bridgestone starting grid now for today's race on the front row two of the men tied for the World

00:04:33Championship lead Lewis Hamilton for McLaren Mercedes Felipe Massa for Ferrari

00:04:37But they come here with very different attitudes Hamilton coming in off a dominant win in his home Grand Prix in Britain two weeks ago

00:04:43Where Massa finished two laps down dead last row to the Paulson from Britain two weeks ago the McLaren of Haki Kovalainen

00:04:50Alongside the Toyota of Jarno Trulli ahead of his usual sparsely spot

00:04:54But in France he qualified fourth and ended up on the podium on row three the two active world champions in Formula One right now

00:05:01Fernando Alonso for Renault the only man to out qualify his teammate at every race this season

00:05:05We expect an early stop from the lightly fueled Renault though next to him Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari the reigning world champion

00:05:12As I mentioned unhappy with the balance of his car and he said make no mistake about it

00:05:16I have to win this race Robert Kubica and his BMW follows his worst grid spot this year at

00:05:22Silverson last week two weeks ago

00:05:23Ah with his second worst grid spot and the team have been struggling all weekend next to him the Red Bull of Mark Webber

00:05:29The highest place driver in the championship without a scoring a podium row five another great story

00:05:35Sebastian Vettel the best placed of five German drivers in this race just 21 years of age

00:05:40He starts next to the man

00:05:41He will replace in the Red Bull Renault team next year the retiring David Coulthard

00:05:46Who also happens to be the driver who took Vettel off on the very first lap in Britain two weeks ago?

00:05:50Well, two more German drivers make up row 16 o'clock in the second Toyota

00:05:54He's only scored points in one race so far this year next him a very disappointed Nick Heidfeld in the second BMW

00:06:00This is the third time in five races

00:06:02But he's not made q3 in qualifying on row 7 Nico Rosberg for Williams Toyota another German a poor qualifying effort

00:06:09But he is the best starter this year the only driver who hasn't dropped a position on the opening lap of a race

00:06:15Next to him Jensen Button of Great Britain still fighting a lack of top speed in the factory Honda five miles an hour off of

00:06:22Massa's

00:06:23197 mile-an-hour pace in the speed tracks Sebastian Bordet in the second trial also lines up 15

00:06:28He's having a problem coming to grips with the new car and next to him

00:06:31Kazuki Nakajima in the second AT&T Williams Toyota his rookie years going pretty well really on row 9 Nelson Piquet jr

00:06:39For Renault who complained of being blocked in qualifying by Sebastian Vettel's Toro Rosso next to him Rubens

00:06:44Marichello in the second Honda who took an emotional first career win here at Hockenheim in a Ferrari back in

00:06:502000 and he's coming off his first podium in three seasons in Britain two weeks ago

00:06:54Row 10 all-force India Ferrari another German driver Adrian Sutil and next to him and dead last year Carlo

00:07:00Fischer Keller making his 204th Grand Prix star quick look at for not at Felipe Massa's brother

00:07:07There's Ron Dennis the team principal of McLaren Mercedes

00:07:10Now we await the lights

00:07:12Hamilton and Massa McLaren and Ferrari on the front row. Here we go

00:07:23Massa angle over the track there to do it shot

00:07:27Hamilton into the early lead his teammate Kovalainen behind Felipe Massa's Ferrari then truly we've got cars into the runoff area turn one

00:07:37Comes Fernando Alonso around the outside Kovalainen nearly got around Massa there turn two

00:07:43He's right on his tail now as they stream out of turn three

00:07:47This is for second place Kovalainen in the silver and red McLaren

00:07:52Massa and the bright red Ferrari fastest part of the racetrack before heavy braking for the hairpin very heavy braking down here. Oh

00:07:59Truly have a lot. Yes, right

00:08:01We got Alonso around the outside into the runoff area and I think he got Yarna truly and there's Kubica

00:08:07In the BMW Sauber, he got them both Wow

00:08:11On board with Kimi Raikkonen

00:08:17Absolutely fraught first lap for Kimi Raikkonen you saw his hand desperately come off the steering wheel to adjust that brake balance and the game

00:08:25Just in the dip settings as well as a lot of work going on in Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari in this opening lap

00:08:31Right behind Sebastian Vettel and the Mark Webber then Timo Glock in the second Toyota

00:08:37But I tell you what guys I'm surprised at the amount of soft tires being used at the start of the race

00:08:42Just when you think you've got a handle on what the teams are doing

00:08:45Typically, they run these soft tires

00:08:46Which is the softer tires and they started to grind a little bit not the tire of choice towards the end of the race in

00:08:52The third stint most drivers have opted for in the opening stint

00:08:55We've had a lot of sunshine this morning at the Hockenheimering. The track is a lot warmer than it was in qualifying 81 yesterday

00:09:0390 today

00:09:05Julie's got back around Alonso there. There's the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen

00:09:09Mark Webber in his Red Bull

00:09:11Up to the highest speed on the track 197 mile an hour for the McLaren's down to that first gear

00:09:16But it's very tight 40 mile an hour hairpin

00:09:19The only saving grace of course he has got lots of runoff area

00:09:22But we've seen a lot of people run into each other down

00:09:25Very nearly sword again, David. Absolutely

00:09:29Webber trying to hit not hit that

00:09:31Pun that was David Coulthard actually trying not to get into the back of Jensen button

00:09:39Notice the different lines the drivers using yeah, normally see we see single file racing in Formula one

00:09:45But here at Hockenheim you can spread out those passing opportunities. This is very frantic Bob Hamilton beginning to stretch his lead now

00:09:5317-1 in sector one

00:09:55Remember the track split into three different sectors to give an idea of how the lap is put together and Hamilton beginning to stretch

00:10:00away

00:10:02Just saw Rubens Barrichello in the eyes. He's passing

00:10:06Kaz Nakajima

00:10:08Hamilton fastest lap

00:10:1017.9 the rest of the runners all in the 18th

00:10:14Only one guy is in the 17th and that's Hamilton your race leader

00:10:18Kovalainen looked like he was gonna make a race at Felipe Massa, but he's dropped back a little bit now

00:10:23Do you see a very tight group of people?

00:10:28Now they'll look at the start

00:10:30Good one for Hamilton who slotted in ahead of Felipe Massa

00:10:35from overhead

00:10:37Felipe Massa was angled over to dry and to the chop

00:10:41On Philly on Lewis Hamilton, but Lewis Hamilton fact chopped across the front of him

00:10:45Kubica looked for a move but Yarno truly shut the door on him

00:10:48They see Kovalainen look Kovalainen going down the inside there of Felipe Massa

00:10:52I've rarely nearly had him on the outside of turn one. They switches to the inside, but it wasn't gonna work

00:10:58Everybody had it, you know seemed to me a good start. There was no tire smoke

00:11:01They they hooked up the tires. Well got good grip good traction

00:11:04No traction control on the cars this year, but they made a good start and there's Kubica

00:11:09Yeah, Kubica rocketing by the Renault and the two and the Toyota of Yarno truly

00:11:14That all in replay back to live pictures now

00:11:19It's Kovalainen running very well

00:11:23Yeah, Yarno truly not able to do anything with it now, here's Alonso running it truly we think Alonso

00:11:30Alonso has to be aggressive. I think he has to get ahead of these cars

00:11:33Well, he's like very aggressive and look at Kimi Raikkonen is going down the outside of him now. It's that turn to

00:11:39Kimi Raikkonen, of course would be desperate to get around the Renault

00:11:42Underneath it takes the spot two world champions battling wheel-to-wheel

00:11:47Yarno truly was pretty aggressive going down that front straight there

00:11:49Imagine Alonso to be significantly lighter than Ferrari in terms of weight because of the fuel on board

00:11:56Truly, we also expect to be fairly light

00:11:59Remember truly has got the advantage or I mean I would imagine the advantage right now because he's on the softer tires

00:12:04But that's not gonna last for long on board with Raikkonen

00:12:07Well, of course if this Sun comes out like you said Steve early on the track will heat up very quickly here in southern Germany

00:12:12And those soft tires may tend to start graining more than they would do in the cooler temperatures we had on Friday and Saturday

00:12:18Yeah, typically in qualifying. We've seen that they're very good these soft tires with that white stripe round which designates them as being soft

00:12:25They're great for one flying lap one good golden lap and then they start to grain which those little pieces of rubber rolling up on

00:12:32The surface which takes the grip away

00:12:34Look at that lead for Lewis Hamilton who set fast lap of the race on lap three

00:12:38As he crosses the stripe there to complete lap four of 67

00:12:43It makes you wonder just how light Lewis Hamilton exactly I was thinking his qualifying time over his

00:12:49His qualifying time in q3 over his q2 time was not that much

00:12:53Difference. He looked like about a normal fuel though, but you know, he could have been disguising a little bit

00:12:57Yeah, I think it was almost dead on a second. It was David a second. Yeah

00:13:01And this man here, you know, he's got a lot of power. He's got a lot of power

00:13:05Seconds, yeah

00:13:07And this man here, you know, Fernando Alonso was quite a bit slower in q3 than q2. So i'm not sure that he is that light

00:13:15Well 1.4 seconds is different in his quality. We'll soon find out of course when it comes to pit stop

00:13:19Yeah

00:13:20And that time difference of course comes by the fact that in q2 that second period qualifying they're running on fumes

00:13:26Hardly any fuel in the car which makes the cars lighter and therefore faster

00:13:31In q3 when they're shooting out for pole in the grid positions from p1 to 10

00:13:35They have to have their race fuel on board and the weight just saps the performance of the cars

00:13:41And right behind Alonso, that's Sebastian Vettel

00:13:44He's driving the Wraith in eighth place in the Toro Rosso. There you see it behind Alonso now leading all of the Red Bull cars

00:13:52Pretty astounding. Well, look at the gap already opening up there only two cars in the shot and here come the rest of them

00:13:57But boy, oh boy 4.1 seconds already the gap between Hamilton your race leader for McLaren and

00:14:05the Ferrari driver of Massa in second

00:14:08Hamilton did not reset fast lap missed it by two

00:14:11hundredths of a second there on lap five

00:14:15On board with Alonso now, let's listen to the siren sounds of 19 000 rpm from a 2.4 liter v8

00:14:28You heard Alonso talking to Peter Windsor at the beginning, uh

00:14:32Shared that uh, you know, the car is still very difficult to drive which it is and uh Nelson pk

00:14:38Of course his teammate is down in 18th spot

00:14:41Which really shows how difficult this car is to drive Alonso of course two-time world champion

00:14:46If anybody can drive it he can and he's really got the best out of the Renault this year

00:14:50There's no doubt about it. I agree with you 100 percent

00:14:52I I would suggest that the the performance of the Renault David is somewhere in between the two

00:14:57I think pk is probably underachieving a little

00:15:00Alonso is over

00:15:02And the true performance of the car is probably an average midfield runner

00:15:07Let's go to peter windsor

00:15:09Well bob just to add to that. Yes

00:15:11I was talking to fernando alonso yesterday and I said if you put lap times aside and just talk about feel and grip

00:15:15How many points out of 10 would you give the Renault as a race car to drive?

