* 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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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)



Related Articles: Ferrari Going All-Out for The Title | German Grand Prix: Facts and figures






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

The German Grand Prix ended on a sour note for the Midland MF1 team, when the scrutineers excluded both Christijan Albers and Tiago Monteiro from the results after deeming that their cars failed to comply with the regulations.


Both M16s were reported to have illegal flexible rear wings, with the stewards' statement claiming that the cars' lower rear wing element showed 'excessive flexibility'. In clearing all other cars of similar offences, the statement claimed that

'the LHS and RHS lower rear wing element of car numbers 18 and 19... show excessive flexibility' and were therefore 'not in compliance with Article 3.15 of the 2006 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations'

Flexible rear wings have been a talking point throughout the year, with Ferrari and BMW Sauber, in particular, believed to have been using such devices. Specialist fittings were mandated on all cars from mid-season, with flexible wings deemed to contravene the rule that states that no aerodynamic device can be movable.

Source: Crash.net

With most of Europe in the grip of a fierce heatwave, we're in for a hot time at Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix this weekend and the first of two back-to-back races, with Hungary to follow just seven days later.

Temperatures are forecast to be in the high 30's Celsius when practice gets underway on Friday and although it may be a little cooler over the weekend, we're hoping Ralf and Jarno will be making things hot for our rivals on the track.

"We did well in France and we should get another strong result on Sunday," says Ralf who is looking forward to racing on home soil again.

"It's always nice to come back to Hockenheim. The atmosphere is really good with plenty of noise from the fans in the stadium section."