Lewis Hamilton won the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
He took Pole position and led from the front until Timo Glock was involved in a spectacular shunt which resulted in the introduction of the safety car and the erosion of Hamilton's comfortable 12-second lead.
Most of the leaders pitted under the safety car but Hamilton's team decided to leave him out.
The decision was wrong. Not the first time te McLaren team's tactics have been brought into question. Better, less risky strategies last season, would have seen Hamilton crowned Champion.

The team wrongly thought Hamilton had enough laps to build up a 23second lead necessary for him to pit and remain leader. Their thinking was to minimise the laps Hamilton would have to do on the softer tyre.


It was a hard ask which was never going to happen, and when Hamilton pitted his lead was just 13 seconds, relegating him to fifth and seemingly with little chance of victory.

In fourth was his team mate Heikki Kovalainen who obligingly let him through on lap 52.
BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld made his second stop soon after, promoting Hamilton to third.

Hamilton had the fastest car on the circuit and soon reeled in Felipe Massa, brilliantly passing the Ferrari under braking into the hairpin prior to bullying his title rival into running wide on lap 57.

Three laps later mission impossible was complete when Hamilton made the same move at the same part of the circuit on an unlikely leader in Nelson Piquet as the Renault driver benefited from a one-stop strategy.

After chalking up back-to-back wins for the first time in 13 months and opening up a four-point gap over Massa in the title race, Hamilton said: "What happened was not planned. "I would have much preferred an easy, comfortable afternoon out in front. But it didn't work that way."

"The team opted for me to stay out. I guess they thought I could pull out a gap, but it was a 23-second gap I needed and I only had seven laps or something."

"I don't know how that worked, but they said they were comfortable with where we were. "

"They said the other guys would be heavy, they would be in traffic so I should be able to pull a gap, and I did everything I could to do that."

"I kind of understood and I just kept pushing, but I was over the limit, pushing and pushing trying to get the gap."

"But it wasn't possible, and when I came in it was looking like I would just be collecting points. "I eventually came out behind Heikki. I have to say a big thank you to him, he was a great team-mate. He didn't put up a huge fight as he saw I was quicker."

"I was then able to battle, and it's even more exciting for me to have won this race after competing with Felipe and Nelson."

"Although once I got past Felipe I thought I was in the lead and that was it, but I had Nelson ahead of me who did a great job."

"In the end I'm sure the public enjoyed watching such a battle."

 "It's a good feeling to come off a strong win at Silverstone, come here and pretty much dominate all weekend," added Hamilton.

"It's great to see the pace we have, but we have to take it a step at a time because we've a long way to go, and we have to make sure we continue with this performance. "

"This weekend we have proven the performance of the team and car is very good, so I'm very happy with my job and that of the team. "

"I'm not as excited as I was when I won in Monaco, but I am very happy."

Piquet held off Mass to take second and deny the Brazilian valuable championship points.

Glock, was taken to a local hospital where he'll be kept in overnight after sustaining a back injury, although has been given the all clear after a number of scans and x-rays.

German Grand Prix results:

1 Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes one hour 31 minutes 20.874 seconds
2 Nelson Piquet Jr (Brz) Renault at 5.586 seconds
3 Felipe Massa (Brz) Ferrari at 9.339
4 Nick Heidfeld (Ger) BMW Sauber at 9.825
5 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) McLaren-Mercedes at 12.411
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Fin) Ferrari at 14.483
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) BMW Sauber at 22.603
8 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Toro Rosso-Ferrari at 33.282
9 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Toyota at 37.199
10 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Williams-Toyota at 37.658
11 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Renault at 38.625
12 Sebastien Bourdais (Fra) Toro Rosso-Ferrari at 39.111
13 David Coulthard (GB) Red Bull-Renault at 54.971
14 Kazuki Nakajima (Jpn) Williams-Toyota at 1:00.003
15 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India-Ferrari at 1:09.488
16 Giancarlo Fisichella* (Ita) Force India-Ferrari at 1:24.093
17 Jenson Button (Gbr) Honda one lap behind
R Rubens Barrichello (Brz) Honda 50 laps completed
R Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull-Renault 40 laps
R Timo Glock (Ger) Toyota 35 laps completed

* Fisichella penalised 25 seconds for safety car infringement

Fastest lap: Heidfeld, 1:15.987, lap 52