00:15:19He thought about it for a little bit and said seven out of ten

00:15:22Felipe Massa when I asked him the same question said nine out of ten because no race car is ever perfect

00:15:27That's right shouldn't be but alonso to be able to hang on to ferrari the ferrari of kimi raikkonen

00:15:33Uh as well as he is. I mean he's losing ground slowly, but surely but that

00:15:38Is really a description of alonso's driving capabilities

00:15:41I mean that car is nothing like as quick as that ferrari of kimi raikkonen as you're looking at right now

00:15:47In fact in the early speed trap clockings. Kimi raikkonen is the fastest car in a straight line touching

00:15:54197 miles per hour

00:15:56But right now the race leader and in dominant fashion once again is lewis hamilton in the mclaren mercedes

00:16:02Purple in the first two time sectors another fast lap coming up

00:16:09Welcome back to the german formula one grand prix here on fox

00:16:12I'm, bob varsha with david hopp steve matchett and peter windsor

00:16:15This is the battle for 13 the white honda of jensen button trying to hold back david cooltards red bull

00:16:21Renault and nico rossberg the third car in line in the blue and white williams toyota

00:16:27This is for 13th place. Lewis hamilton did reset fast lap on the last lap number seven

00:16:34Here's a look at dc trying button in that 90 degree left-hander couldn't do it both of them holding their heads very well there

00:16:42button

00:16:42Button didn't come down on him at all

00:16:45Button had a great race here in 2006 and he did a fantastic overtaking maneuver on

00:16:49Fernando alonso at that very corner here comes cooltard again this time in the hairpin

00:16:56Turning under him. Oh, and there's a shot for rossberg, but he can't do it the problem they have down there they get it they

00:17:03Late brake which gives them the inside line, but they struggle to get the traction down

00:17:07They struggle to hook the tires up with the asphalt

00:17:10He'll say both on soft tires

00:17:12That's the white stripe around the tire denotes the softer of the compounds and these tires could start to go off now

00:17:18Nearly, uh eight laps into the race. They should really uh

00:17:21Be looking a bit uh skinny by now could easily start to drain

00:17:25David cooltard, I think if he could get around rubens barrichello, I think he would drive off

00:17:30fairly

00:17:33I think he would I think he'd pull away

00:17:35I agree, I think the red bull chassis now david far superior chassis to the honda the honda car has just been awful all year

00:17:42Long, but I think that's the problem

00:17:43It's getting around him and the jensen button is beginning to pull a train here. You see the other honda of rubens barrichello now

00:17:52There's kazunok ajima and another williams the cars are all crowding up now behind this battle for 13th

00:17:58Up ahead of them sebastian bordet the only frenchman in the field

00:18:02In 12th in the toro rosso ferrari. I was speaking to sebastian bordet last week at the goodwood festival of speed in england and

00:18:09I asked him about the car and he said that really had a lot of trouble

00:18:13Adapting to the new chassis came on just a few races back

00:18:16He just can't quite get the hang of it and his teammates sebastian bettel on the other hand

00:18:20So he's got the grip very well. He's up in eighth spot

00:18:24Just one second behind alonzo. See jensen button continually looking into his mirrors to see where cooltard is

00:18:31Fighting a defensive battle you think cooltard trying to make jensen make a mistake

00:18:35Yeah at the same time

00:18:36You know cooltard's really got the advance because he can see what's going on jensen

00:18:39Of course, he's got to keep on looking in the mirror two brits an englishman and a scott doing battle peter

00:18:49Well, we have the nika rosberg team radio let's listen to hear what he's saying

00:18:54Try and get past him with

00:18:57Me

00:18:59Hello

00:19:02Okay

00:19:05Sitting there saying I hadn't thought of that

00:19:07Oh, maybe I should try just going to say boys when jensen button misses his braking as he did a couple laps ago into

00:19:12The hairpin and david cooltard fails to take advantage of it by not being in the right position

00:19:16I think that's given jensen quite a lot of confidence now just to get on and drive his motor race

00:19:21Good beat now in this draft here

00:19:23David cooltard should be able to make ground on the honda because that's we've been saying the honda is five miles an hour slower than the

00:19:29Ferraris down there. He goes down the inside. This is this this might work. Is he now he's got it

00:19:35Can't hook it up. No, he's got the he would have had the inside line for this right hander coming up here

00:19:40But couldn't capitalize on coming off the corner

00:19:43Those two had a heavy collision in the bahrain grand prix earlier this season

00:19:47When coulthard tried to move down the inside of button

00:19:51Meanwhile, yeah seven seconds as you got now guys

00:19:55Between hamilton your race leader. We're watching here in the macara mercedes car to second place felipe. Massa in the ferrari

00:20:01Well, we know that mclaren have done a lot of work on the car since the french grand prix where ferrari had that crushing one-two victory

00:20:09and uh

00:20:10Hamilton at silverson, of course the car came alive then they came here and did a test last week

00:20:14And he topped the timesheets there as well

00:20:17So obviously the mclaren's made big strides on board now with sebastian bettel

00:20:21in that tour rosser in eighth

00:20:27And the other element guys lewis hamilton made it pretty clear just before the british grand prix that

00:20:31Mercedes had taken quite a big step forward with the engine power and we know in this frozen engine regulation era

00:20:37There's not that much he can do but there are some things he can do and he was really

00:20:40Praiseworthy of the engine as we see a replay here of david coulthard running a little bit wide now in his attempts

00:20:45To try to stay with and get past jensen button. I can imagine his race engineers. It's saying pass jensen david pass jensen

00:20:52Yes, exactly. We've got that on our job list. We need to take it off. Can you get on with the program?

00:20:56You always hear the mechanic. I would hesitate. Come on, mate. Come on, mate. You gotta get by him

00:21:01Well, you don't say there's felipe. Massa in the ferrari and you look at that. Oh, my god

00:21:06We don't say here's felipe. Massa in the ferrari and you're looking at the one of the greatest rivalries

00:21:12I think in international motorsport, right?

00:21:15mclaren and ferrari

00:21:17Absolutely cannot stand the sight of each other now the history tremendous rivalry

00:21:21Yeah, and these two guys now hamilton for mclaren masser for ferrari duke. It's out for first and second

00:21:27well felipe masser just set his personal best time of 16-6 compared to hamilton 16-1 and

00:21:34Kimi raikkonen, uh in the other ferrari just did a 17-4. So kimi raikkonen just can't

00:21:41Get a handle on his car this weekend

00:21:43We mentioned the world champion has been very unhappy with the balance of the car. It appears that fuel is the big issue

00:21:49Depending on how much fuel he has the car's handling characteristics change completely

00:21:55There is yarno truly having one of his better races of the season thus far

00:21:59But we've got a long way to go 56 laps remaining at the hockenheim ring. We'll be back with more formula one on fox

00:22:10Welcome back to the german formula one grand prix from hockenheim with david hoff steve matchett and peter windsor

00:22:15I'm, bob. Varsha. There's been no change in position

00:22:18Lewis hamilton leads felipe. Massa by eight and a half seconds mclaren over ferrari and heikki kovalainen hamilton's teammate

00:22:25Robert kubica and the first of the bmw saubers

00:22:28Yarno, truly kimi raikkonen fernando alonso sebastian vettel mark weber and timo glock the top ten

00:22:34And now it's jensen button ahead of nico rossberg. So let me correct myself. Look david. Coulthard has gotten by the honda for 13

00:22:43And he's putting away a lot of time

00:22:46And he's pulling away I knew I knew he would once he got around she's pulled away a lot and now poor old nico rossberg

00:22:52Has found the roadblock with jensen button. He's desperately trying to get around him

00:22:59Meanwhile heikki kovalainen is just plummeting down the leaderboard no sign the international tv feed not showing us

00:23:07Kovalainen's mclaren mercedes but kovalainen now shown in 12th place

00:23:11Oh dear poor old, uh, this will be david coulthard's pass on jensen button

00:23:17Oh, wow, well judged but it looked like he could have uh been an up and under there

00:23:23But he managed to pull it off and hold it

00:23:28But not to give away there now wait now kovalainen recycles to third on timing and scoring i'm not sure what's happening here

00:23:35Television is not showing us the car as you watch sebastian vettel doing a little rally cross as kovalainen

00:23:42Told the press after his qualifying run

00:23:44I would imagine bob that would be a transponder problem

00:23:48Each car is fitted with a little electronic transponder, which is what triggers time and scoring as they cross the line

00:23:55I would guess that probably electrical glitch there. He is right there. That's kovalainen seems fine

00:23:59I would imagine probably just a connector problem with the electronics on the car for time and scoring great

00:24:04More bad luck for hiki kovalainen who's had more than his share of it thus far this year. Well, he has he's uh,

00:24:10Been in a commanding position. He was leading the spanish grand prix when the left front tire

00:24:14Uh, the the rim got cut

00:24:16And let the tie down obviously went off the road at very high speed

00:24:20And i'm looking at these uh lap times now guys and we're talking about the soft tires the tires with the white stripe around that

00:24:25Graining issue. I think we're over that now typically

00:24:28It's like five or six laps for that draining issue to go away on the soft tires

00:24:32And I think those soft tires are now coming alive

00:24:35Meanwhile, lewis hamilton went purple meaning quickest of all in sector one

00:24:39The first of the three timing sectors the track is broken down into

00:24:45And when we say purple the purple numbers, uh, which you can't see at home

00:24:49The purple number of course means that's the quickest of the day in that sector

00:24:54And we're now serving lap 14

00:24:57I'm, just wondering about jano truly and those guys that we think are running light. Maybe alonso also

00:25:03Remember there was no race here last year

00:25:05So the guys are having to work on two-year-old data as far as the race is concerned and tires have come a long way since then

00:25:12And the cars have advanced since then and some of these young drivers haven't even raced here before right?

