Race (Sunday)
Fernando Alonso needed it and Fernando deserved it, out dueling Felipe Massa during the closing laps of this race held in chaotic climatic conditions when rain fell for a second time this afternoon.Rain was forecast, but there was no sign of it during the warm up lap, the only team electing to run on intermediate was Markus Winkelhock (having his first Grand Prix) in the Spyker Ferrari starting from the pit lane. The clouds opened half way around the first lap and going into corner one the next time Jenson Button aqua planed off the track, followed by Lewis Hamilton, who had worked his way up to 5th from 10th before being involved in the Heidfeld/Kubica incident giving him a puncture. He had the sense to keep his motor running and under the regulation of being in a "dangerous position" was allowed to rejoin the race. Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg, Scott Speed, and Vitantonio Liuzzi (narrowly missing the tow tractor) where victims of this corner and did not rejoin the race, which after the safely car was called out was "red flagged. At the restart Markus Winkelhock was to lead and the team gambling on another downpour elected to go out on wets, but his glory ended there as he gradually fell back. Hamilton, a lap down due to his off under the regulations was allowed to un lap himself and chose to come into the pits a take on dry rubber, a gamble that was not to pay off, but he still managed to work
his way up to 9th position by the chequered flag. During the second part it looked as Kimi Raikkonen, who had messed up his first lap, was capable of catching Fernando Alonso but he gradually dropped away eventually to retire - Kimi´s "Nurburgring Jinx" had struck again, despite bringing his grandmother to the race. It looked as if Felipe Massa had the race all sown up until the clouds opened again. McLaren just managed to get Fernando out in front of Fisi´s Renault in the pit lane which caused some comments and thereafter Fernando gave it 100% trying to overtake Felipe again and again, eventually doing it going into turn 5., where he had had his incident in qualifying yesterday, which probably cost him pole position and led to the finish. The Ferrari and the McLaren touched and neither driver was very pleased at the weigh in, but is was a racing incident as was Ralf Schumacher´s and Nick Heidfeld´s coming together leading the the Toyota driver having to retire. Fernando Alonso with his end of the race performance stole "Driver of the Day" from Felipe Massa. This was a World Champion at his best and could be his turning point in the World Championship fight, the points difference between him and Lewis Hamilton just 2 points.
Qualifying (Saturday)
Q1 it was Fernando Alonso the dominant driver, "the four top guns" only needing to put in one fast lap before coming in. In Q2 it looked as if Fernando would take the honours, but it was Felipe Massa that just snatched it from him. Q3 and Lewis Hamilton looked on form in his first flying lap, when a wheel nut failure caused a high speed crash. The wheel was improperly secured, caused by a wheel gun failure. If Hamilton is cleared to race, after at least two hours in the medical centre, he will start from 10th position tomorrow. This decision could be made as late as tomorrow. Obviously this put pressure on Lewis´s team mate waiting for the restart in the pits and when the qualifying started again, it only left time for one warm up lap, a tyre change and a flying lap. Massa took the provisional pole position, and then it looked as if Fernando Alonso would take this from him, but a mistake in the middle sector allowed Kimi Räikkönen to take Pole. It promises to be an exciting race tomorrow and Fernando Alonso obviously want to be the leading into the first corner and if Lewis does race tomorrow, on GP2 form we are in for some exciting overtaking.
Practice 2 (Friday Afternoon)
Kimi Raikkonen (1m33.339s) with just five minutes remaining in this afternoons session pushed this mornings "fast man" Lewis Hamilton (1m33.487s) into second place, who had led for most of the session. Drivers went faster and faster on a drying track after the clouds had opened during the GP2 practice session. In the last ten minutes Lewis had had a ragged final ten minutes which included a spin and another off track excursion at Valvoline. Felipe Massa (1m33.590s) improved this afternoon to third fastest ahead of Fernando Alonso (1m33.637s) with the two Toyotas of Ralf Schumacher (1m33.668s) and Jarno Trulli (1m33.746s). If only practice and qualifying form could be translated into the race? Nico Rosberg (1m33.845s) - Jenson Button (1m33.880s) and the two BMW's of Nick Heidfeld (1m34.146s) and Robert Kubica (1m34.221s) completed the top ten drivers this afternoon.
Practice 1 (Friday Morning)
Lewis Hamilton (1m32.515s) set the fastest time this morning just over 0.2s faster than Kimi Raikkonen (1m32.751s) the Brit and the Finn trading fastest laps in the final 10 minutes of the session. Fernando Alonso (1m32.932s) took third spot dropping the impressive BMWs of Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica down to fourth and fifth respectively these two earlier providing Hamiltons closest opposition with Felipe Massa only managing sixth fastest and a second away.
Kimi Raikkonen (after Spa test) - "The car felt almost even better than in Silverstone. Race after race we are making improvements. The Nurburgring is a completely different track compared to the one in Belgium, but nevertheless I expect us to be very competitive. I don't want to predict anything right now. We have to get on the track and give our best: then we'll see if it's enough to win the race."
Felipe Massa - "From a technical point of view, the Spa test was really good and the car seems to respond very well to changes....we go to the Nurburgring where I expect the F2007 will again be very competitive. Last year in the European Grand Prix I finished third and it was my first ever Formula 1 podium. Hopefully this time, we can be back on the podium but in a better position. I have good memories of last year, but we always want more!"
Lewis Hamilton will race this weekend - "I've just caught a bit of 'flu, but it's okay. I'm really up for it," he said. "I don't think it's going to be a problem. The worst of it was earlier on in the week. Trust me, I'm a lot better now than I was on Monday. I've got some good medicine, I'm with a good team, so I'm sure there will be no problems."
Nick Heidfeld - "I've driven a lot of races on the Nürburgring and recorded victories in almost all the series I've competed in there - Formula Ford, Formula 3 and Formula 3000. In 2005 I took my first Formula One pole position in the Eifel mountains with BMW Williams and finished second in the race itself. We didn't do so well there last year, and it would be great if we could get back among the Ferraris and McLarens at my home race this time around"
Giancarlo Fisichella - "It is fair to say that the last two races were disappointing, all the more so because they were our home races. We knew it would be a tough battle with BMW. All of the teams are making progress, and our challenge is to do so faster than them in order to get ahead and try to close the gap in the championship. We are going in the right direction, and everybody is doing their maximum - and I am convinced that if we carry on like this our hard work will pay off."
European Grand Prix on ITV:
Saturday 21st July
ITV1: Live Qualifying, 1230 – 1435
Sunday 22nd July
ITV1: Live Race, 1200 – 1500
ITV1: Highlights, 2345 – 0045
Monday 23rd July
ITV4: Highlights, 1800 – 1900
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