* Lap 1: On pole position for the first time this season, Kimi Räikkönen makes a clean start to break away from Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa. He leads by 0.8s at the end of the lap. Jenson Button is squeezed out by both Renaults and drops to sixth, but he repasses Fernando Alonso before the end of the lap to annexe fifth, behind Giancarlo Fisichella. Pedro de la Rosa runs seventh ahead of Mark Webber, Rubens Barrichello, Christian Klien, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Jarno Trulli (up from 20th) and Takuma Sato. Snagged by Ralf Schumacher at the hairpin, David Coulthard drops to 14th, ahead of Scott Speed, Tiago Monteiro and Christijan Albers. Ralf Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve and Nick Heidfeld pit for repairs in the wake of the hairpin skirmish. Nico Rosberg spins into retirement at Turn 12. Sakon Yamamoto starts late from the pit lane.





* Lap 2: Räikkönen laps in 1m17.383s and increases his lead to 1.1s. Button passes Fisichella for fourth. Coulthard gets ahead of Sato for 12th.


* Lap 3: Räikkönen posts a 1m16.780s and edges 1.6s clear. De la Rosa pulls off to retire from seventh. Yamamoto pits and drops out of his first grand prix.


* Lap 5: Räikkönen leads by 2.4s.

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Michelin have insisted that there will not be a repeat of the severe blistering on their tyres in coming races after Renault blamed their lack of performance in the German Grand Prix on their decimated rubber.


With Michelin under pressure to come up with answer to Bridgestone's recent surge in form, the company claimed they would be on the pace at Hockenheim, but despite claiming a third place with Kimi Raikkonen, problems for Toyota and Williams arguably prevented them from taking the fight to McLaren, Honda and Renault.


Indeed, Michelin claim they need to learn from the weekend in a bid to push forward over the final stages of the year, particularly as rumours that the outgoing firm are not willing put in the time and money into their last few races begin to gather pace,

"Despite the intense hard work that went into preparing for the German Grand Prix, we were caught today by a number of problems that simply weren't apparent during our pre-race test," director Nick Shorrock said. "We obviously need to look at all the data in detail, but initial analysis indicates that many of our cars suffered tyre-blistering problems at the rear.

"We obviously expected high temperatures, but the products we brought to Hockenheim were perhaps too aggressive and we need to examine ways to prevent this happening again when conditions are similar.

"We have lots of data to analyse – Honda and Renault ran on the same compound this weekend, for instance, but different constructions – and we will capitalise on the lessons learned today to make sure we select an appropriate range of products for Hungary next weekend, when temperatures are likely to be similarly hot. The world championship fight is becoming ever more intense but we will respond accordingly."

Source: Crash.net


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Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa secured another dominant 1-2 finish this afternoon at the 4.574km Hockenheim circuit, giving Bridgestone its 100th win from the 165 Grand Prix the company has participated in since entering Formula One as a tyre supplier in 1997.

Michael Schumacher is personally responsible for 56 of those wins. However, today’s results also means that the seven time world champion is now just 11 points behind title leader Fernando Alonso in the driver points standings while Ferrari lie just ten points adrift in the Constructors’ championship.


Toyota Racing also took points today for Jarno Trulli’s strong drive from 20th on the grid to seventh. However, it was a desperately unlucky day again for the Williams F1 team. Nico Rosberg crashed out early on while Mark Webber had been set for a top five finish before a car problem hit ten laps from the finish line.


MF1 Racing’s Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro both finished the race today but for Super Aguri F1, who debuted their new SA06, it was disappointing not to get either car over the finish line.

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Race Classification from the Formula One Grand Prix of Germany at Hockenheim (Hockenheim) on Sunday

(rank: r = retired)



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Fastest Lap: Michael Schumacher, 1:16.357, lap 9.