00:25:17So we're in somewhat unknown territory

00:25:19But I wouldn't be surprised now with that pit stop window open for an early stopper for the front runners that are running line

00:25:26peter

00:25:27Before the race jano truly actually before the driver's parade lap that jano was saying that he was trying to persuade the team

00:25:32In before q3 to put one more lap's worth of fuel, which was suggested. He's marked webber radio

00:25:38We're still racing truly and alonso ahead. It's reasonably close if you could keep the gap to vessels for two seconds. We're in good shape

00:25:47Quite a long quite a long interesting message there for mark webber

00:25:51But yeah, i'm just going to say it will suggest that jano is quite light

00:25:53But you've got to say he's done a heck of a job

00:25:55To sustain the pressure from kimmy reichmann. Kimmy was on a bit of a charge there

00:25:59He's obviously got a race out there that he wants to try to win or at least score great points in and truly

00:26:04Has not made it easy for for reichmann at all

00:26:07Jano, truly just passed his 34th birthday this month and his name still adorns many of the records

00:26:15in world karting

00:26:16Like so many other drivers, that's where he began his career

00:26:21Nico rosberg closing up on jensen button under braking

00:26:24He was very much closer than that just a couple laps before now

00:26:27He may have run into a graining problem because he was driving very hard and he may have overdriven his tires

00:26:33Just briefly there trying to catch up with button because he was much closer than this just a couple laps ago

00:26:37So maybe he's uh, just wait for a minute while his tires come back

00:26:42Notice the heavy cloud cover that starts shadows

00:26:44The sunlight has gone away track temperature has dropped more than four degrees just from the start of the race

00:26:50It'll drop like a stone

00:26:52That uh track temperature right there on that bit of rubber there got a flat spot now

00:26:56So we'll be getting some vibration through the steering wheel

00:26:58So

00:27:02Hamilton still easily the quickest car on track last lap a 1 16 4

00:27:08To second place felipe. Massa's 17 1 pit stops coming up. We're in the window. We'll take a break and catch them in a moment

00:27:17Welcome back to hockenheim the first of the pit stops the race leader lewis hamilton in the mclaren on lap 18

00:27:24Well, not the guy we expected to come in I was thinking probably truly or alonzo was light which is

00:27:29Probably give some indication of this tremendous pace from mclaren and lewis hamilton in this opening stint

00:27:35Or the hard compound bridgestones looks like those are scuffs

00:27:40And I think that was robert kubica coming in just behind him yeah, yeah robert kubica from fourth

00:27:45Oh don't cross that line

00:27:47A white line and a very narrow pit exit as you can see

00:27:54A lot of fuel going into the bmw

00:28:01Felipe massa will move to the race lead. Hickey kovalainen into second

00:28:06Well, I thought that uh hamilton was a bit lighter than his teammate kovalainen

00:28:10But I didn't think he'd be that much lighter. No, and I don't think mclaren expected truly to stay out that long either

00:28:16This is not what lewis hamilton needs. He needs to get around this toyota and get on with the program boy. He does

00:28:22Yeah, you can see he's getting very frustrated

00:28:24I think we were expecting truly to come in first and I think mclaren were also expecting that

00:28:28And it's just caught lewis out in track position having that toyota on track in front of him

00:28:34All right, and he's right behind he has to be very careful

00:28:36He needs to get around truly, but he doesn't want to go crashing into him either. So

00:28:40But he needs to make hay while the sun shines here and make up ground. Yeah

00:28:47He can't afford to be held up by yano truly

00:28:50Maybe it's truly going to come into pits this time

00:28:53Let's watch. Yes. There we go. Okay, truly pits few says lewis from third place

00:28:59As alonzo coming

00:29:01It's on lap 19

00:29:06Now kimi raikkonen is running right behind

00:29:09Let's have a look at the sop of truly

00:29:12More soft for the toyota. Yeah interesting

00:29:16And the same for the renault

00:29:19Yeah

00:29:21Or was that a switch from hards to soft, I think it was

00:29:24I think it had hards on. Okay. Yeah. Alonzo started the race on hard. Yeah, so he's he's changed on to those sub

00:29:32So the exit in the order they entered

00:29:40A lot of speculation about where fernando alonzo will be next year as the ferrari crew swings into action

00:29:47Crew is told which set of tires they want for the next man in

00:29:51Assuming it'll be felipe. Masa from the race lead

00:29:55As you ride with his teammate kimi raikkonen

00:30:00Here he comes here he comes yeah felipe. Masa

00:30:03Let's see what they do with his tires as you can see on the hard tires at the moment. No white stripe

00:30:09Off come the old tires and soft compounds going on the car

00:30:17A little more front wing out of the car, but the soft tire is going on looking for more mechanical grip

00:30:29Well, it'll be interesting now to see how long raikkonen stays out

00:30:32I mean if he's heavy on fuel that would be some indication of why his pace was so

00:30:37Relatively poor for him in qualifying because he's carrying the extra weight of fuel

00:30:41If he comes in relatively soon now behind his teammate. Well, that doesn't look good for raikkonen at all

00:30:47He also rejoins

00:30:49Fifth in the ferrari and officially kovalainen who's currently second on the road. Well now he's leading after master stop

00:30:56I wonder how much longer uh kovalainen's got he was looked like he would be a couple of laps heavier than his teammate

00:31:03But uh, if it's more than that that could play out. Well

00:31:07Okay, i'll also stop together with you and now he's behind you

00:31:17So

00:31:19Okay, okay, we don't have the info yet

00:31:24Yeah interesting information from truly asking his engineers he wants to know

00:31:29The team for starts and alonso is behind you the driver wants to know from toyota

00:31:33How much more fuel has alonso got on board if any that's going to give an indication again of the relative pace

00:31:39Between those two cars. This is kovalainen from the race lead hard compound tires going on

00:31:44Sebastian vettel pits behind him from fifth

00:31:51It's a fascinating aspect of race driving at this or any level the great drivers always want to know what their competitor's situation is

00:31:59That's something that seven-time world champion. Michael schumacher who's here this weekend in his role as a consultant for ferrari was always

00:32:07above all others that he knew

00:32:09Like a court sense and a point guard at basketball you just see the entire race despite

00:32:14Your work in the cockpit heidfeld trying to get around kovalainen after kovalainen's pit stop

00:32:18Is he going to be able to pull it off? Probably whoa

00:32:22Did they touch a bit of a hip check there from kovalainen on to heidfeld?

00:32:27Timo glock ahead on the road of the toyota

00:32:32David cooltard pits from 11th in the red bull renault

00:32:39Dc might be a little heavier on fuel

00:32:44In his final german grand prix appearance before he retires at the end of the year

00:32:50Here comes raikkonen lap 22

00:33:03He's going to the softs from the heart

00:33:10Boy those fuel hoses give me a heart failure when they when they

00:33:14Start to tug them out and they don't come out on that first tug. You keep thinking. Oh my god

00:33:18Is he gonna go, you know, can he fix this out?

00:33:27Back in an exits that's truly coming. Yes, it is

00:33:32There is vettel who has alonso behind him so vettel got by alonso in the pit stop rotation

00:33:39Yeah

00:33:44Sebastian vettel for 21 years of age is a pretty outstanding young driver. He's gonna be uh,

00:33:49He's gonna be one of the greats. I think he doesn't have much luck

00:33:55Steve that was an interesting transmission to yano truly and from yano as we said

00:34:00The point is toyota need to know how much fuel went into that renault and I guess they're only going to do that by

00:34:05Timing the pit stop how long the fuel

00:34:08Hose was actually connected to the car

00:34:09I don't know if we actually saw that on on camera or not or whether we've got any info on what's going on there

00:34:14Yeah, they do exactly

00:34:16But and as we say peter they all watch each other the team managers and engineers look up and down the pit lane

00:34:21You occasionally see these guys

00:34:24David coulthard running wide there

00:34:25You see the guys on the pit wall with a little set of binoculars actually looking up and down

00:34:30And with the stopwatch checking delivery time and they can work this out relatively accurately

00:34:36The fuel hose or the fuel rig will deliver 12 liters a second about three gallons per second

00:34:43So the guys will time exactly that peter as you described the fuel hose going on

00:34:48The delivery time the fuel hose coming off and that should give you an accurate idea

00:34:52Of how much fuel is on board each car mark weber exits the pits

00:34:57behind that battle between vettel and alonso

00:35:02But ahead of

00:35:04Jensen button and nico rossberg

00:35:08I mentioned before the race began that nico rossberg was the only driver who had not lost positions on the opening lap

00:35:13And I jinxed him he dropped two

00:35:15on the opening lap here at hockenheim

00:35:21I agree with you about vettel david. He is an interesting young man. He is got in the car

00:35:27late notice

00:35:28Last year at the u.s. Grand prix at indianapolis after robert kubica crashed heavily in the preceding race in canada

00:35:35And all vettel did was score points as a 19 year old

00:35:39It was a couple of seasons ago now pretty outstanding drive

00:35:42I thought that a lot of people said well, he got in the bmw should have got points

00:35:45But I mean, wow, i mean take not at that age. I mean at that age, uh, never been to the u.s

00:35:50Grand prix before he had a little test driving experience and that was it and now he's moving up to the red bull renault team

00:35:55And he goes through his professional life without a manager

00:36:00He also drove had a great race last year at the japanese grand prix in the wet so

00:36:08He is a pretty special kid

00:36:11Well, you see glock there has not stopped yet

00:36:16The wheel spin there for lonzo

00:36:18So

00:36:22So it appears we may have a couple of one stoppers out there and timo glock currently third and nick heidfeld in fifth

00:36:29We'll take a break in return with more fox coverage of the german grand prix

00:36:36Welcome back to hockenheim the german grand prix round 10 of the 2008 formula one season continues

00:36:42Here comes nick heidfeld from fifth now. See what tires go on the car

00:36:47Is he gonna be able to put enough fuel in here to finish the race team

00:36:52He's going on to soft so he'll have to pick again

00:36:55And there's a requirement in the regulations that the drivers must use both compounds of dry weather tire the soft and the hard

00:37:01So if we see a driver

00:37:03Take the soft off and put soft on well, you know, he's got to come in again

00:37:0723 laps you just saw on that official f1 estimation would take him to lap

00:37:1260 leaving only seven laps in the race when he stops again

00:37:17So

00:37:20So he comes out in 12th just behind rosberg and just in front of rubens balaclava in the honda

00:37:29Guys that corner where we saw david coulthard run wide there is the right hander it back into the stadium section

00:37:34That's the corner that caught out heki kovalainen in qualifying yesterday

00:37:37And they're talking about a funnel effect for the wind the cross spin there as they come into the stadium

00:37:42Just just there and it's uh, sorry not there very similar right hander to that one

00:37:46The next right hander and it was there of course that heck he did so much damage to the underside of the mclaren

00:37:51So one wonders now what the underside of that red bull reno of david coulthard's is like now

00:37:56I can't understand why they don't smooth out the grass

00:37:59Past the runoff area people are going to run wide there and you

00:38:02You're hoping to fall into one car that he'd just go off the track by a couple of feet

00:38:06The ground is going to be not full of trips and nasty

00:38:09Sort of landmine type things and it's a bit rough and ready there. They should smooth that out a bit

00:38:13It is I agree with you david

00:38:16You know, some of the engineers would say well, you know

00:38:18The track is designated by the white lines at each end if that's where you should be running

00:38:23However, of course all the drivers will take it to the nth degree and run as wide as the track will allow them to run

00:38:32Steve just going through the things that mclaren changed on kovalainen's car last night as a result of that incident

00:38:38It was the left and right deflector skirts and stays right hand side deflector and skirt forward plank section right hand rear toe linked

00:38:46Adjuster the right hand rear upright would you believe and the right hand near brake disc?

00:38:51A lot of damage just going off the road on one corner. Yeah, absolutely

00:38:54As we say these cars are designed to run on the asphalt. I mean it seems self-evident

00:38:59But that's exactly how they're designed to run on track and they have so many very delicate

00:39:05Non-structural parts on the car to aid the airflow if you go off track

00:39:09It's so very easy to cause some significant damage to the cars timo glock coming into the pits. Let's keep an eye on tires

00:39:16They have soft tires ready to go on

00:39:19Soft tires coming off so he has to stop one more time. Nico rosberg has also just pitted

00:39:27But it does highlight what peter suggested with the numerous changes on the cars how very sensitive

00:39:32Aerodynamically these cars are I mean they are as much a scientific test bed as a piece of racing machinery

00:39:39Now glock is that sebastian vettel in the toro rosso and alonso. That would be a huge coup for timo glock boy. I'll say

00:39:47Oh, but vettel is right on him. Sebastian. Vettel's gonna give him a heart

00:39:51Well, he's going to the outside which is going to make it difficult when he comes to that wall

00:39:55I'll make room while you get a make room. You're gonna stay on the inside stay on the inside vettel

00:39:59Don't let don't let him get around the outside

00:40:02Watch out. Here comes alonso. He's going to get glock as well. It's all about acceleration now

00:40:10And there's mark weber behind

00:40:14Timo glock will be doing some donnering and blittering there when uh, when this german team at german, uh, vettel went by him

00:40:21Alonso all over glock now trying to capitalize while glocks on those new tires

00:40:25They're very very highly heated of course in those tire warmers, but it's not quite the same as racing temperature

00:40:30No, and they heat them for that reason not not just to get them up to temperature on the on the outside

00:40:35But it's the it's the inner core the plies of the tires, but you're right david

00:40:39Nothing will get them up to temperature like leaning on them left and right when they're on the track

00:40:44Yeah, you put an 850 horsepower through those rears every time he accelerates out of one of these corners down to this turn one

00:40:49It's a very daunting corner. That's very fast

00:40:52Down one gear maybe otherwise pretty much flat out here

00:40:55You see a replay down to the hairpin glock tries to go on the outside. Vettel says no both of them driving very cool

00:41:02Yeah, keeping their head

00:41:03Again, you can see the advantage of having that runoff area here

00:41:06But you get out of that paint and you haven't got quite the grip. Yeah

00:41:10Well, this racetrack is a multi-purpose facility

00:41:13Those massive grandstands form an amphitheater for rock music shows drag races and a whole lot more. No wonder it's so chewed up

00:41:20So

00:41:22Welcome back to hockenheim 33 laps complete 34 remaining

00:41:27First race the second half of the 2008 formula one season

00:41:31The german grand prix watching robert kubica the first of the bmw saubers fourth behind lewis hamilton

00:41:37Felipe massa and heikki kovalainen

00:41:39In

00:41:46I'll be zooming in on here. I think this is the best in battle. Hello. Once again. Yep

00:41:51I guess it's to be expected

00:41:59I think he's saying that janna truly in front of him should be uh, three laps shorter him on the fuel stop

00:42:03So he'll be pitting ahead of you. Don't worry about him too much

00:42:06I think that's what the red bull team was

00:42:08Telling was it mark weber earlier, you know

00:42:10You're in good shape if you stay within a couple of seconds because the guy ahead of you is going to have to stop

00:42:15Yeah, so vessel there a real uh, toro rosso meet in the toyota sandwich

00:42:20With the truly right in front of the block right behind him, but vessel again driving

00:42:25You know the toro rosso with the best will in the world is it's a good car

00:42:27But it's not a great car an old vessel really does get the best out of it

00:42:31When you especially when you think of his teammate sebastian borde down in 13th spot

00:42:35After a brutal star who has nakajima off and on a novel route

00:42:40But at least he had his play of asphalt. Would he get off it?

00:42:44board with hamilton

00:42:47Scott looking a bit dodgy

00:42:50So

00:43:03The rubles by the kelo up ahead in the honda walton's already lapped his teammate jensen, but

00:43:11Now get a good toe down here we know the bmv know the honda slow down here we know

00:43:16The mclaren's very quick

00:43:18That map shows you where second place masa is behind him in the ferrari

00:43:23Down into that tie tie half in the spins car so not quite halfway and both hondas have been lapped

00:43:31Masa is just about 11 and a half seconds behind hamilton. So he's managed to keep that gap pretty stuck

00:43:37big shot toyota

00:43:40timo glock glock

00:43:42Wow now

00:43:44This is my goodness, this is going to bring a safety car now

00:43:47So that 11 second gap rear wings off the car

00:43:50I wonder guys whether or not he just hooked it into the grass at that point. We're talking before let's see what happened

00:43:56Yeah, this is what's gonna cause it

00:43:58Oh rear suspension, bro, right rear right rear suspension, bro. Oh, this is a huge backward hit

00:44:05Well, it was a oblique angle which is a good thing

00:44:08Boy, boy, that's yeah that suspension broke. Uh, that wasn't the corner

00:44:12We've been looking at was the second corner where they go off a lot the one onto the pit straight

00:44:17It's a bmw deciding where to go here. Yeah, that's that's nick heidfeld trying to figure out where to go safety car is out

00:44:26Boy that was a big accident now remember guys

00:44:29That's the safety car is out. You can see already the car starting to fall behind. So now

00:44:35The pit lane will be technically closed. You're not allowed to come into the pit lane to refuel

00:44:41If by chance you have to be in the pit lane when the safety car is deployed, that's fine

00:44:46They will not penalize you you can work on the car if you need to

00:44:50But you will not be allowed to refuel should you need to refuel because you're about to run out

00:44:55And therefore would stop on track. You can do that, but you will have a 10 second penalty

00:45:01german, bern maylander driving the safety car

00:45:04After a heavy accident for team o'clock

00:45:08Is toyota will take a break and return with more from hockenheim reaching the halfway point of this race?

00:45:18Welcome back to hockenheim

00:45:20Here we go. Boys pit lane is open now about seven and a half seconds of fuel

00:45:25We'll get these cars the rest of the way they may well start to stack pit stops

00:45:29Which is both t both cars from the same team will come in at the same time maybe

00:45:35Because they only have one crew in formula one all the mechanics from each team will be servicing each car

00:45:41typically about 17 per car

00:45:45All the teams are ready to pit all the teams are ready to pit

00:45:48So it will be quite busy ferrari renault williams mclaren toyota redbull

00:45:54Is

00:45:56In other words be really careful when you come down the pit lane will be busy

00:46:03Now of course those

00:46:04The marshals now are very busy clearing up that front straight because all that carbon fiber all those shards of kevlar and carbon fiber

00:46:12Are very very sharp and they need to get as much of that off the track as possible so that we don't have any cut tires

00:46:20Blue tire smoke out there

00:46:22Someone jumped on the brakes

00:46:26About three laps into the second half of this race

00:46:30Definitely cloudy overhead

00:46:33Don't run over the fia officials

00:46:38Now remember the problems that honda had in uh silverstone doing exactly this with both cars pitting at the same time

00:46:45And they forced barrichello to leave early. Here we go. Here go ferrari both cars coming in at the same time

00:46:53Oh

00:46:54Hamilton stay out. That's right. Could it is right? Can I excuse me kovalainen? Excuse me?

00:46:59There goes. Yeah, hamilton did stay out. You're right. Hamilton stayed out

00:47:04Looks at the ferrari. That's there's right. Yeah, that's right

00:47:08Alonzo there trying to go side by side with vettel down. Oh, we've got engine smoke mark weber. Oh, not again

00:47:15It's another guy, yeah, that's gonna be terminal guys, i'm sure there's no relationship with lady luck

00:47:22I hope he's not spitting fluid out the back of that red bull

00:47:24Right out of he could be spitting a lot of fluid in a minute. Well, he's off the line, but

00:47:31Now that defeats me hamilton staying out well

00:47:33That might have been the blue smoke we saw earlier because it was weber's red bull that the camera followed through the corner before the pit

00:47:38Stops, there's michael schumacher

00:47:41See what kind of game lewis hamilton is up to here

00:47:43Look at this now side by side vettel and alonzo, but alonzo is forced to go over that white line

00:47:50That's an owner

00:47:53Yeah, here they come this show will show it this is on board alonzo's car

00:47:57That's an owner. Yeah, that's an owner. Yeah, that's an owner

00:48:02That's an owner. Yeah, that's an owner. Yeah, that's an owner

00:48:05Yeah, here they come this show will show it this is on board alonzo's car absolutely side by side you can hardly blame him well

00:48:14Yeah, i'm not quite sure what you do that. That's alonzo saying

00:48:16Hey, you push me out of this out of the line, but there is a requirement in the regs

00:48:21You can't do that

00:48:23Okay, that will push me off the right line of the pit lane I was in the first lane

00:48:34Okay understood

00:48:37Now the lapped cars will be allowed to go by the safety car to put the front running cars nose to tail

00:48:45While mark weber

00:48:47Stays on track. That was the pit in

00:48:50The key thing here guys, you know is we have not seen hamilton has not pitted

00:48:55It's not that we haven't seen him. He has not pitted under the safety car. Well, he surely will need to do so

00:49:03I can't imagine why you wouldn't I can't

00:49:09Is this coming forward it's one of the force india cars

00:49:20Maylander in the safety car

00:49:24Now nelson pk pitted just as the safety car was deployed

00:49:31So assuming he didn't violate any pit rules in terms of refueling or whatever he may be in pretty good shape we'll find out

00:49:40Welcome back

00:49:41We are about to go green at the german grand prix and here is the news lewis hamilton has not made a pit stop behind

00:49:47That safety car now he has a task ahead of him behind him nick heidfeld of the bmw sauber also did not pit

00:49:54Nelson pk in third place and the renault

00:49:57Did pit just before the pit lane was closed when the safety car went out

00:50:00He may be good to go the rest of the way

00:50:02But now lewis hamilton knowing he has to make another stop

00:50:06Is going to have to gap the field with enough time to get in and out without losing position

00:50:10There's fernando alonso destroying the rear bridge stones on his renault trying to get around sebastian battle who muscled him out in the pit lane

00:50:17They're forcing alonso over to that white line, which could be a penalty for alonso

00:50:22But of course, it's one of those things is two into one wouldn't go down that narrow exit

00:50:27Now hamilton's only chance here guys you were saying he has got to push like there is no tomorrow

00:50:32And he is already starting to push. You remember he did not come in for fuel

00:50:35He needs to come in for fuel his only chance now is to open up that gap as far as possible

00:50:41And as you were saying bob pk jr in the renault

00:50:44Absolutely by accident caught it perfectly right for him because he was in the pit lane

00:50:50The second that the safety car was deployed so to the regs. He's allowed to be refueled

00:50:55They did that and he is now sitting in third position. It absolutely has fell perfectly into his lap boy

00:51:01Didn't ever he's running down there in about 18th or 19th spot

00:51:04but I just don't see how hamilton's going to be able to pull out 20 seconds on people like

00:51:08Felipe massa kimi raikkonen and his teammate kovalainen. Well right now nelson pk

00:51:14as

00:51:15Modest as he is in lap times

00:51:17Maybe lewis hamilton's greatest friend if he can hold up the pack while hamilton scoots

00:51:21The order is hamilton heitfeld pk then felipe massa and the ferrari robert kubica's bmw

00:51:27Kovalainen and the second mclaren. Jarno. Truly's toyota. Sebastian. Vettel. Alonso and nico rossberg 10th. Now, you see vettel and alonso

00:51:36Oh vettel doing pretty well to hold off his pressure from a two-time world champion because alonso is no shrinking flower when it comes

00:51:41To going by people just ask michael schumacher. Yes. Exactly getting a good toe here and it could be coming right now

00:51:48But vettel taking the inside line there make it difficult for alonso to have to go around the long way

00:51:53Oh

00:51:55But the trouble is hugging that tight line, of course is you're slow out so you've got to get it just right

00:52:00Meanwhile, what do we got here kubica and kovalainen?

00:52:06Kovalainen trying to seize the line for the right hand and he does it. Yeah, he's got it

00:52:10The front end just gave up on the bmw saw the front end twitch left right and that was enough

00:52:15For kovalainen to take the advantage

00:52:17The guys while we're watching this i'm just going to tell you on the last lap hamilton took

00:52:211.8 seconds opened up that gap between him and massa

00:52:251.8 in a lap. He needs to take another 16 seconds in 10 laps here. We see a replay

00:52:33This is kovalainen kubica. They're absolutely psyched by

00:52:37That was definitely close kubica gave him room. There's no doubt about it

00:52:42He didn't give him a room going in but nope right there

00:52:46And of course as you can see his car wasn't putting the power down too

00:52:48Well a lot of twitching from the back of the car kovalainen could easily win this race

00:52:54Acceleration off the corners is so important here alonzo and vettel incomes reichanen

00:52:59Trying to take advantage of the inside of his fellow world champ. Looks like he's got him

00:53:03maybe not

00:53:05Well of the ferrari said very quick down this straight here. Yeah, there he goes gonna be difficult for

00:53:12Back up. He's gonna try to get

00:53:14Vettel blocks him. Oh my goodness. And now who's that nico rossberg coming forward now? He's side by side with alonzo

00:53:24Oh that all went so badly for alonzo there

00:53:31And here comes sebastian borde in a second toro rosso

00:53:37Alonzo says one of the problems he's had with this renault is the car seems to lose pace as the race goes on

00:53:43That might be the case here

00:53:55Up front hamilton's gap over massa is out to eight seconds

00:54:06Two gears for two for turn one that meanwhile reichen and now up ahead battling with vettel

00:54:12Yeah, well vettel is going to have to give way sooner or later to kimi reichanen. I've no doubt about it

00:54:16but uh, of course the longer that vettel can keep kimi reichanen back the better it is for lewis hamilton, but

00:54:22Here we come to that fastest point by reichanen there much quicker down this straight

00:54:27That's a ferrari ferrari factory car against a ferrari customer car

00:54:33Well, the ferrari is a very slippery car

00:54:38That moves reichanen up to the eighth and final points paying position

00:54:43It's alonso

00:54:46Losing to vettel in replay

00:54:48He tried to get by there, but he had the battle had that inside line. Yeah, this is kimi

00:54:56On the attack going by alonso

00:54:58With vettel ahead alonso is going to try and get him down the inside here the hairpin

00:55:02But at the which he does a pretty good job, but there's vettel right there

00:55:07So he loses two spots and here comes rossberg going down the inside as they're coming up to that next right hander

00:55:13rossberg's got the inside line and swoops by

00:55:17So poor old alonso had a huge

00:55:19Losey out there flavio. Briatore team manager. Not at all. Happy. What are you doing?

00:55:24Fernando here. Hey, we don't do that

00:55:27This is right and then passing the battle. Thank you very much. Yeah, that's exactly what it was, wasn't it? Thanks, man

00:55:34So rossberg still leads alonso

00:55:37So

00:55:39Truly leading the ferrari of reichen and but reichen and again

00:55:43Oh goes to the outside around that but now he's on the inside for the hairpin pretty much

00:55:48I sense that kimi probably likes the balance of his ferrari. I guess it's changed something's happened

00:55:53Suddenly looks pretty good, doesn't it? Yes, indeed. Oops. Who's that? One of the hondas going wide

00:55:59And look at reichen and gap the toyota immediately kimi's on a charge alonso and rossberg again

00:56:06So

00:56:37So

00:56:39These engines are extraordinary in formula one the speed with which they accelerate

00:56:44There's hamilton in a substantially 10 seconds over felipe massa

00:56:47But how many laps has he got to go steve before he has to stop?

00:56:50He's got he's got to get at least 20 seconds in front

00:56:53Yeah, he has and he's running out of laps, but I must say he is doing exactly what we should do to time

00:56:571.8 seconds 1.9 1.8 1.4. He is opening up that gap to massa

00:57:03I'm surprised man hasn't dealt with pk yet. But as you see the gap is coming down

00:57:09Masa's going to need to close up knowing his rival has a stop to make we'll be back

00:57:17Welcome back to hockenheim

00:57:20Let me reichen and using all of the road and then some in replay

00:57:24Well, he's caught up with who he's caught up with robert kubica now in the bmw there

00:57:28You see another replay of that going off into that all that blue paint

00:57:32Uh, he's caught up with robert kubic

00:57:33He's gonna find him a little bit more difficult to overtake than some of the victims. He's already dispatched

00:57:38going on lewis hamilton has now got a

00:57:4114 second lead over felipe massa, but he needs at least 20 25 seconds and he's got enough laps to do it

00:57:46I you know, I think about 2021 david and I'll tell you what I reckon he is on schedule to be able to do this

00:57:52He's he's looking good. He was took he was taking out 1.8 1.9 1.6 seconds a lap

00:57:58It's down now to around a second a lap if he can keep taking a second a lap or extending his lead by second a lap

00:58:05He should be able to beat massa out masses response to this massa must push and close down that gap

00:58:11Ferrari engineers will be telling him you must close that gap down

00:58:16It's over

00:58:18Oh boy

00:58:23The two oldest and the two most experienced drivers in grand prix racing

00:58:29Maybe I was talking to adrian newy the designer of the red bull last week at uh,

00:58:33The goodwood festival of speed and he was very disparaging of kultar's effort on lap one at silverson when he took out sebastian vettel

00:58:39He said it was a very formula ford move

00:58:41Formula ford of course being one of the rungs of the ladder

00:58:44You have to wonder if that contributed to dc's decision to leave the team and retire at the end of the year

00:58:49Here it is again. Well dc didn't give him any room there at all. He cut right across the front of it

00:58:54I mean barricade had nowhere to go. He was already on the edge of the road wheel over the left line

00:58:59Barrichello coming up the inside. I suspect david just didn't know he was there never checked his mirror

00:59:06Or just tried to keep him behind him

00:59:09Just sort of just didn't give him any room. We've seen some great overtaking this afternoon where people have given people room

00:59:17Looks like there's a new nose wing in dc's future. There is barrichello pitting

00:59:21Also the new nose wing speaking of goodwood, do you want to tell us quickly how you managed to lose your locker key? Oh

00:59:29There's lewis hamilton hamilton in too soon from the lead

00:59:38At about 16 seconds over felipe massa

00:59:41Heidfeld meanwhile goes to the race lead followed by nelson pk and then the ferrari there goes massa

00:59:48And then that wasn't kovalainen that was like jetson button that might go to the line. Yep

00:59:55so hamilton is uh

00:59:58Pretty much doomed. Yeah, right. Yeah on track behind his teammate. Here comes reichanen still battling kubica

01:00:06Kimi reichanen has had miserable luck the last time formula one raced here in 2006

01:00:10He finished on the podium, but that was his first finish at this race

01:00:15Including crashing out at the first corner in 2003

01:00:18Crashing again when he lost the rear wing on the start finish straight in 04

01:00:22And then retiring from the lead when his then mclaren mercedes failed him in 2005 peter windsor

01:00:30You know I was talking to heikki kovalainen on thursday before the german grand prix

01:00:33We were talking about the difference between him and lewis and style and I said something like but lewis does this and immediately

01:00:39Respond and said yeah, but he's not quicker than me. He's not quicker than me

01:00:41Yeah, let's see now what happens it's going to be very interesting to battle now between heikki and lewis hamilton

01:00:46That's a good point. Doesn't matter how you do it. As long as you put the lap time. Hamilton's got it. I mean

01:00:51Virtually no way hamilton could win this race. I mean that was a really really really

01:00:56Weird move because kyle heikki kovalainen is gonna fight tooth and nail to hold it behind him

01:01:02For start off. Well, one thing they always say

01:01:05Mclaren is there are no team orders. There are no team orders. The guys are free to race

01:01:10There is that one team order don't take each other. Yes. Absolutely. Yeah

01:01:17Meanwhile while watching these guys heidfeld is now the race leader and his fastest through sector one by some margin as well

01:01:2416.5 for heidfeld through sector 1 17.1 to pk

01:01:29Up come the purple numbers. Could this be the day for nick heidfeld the most successful formula one driver never to win a race?

01:01:36And he's racing at home

01:01:39Oh

01:01:41That looks pretty easy

01:01:45You saw ron dennis thumbing the uh radio button attached stage do you think oh i'd have to say so

01:01:54Well, that's too bad

01:01:56If in fact it's true

01:02:00Meanwhile kibitza and reichanen continue their fight 16 laps to go in the german grand prix and once again

01:02:05The sun is out heating up the racetrack as if we needed it. We'll be back

01:02:11Back in hockenheim dr

01:02:12Mario tyson turns and watches as his man nick heidfeld pits from the race lead for bmw sauber

01:02:17It'll be a fast pit stop

01:02:19They only needed what three and a half three point six seconds of fuel to get the rest of the way

01:02:24For now, we gotta be looking here for

01:02:26hamilton

01:02:29Was that hamilton or was that kovalainen that's hamilton here comes kovalainen

01:02:35Heidfeld will exit ahead of

01:02:38Kovalainen and here comes kibitza and reichanen as they continue their battle and up front

01:02:45For the first time in his career if i'm not mistaken, and I may be to quote mary walker

01:02:50Nelson pk jr. May be leading a grand prix. Yeah, nelson pk jr. Should be leading the race right now

01:02:57And again, remember he just by accident caught it right with his pit stop window

01:03:03That was an incredible

01:03:05piece of luck, wasn't it?

01:03:07There's nick heidfeld. There's kovalainen

01:03:11And here comes kubica so it looks like if nick heidfeld can maintain his pace

01:03:15It looks like for two races in a row. He's going to beat his uh,

01:03:19Teammate robert kubica who's been quicker than him all year in every qualifying session and every race guys

01:03:25I'm, just going to put this out there

01:03:26I was talking some of the engineers in the pit lane prior to the start of the race to try and get an ear on

01:03:30an idea on pit strategy

01:03:32And I heard from one senior engineer I trust a lot suggesting, you know, we think nelson pk is probably on a one stopper

01:03:40Now that would mean of course he's had his one stopper

01:03:43He has used both sets of tires the compound soft and hard so he's good to go to the sporting regs. The question is

01:03:51Is it a one stopper? Well, I'll tell you what hamilton

01:03:55For me saying he's down and out. I mean he is a second a lap quicker

01:03:591.2 seconds on that last lap. Look at there. There you see it

01:04:02Nine tenths second one point three one point one quicker than massa and that's massa just in front into the hairpin

01:04:09How's massa under pressure?

01:04:12Oh

01:04:13Not good. He lost a lot of time there went very wide. So hamilton now on a roll

01:04:17I'll tell you what david talking about pressure. How's nelson pk jr? Well, of course, yeah

01:04:23Why and what a great story is there you see pk son of a three-time world champion

01:04:27We mentioned that five drivers in this field are german pk himself was born in heidelberg

01:04:32Just a few miles down the road from this racetrack, but he claims brazilian citizenship

01:04:38Yeah, boy

01:04:39Just these two guys here massa and hamilton are joint leaders of the world championship with kimi raikkonen on the same

01:04:45Points going into this race and here's kubica and raikkonen battling over sixth

01:04:50And raikkonen is that the joint leader as well kubica is only two points behind them

01:04:55So all these battles are intensely important one at battle david nelson pk jr

01:05:0117.269 his personal best lap with 12 laps to go

01:05:06You know that flav and the engineers at renault are saying

01:05:09Dude, this is the time for you to show your work

01:05:12This is the battle for second on this track and for the lead in the championship

01:05:17hamilton hounding felipe massa

01:05:20You're right last time through the time and scoring 17.2 for pk hamilton 16.7

01:05:29Hamilton went in a bit deep there lost a little bit of time. Here's pk

01:05:34Oh my god, they're coming

01:05:36Just a few races ago

01:05:38The rumor was that pk was on notice he had to up his game or his career would be over in formula one at least with

01:05:44Renault and here he is in position to win a race the next man to win

01:05:49His first race in formula one will be the 100th different driver in the sports history to pick up a win

01:05:55Oh boy, and remember guys he started on the penultimate

01:05:59Row of the grid. Oh lewis hamilton there getting the tail out as he puts the power down

01:06:04Don't forget these cars don't have traction control anymore

01:06:07and and uh

01:06:09Massa is on the control tires. Hamilton's on those soft tires steve, and I think he's got that graining problem

01:06:15Yeah, well here you can see there's the lap difference between master and hamilton 1.3 1.1 0.7

01:06:21As he's closing down. Yeah, but he he overdrives those tires. Yeah, whoo

01:06:27Going through turn two and three

01:06:28Why close it's gonna be good as he goes down the hairpin. He's gonna get a good toe

01:06:33All the way down there. So mass is gonna do some judicious blocking here

01:06:37Here we go a battle on the brakes at 190 miles an hour plus

01:06:40Massa taking that inside line. Here goes hamilton down the inside. Whoa, whoa

01:06:45There's gonna be some touching that. Yeah pushes him off. Come on push it but how

01:06:53And boys we were talking earlier on about the rivalry between these two great

01:06:59And it's gonna take a long way around it's gonna be difficult

01:07:04Don't hurt the car

01:07:07Wow

01:07:13Sort of a tactical drift

01:07:15I couldn't hold it. I couldn't hold it. I tried to but it went wide

01:07:18I didn't know he was there. I couldn't see him in the mirror now lewis's next target is right ahead. Nelson pk jr

01:07:26leading the grand prix

01:07:31You can know pk is on the radio

01:07:34It's catching up with massa now, yep

01:07:37Here's the pass

01:07:39Hamilton going by his rival for the world championship. We'll be back

01:07:47Back at hockenheim eight laps to go in the german grand prix

01:07:50One young driver on the verge of the biggest result of his life and nelson pk

01:07:55Leading a man who came within a point of the world championship last year. You've got hamilton behind you now. You need to keep pushing

01:08:03And that retires the trophy for the most obvious statement of the day down the inside goes hamilton

01:08:09Who battled with pk for the gp2 championship two seasons ago?

01:08:14And hamilton takes the race lead back

01:08:17Boy, that was close. I thought those wheels were going to get tangled and we'd see something flying up into the air

01:08:22But hamilton pulled it off and again nelson pk kept his head

01:08:27meanwhile

01:08:30Going past

01:08:32Another big battle in the more that now that was a very big pass

01:08:35That was a very brave pass around the outside and another big lurch from the bmw

01:08:42Obviously lost its balance. Yeah, you can see cooper's is really struggling hard with his car. He's on the hard tires

01:08:49Uh, the soft tires were on the reichmann car

01:08:52So this is going to help the ferrari in the manufacturers championship here

01:08:55We see again on board with hamilton coming down to the hairpin

01:09:00Bk didn't give him as much room as massa, but he gave himself comes down the inside and go because obviously on the tight line

01:09:07There he loses a bit of momentum on the way out. Look at this wheel's going to come in right? No, it isn't

01:09:12Here we see it again

01:09:15Yeah, pk lost it there a little bit on braking

01:09:19He's going to do some corrections. He went right to the apex of the corner. Here's the reichmann and kubica. This is a pass

01:09:25Through that very fast right hand sweep, that's about 175 180 miles an hour through that corner on board with pk

01:09:36Okay, nelson just keep focused and you'll consolidate second place

01:09:42At a good place it would be it would be renault's second

01:09:46Second podium in the last two seasons

01:09:49The other being at the mount fuji circuit last year

01:09:52So the two-time world champion fernando alonso right now being outplayed by his younger teammate

01:09:57Yeah, and that radio message there from phil charles the engineer who's in charge of pk

01:10:02Would confirm that pk is good to go should not need to come in for fuel

01:10:06We didn't see that stop remember, but we know that pk has taken both sets of tires

01:10:10And i'm sure now pk good to go for the rest of the race distance

01:10:16Guys as the sun went down yesterday, we saw the two-time world champion fernando alonso

01:10:21Guys as the sun went down yesterday

01:10:22I was watching the last hour or so of the british open in the renault motorhome with a gentleman and I eventually said what do

01:10:27You do and he said i'm nelson pk's chiropractor. I work on his backbone and his brain he said

01:10:33Which was interesting

01:10:35uh

01:10:35Anyway, he was telling me how annoyed nelson was that he hadn't been able to get through into q2 because he felt he'd been

01:10:39Held up by sebastian bettel and as we were talking nelson came out of the motorhome and said come on

01:10:43Let's get out of this place. I gotta get out of here and just disappeared. So what a difference a day makes. Oh boy

01:10:50You got that right peter?

01:10:51Well, of course a real difference because his teammate alonso much touted two-time world champion is down in 11th

01:10:57Having just had a spin that we saw him do down at the hairpin

01:11:00So alonso right out of the points pk in second spot, but he's got felipe. Massa breathing down his neck now, so

01:11:08He's got six laps left to go felipe. Massa seems to have lost his fire a bit here comes nick heidfeld

01:11:14Who seems to be running very well in his bmw?

01:11:16This is for the final bm for the final podium points and robert kubica normally the quicker of the two bmws obviously having handling trouble

01:11:26Now not shown here sebastian vettel has gotten around yarnatuli's toyota

01:11:29So vettel now in the eighth and final points paying position as massa

01:11:34Leads heidfeld across the line five laps to go in germany. Stay with us

01:11:41Back in hockenheim and look at lewis hamilton and mclaren mercedes with a big space of open racetrack

01:11:47Nelson pk jr for renault in position for the biggest result of his brief formula one career and then felipe

01:11:53Massa leading nick heidfeld trying to scramble on to the final podium position in front of his home fans

01:11:59Boy, he'd love to do that very much and so would bmw but felipe

01:12:03Massa is making a bit of ground as you saw from that chart

01:12:06Making some ground on nelson pk, but with four laps to go. I don't think he's making it quite quick enough

01:12:11No, I agree with you david

01:12:13I wonder whether or not that massa has either just lost it a little bit psychologically after that battle with lewis or he's nursing

01:12:19a problem on the car and trying to

01:12:20Hide that problem as much as possible from the opposition behind him in the shape of heidfeld and bmw

01:12:26I mean that was a bruising pass that uh hamilton put on massa, but it was a difficult corner. It's that left-hander

01:12:31Leading a couple of laps before a couple of corners before the uh motor drone, but um, it was a fair pass. I thought and

01:12:38He gave him a bit of room not much, but he gave him some room

01:12:42In second place pk has just set his personal fastest lap of the race, but he continues to lose ground to this guy

01:12:50Well, of course they've lost interest in this guy now in the renault garage

01:12:53But what they do want to make sure is that he doesn't get passed by felipe. Massa

01:12:57But what they do want to make sure is that he doesn't get passed by felipe massa

01:13:01and of course it would suit uh hamilton very well if he didn't get passed because

01:13:06Gives him a bit more of a point spread over over massa

01:13:08Yeah, uh hamilton and mclaren would love uh renault to take some points away

01:13:13I mean, that's just uh, it's almost in a way like scoring more points yourself. Absolutely. Yeah golden opportunity

01:13:19Well, this could be the key race in the 08 season in terms of both championships

01:13:24As ferrari is unable to answer the pace of lewis hamilton and the mclaren mercedes

01:13:30Well, the mclaren mercedes has certainly made some big strides since the french grand prix

01:13:34Although I felt that hamilton was a bit unlucky there

01:13:37When he got those 13 spot penalty for running into the back of reichen and in canada the race before

01:13:41So he never really had much of a chance in the race, but whatever they've certainly improved massively since then

01:13:47um

01:13:50Sebastian bordet running in 12th place in the toro rosso ferrari just behind fernando alonso while we're in commercial break

01:13:57Alonso had a brief spin out there and now he finds himself in 11th place

01:14:03Running behind. Yarno. Truly nico rossberg and just ahead of bordet, of course battle done around nico rossberg

01:14:08around yano truly when he had a bit of a

01:14:11He ran very wide at one of the corners and battled up by him so getting into the final point scoring position

01:14:18but robert kubica down in seventh spot, uh, just

01:14:22Today is not the weekend hasn't gone. Well for him. The car is obviously not handling very well

01:14:31Gap now four and a half seconds from hamilton to this man pk

01:14:35So nick heidfeld is right on massa, he's not far behind he must be smiling I could get by him

01:14:41I could get by him, but he's gonna have to really uh

01:14:44Throw a bit of caution to the winds here and really have a good go

01:14:49Kubica's last lap a 17.5

01:14:52Heidfeld's a 16.8. So

01:14:55The german seems to have a much better bmw salver under him or at least one that suits his driving better than the polish drivers

01:15:04So

01:15:07I suspect robert kubica will not be terribly happy after this race, but

01:15:11There can only be one winner and right now lewis hamilton

01:15:14Looks to be in position to take only the second victory here in hockenheim for mclaren

01:15:20since

01:15:211990 they didn't race here last year as we mentioned back in 1990. Ayrton senna won for mclaren in 1998

01:15:29world champion mika hockenheim won

01:15:31in hockenheim

01:15:33For mclaren and now lewis hamilton will end that drought since 1998 for the team it would appear

01:15:46Final lap

01:15:48Well, that again was a an enormously, uh

01:15:51successful drive a very very dangerous strategic move in my opinion on the part of mclaren because it

01:15:56It counted on lewis hamilton doing just what he's done. And as we know there's many a slip

01:16:01twists up and in racing and uh, he drove very very well to uh

01:16:06To manage to win his race just a few races ago in canada and france

01:16:09Everybody wondered what was wrong with lewis hamilton and mclaren

01:16:13He came back and answered in fine style with an epic drive at his home grand prix in the rain in britain

01:16:19And now lewis hamilton will shatter that three-way tie for the world championship league with victory in hockenheim

01:16:27And nelson pk jr. What a day for the young brazilian

01:16:32And felipe massa will hold off nick heidfeld for the final spot on the podium

01:16:37Heikki kovalainen unofficially fifth followed by kimi raikkonen who must be bitterly disappointed

01:16:43robert kubica seventh and sebastian vettel

01:16:47Unofficially will score a point in his home grand prix

01:16:51There's robert kubica coming over the line

01:16:53And

01:16:56Now traditional waving of the flags from the corner workers

01:17:00After an amazing race in a season that has been dotted with amazing races

01:17:06We'll take a break and return with more post race from hockenheim

01:17:12Back in hockenheim

01:17:13The racetrack has been turned back over to the fans and we'll head for the interview room where our peter windsor is standing by with

01:17:20our top three finishers

01:17:23Warm welcome to the three podium finishers of the saint-andre german grand prix third for scuderia ferrari marlboro

01:17:30Felipe massa second for the ing reno team nelson pk and scoring his fourth win

01:17:35Of the season for vodafone mclaren mercedes

01:17:37Lewis hamilton well lewis

01:17:39I guess on behalf of all race fans around the world have to thank you very much for making that such an exciting race by

01:17:43Not coming in under the safety car and giving yourself so much work to do in the latter phase of the race

01:17:49Well, thank you. Um, what first of all, I didn't plan on doing that

01:17:53I would have much preferred

01:17:55an easy comfortable afternoon out in front, but um

01:17:58It didn't work that way, but we had uh got off to a really good start. We had two

01:18:03very comfortable very um decent stints and um, yeah, we

01:18:08Team opted for me to stay out and I guess they thought that I could have pulled the gap

01:18:12But I mean it was a 23 second gap I needed and I had like seven laps or something

01:18:16so I don't know how that worked out, but um

01:18:19so I kind of understood and thought

01:18:22I just kept pushing I was

01:18:24Over the over the limit pushing and pushing and pushing trying to to get the gap

01:18:28But um, I came out behind, uh, I believe I was I think I was with kimmy and I was behind someone

01:18:33I think it was hakey

01:18:34And I have to say a big thank you to to hakey has been a great teammate and um, you know

01:18:38He didn't put up a huge fight

01:18:40And saw that I was quicker so enabled me to get past quicker

01:18:44And so a big thank you to him

01:18:46But uh, I was able to put it off. I had good tires and um, yeah, I guess it was exciting for you

01:18:51It was exciting for me still

01:18:54I take it then there was not much discussion between you and the team on the radio about that decision

01:18:58Not really. No, yeah, you know, I I'd said, you know, you sure about this and they said fine

01:19:04but um, you know, we all we all make um, we all have uh,

01:19:09Decisions and opinions on certain things and um for sure we'll learn from this one and we'll move on to the next race

01:19:14But still we had the best car the quickest car this weekend and we came out on top

01:19:18So that's due to a lot of hard work from all the guys here the

01:19:23just the team is fantastic here and also back home and also in germany the

01:19:28Just they've all done a phenomenal job

01:19:30And let's just talk about those two great passes of races you had with the guys either side of you nelson and felipe

01:19:37yeah, well with uh felipe I

01:19:39I saw that I was a lot quicker than him. I was told I was a second quicker than him at the time

01:19:44So I just tried to keep up the pace

01:19:46I knew that uh

01:19:48Obviously I was on an early, uh few laps of my tires

01:19:51So I knew I only had a small window to get past him before they began to grain and before

01:19:56They would slide around. Um, so I had to push and get get as close to him as possible

01:20:00But the great thing about this track is you can follow other people. Um

01:20:05Also, I found and so I was able to get quite close through the last two corners

01:20:10Um following all the way down to turn two and slipstreaming but again towards the end of the straight

01:20:15Um

01:20:16He sort of matched my speed so it was a bit difficult to get past but I just had to do on the brakes

01:20:21You know, he gave me plenty of room

01:20:22Uh, I think it was quite a fair battle. It was it was good fun

01:20:25And uh, I think for for nelson again, I I couldn't I thought I was my work was done

01:20:30And they said you still have to get past us and I was thinking

01:20:33Okay, I just wiped my backside off, but that's fine

01:20:36And uh, and again, he put on a really good a good battle. But again, it was very fair

01:20:41Well, congratulations to you an outstanding race

01:20:44Nelson congratulations to you. I guess I need to ask you about your feelings right now. You must be euphoric

01:20:5017th on the grid to finish on the podium

01:20:53Beating a ferrari driver the way you did under pressure

01:20:55And I should tell you that it's the first time we've had two brazilians on the podium since your dad shared it with

01:21:00ethan senna back at spa in 1991

01:21:04Well, I don't even know where it starts I think um

01:21:07It started started a good weekend on friday and first practice saturday

01:21:11The car getting better and better and uh our setup working very well

01:21:15Uh fernando even used a bit of our setup because I think they went a bit the wrong way

01:21:19So things were going well until qualifying

01:21:23Where I didn't had a very good first run

01:21:26in quality in the first first outing and then

01:21:29When I went out the second time I got a bit of traffic and that was it, you know

01:21:32I couldn't get a good lap and started way in the back and

01:21:36Thought that that had finished my weekend and obviously with these

01:21:41pace safety car rules, um, we can get quite lucky and

01:21:45Obviously the team did a did a good good decision by calling me in the right time. Uh, obviously

01:21:52Before the race we we had a bit of a gamble between one or two stops

01:21:56So we had an option open when he started the race

01:21:59And I think that was a perfect, uh perfect

01:22:02Strategy because I think if would have gone for an aggressive

01:22:05Short first attempt to try to overtake in the beginning. Um, I wouldn't have arrived here

01:22:10So yeah, I mean everything worked as well and got lucky and just maintained in the end

01:22:15Just my pace and finished here your pit stop window coinciding with the safety car, of course

01:22:20But tremendous pressure in the closing stages first from lewis, but pressure you sustained from felipe

01:22:26Yeah, I mean, uh

01:22:28After the safety car, I knew I just had to keep my pace

01:22:31I didn't want to push too much of tires in the beginning

01:22:32I could have pushed a bit more in the first phase

01:22:34but I wanted to keep until the end because I knew I had to run until the end and

01:22:38after when I started when I was leading the race and

01:22:42I I knew lewis was coming by quick and I knew felipe wasn't that much quicker than me. So

01:22:48My I decided not to make it such a big fuzz was lewis was also much quicker than us. So

01:22:54If I would have fighted it was it would be a risk for felipe to arrive and he could have maybe overtaken me

01:22:58so, uh, I just decided to make it

01:23:01Have a safe second place then have a third or fourth place and not be too happy

01:23:05So yeah, I mean it was good to race. I mean just then just maintain the the pace

01:23:10No mistakes and keep the rear tires good until the end

01:23:15Congratulations

01:23:16And felipe well done to you too. Obviously a difficult day for you

01:23:19Struggling at the end there I guess in the last phase of the race

01:23:22But let's go back to the to the start when you were behind lewis. How did you compare then at that point?

01:23:26You pulled away pretty comprehensively

01:23:29Yeah, for sure

01:23:31I expect maybe different race because uh, the the pace of lewis in the beginning was so quick

01:23:37and by

01:23:39by there, I knew that uh

01:23:41They were much quicker than us here on the track

01:23:44even looking his pace on the on the race, I would say I did a good qualifying because um,

01:23:49They had a great pace also in the race

01:23:52um the first thing it was just

01:23:55Half second per lap quicker and when it's like that, I mean you cannot do anything

01:24:00and then

01:24:02just after the safety car, I think we did a

01:24:04The normal job, I would say the team did a good job

01:24:07but I think it was more more or less the the normal job maybe just lewis was a little bit too optimistic on the safety car, but

01:24:15but then uh

01:24:16we restart the race and I I saw the pace of the car and the the brakes and and we had the

01:24:22Hard tires as well because uh, the soft was was so difficult to drive as well

01:24:27and um, I just couldn't have the the pace, uh, just low difficult stability and

01:24:34Also on braking. Uh, I think I have a little problem on the brakes as well. I lost a lot of performance. So

01:24:41I didn't have the car to fight. I even tried but it was not

01:24:45Um

01:24:46It was not possible today

01:24:48I think you know

01:24:50um

01:24:51In the end of the day, it was a good race because finished third, uh, we still have you know in the

01:24:56even in the

01:24:57A little bit more than the middle of the season and the championship is open

01:25:00We we need to work very hard for sure

01:25:02but I trust in the team and

01:25:04I know they're gonna they're gonna work very hard and we're gonna have a competitive car for the next races

01:25:09And also welcome nelson because uh, he's very nice i'm sure he's

01:25:14feeling a

01:25:15uh great time and uh the feeling to be in the polio in the first time I remember he was uh,

01:25:21Two years ago in in newberg green and I was so happy so happy like a child

01:25:25So i'm sure he's very happy and I welcome him

01:25:29on this nice

01:25:30uh place in formula one which

01:25:33um

01:25:34Our two guys need to welcome him

01:25:37Thank you for leaving well said and returning to you lewis for final thoughts your fourth win of the season second in a row

01:25:43matching the number of wins, of course from last year leading the championship now by four points not much but

01:25:48a nice bit of momentum

01:25:50Yeah

01:25:51Overall a very very good weekend. I think it's going to be our best weekend

01:25:55um up until now, I think uh, we've just been very strong throughout the weekend as well as last week's test and um,

01:26:01I again, like I said, it's just a great job by the team

01:26:04And um, I think we're really on top of our game right now

01:26:07So let's gotta again not get too ahead of ourselves. We've got a lot of work to do for the rest of the season

01:26:12But if we can continue with this momentum now, we've we've got I think um, you know, we'll be looking very good

01:26:18So on to the next race hungary is a good one for us. So fingers crossed

01:26:23Another historic day at hockenheim. We'll take a break and return to wrap things up from the german grand prix

01:26:32Back in hockenheim here are the final results of round 10 of the 2008 season the german grand prix david

01:26:38Well, it was another great win for lewis helms

01:26:40And there's no doubt about it that mclaren team made it very hard work for him

01:26:43Nelson pk there up at the second spot there his first time up there

01:26:46That's very good for him felipe. Massa couldn't make any ground on pk

01:26:50Nick, heidfeld fourth from 12th on the grid high kick over line and fifth from third

01:26:54Then reichen and again six to six and robert koopers are not having a very good day either

01:26:58These fellas the runners nine through to 14th. Jano trulli for teota dico rosberg william fernando

01:27:03Alonso just not having a good run in comparison to his teammate. That is for sure

01:27:08The rest of the runners 15 through to 20

01:27:10Nakajima satele and button barricado for honda and right down the bottom timo glock

01:27:14Timo glock was taken to hospital by the way for some checks after that big crash driver's championship after 10 races

01:27:21Well, as you can see, it's very close at the top and look at all those nationalities british brazilian finnish

01:27:26polish german finnish

01:27:28And of course italian very very close there just uh, 17 points between top and fifth

01:27:34There you see nelson. Bk was jumping right up there today with his eight points per second

01:27:39And sebastian borde didn't pick up any today. Vettel, of course picked up part one

01:27:43How about the constructors championship steve interesting race as far as that's concerned ferrari break over the magic 100 105 bmw

01:27:50Sauber and mclaren mercedes very close 89 to 86

01:27:54But look at the battle for fourth fifth and sixth 25 24 and 23 points very close

01:28:00Indeed williams hote down in 16th honda with 14th poor old force india yet to score and super best friends have withdrawn

01:28:07And so hockenheim passes into history at least as far as the race is concerned

01:28:11But formula one will be back in action two weeks from now with the hungarian grand prix coverage begins friday august 1st

01:28:188 a.m. Eastern with live coverage of the second friday practice and that's on speed

01:28:22Of course saturday the second also on speed knockout qualifying at 8 a.m

01:28:26Eastern finally on sunday formula one is back on speed august 3rd

01:28:30The hungarian grand prix begins at 7 30 a.m

01:28:33Eastern with the acura free race show at 8 the cars will roll off

01:28:37It's back to speed for the balance of the season for now for david hobbs steve matchett and peter windsor

01:28:42I'm, bob. Varsha. We'll see you in two weeks from budapest until then. Auf Wiedersehen everyone

01:28:48you

2008 German GP

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