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Rain adds spice to 'Ring

How to describe the opening laps of the European Grand Prix has been something of a dilemma. Would chaotic suffice? Or was it more of a farce? It was certainly spectacular, but for the wrong reasons entirely.

As Kimi Raikkonen led the field around on the formation lap a light rain began to fall at some parts of the circuit. The forecasts had predicted showers a little way into the race, but this was much earlier than anticipated. As the red lights went out the light rain became a colossal downpour, and twenty one Formula one cars headed into a lap in treacherous conditions, on dry tyres. Twenty one, because one runner – Marcus Winkelhock, the German making his debut for Spyker – had been the recipient of what turned out to be a wise gamble, and had started from the pit lane on intermediate tyres.

Raikkonen had got the Ferrari off the line perfectly well, fending off the attentions of his fast starting team mate Felipe Massa who had cleared Fernando Alonso’s Mclaren by the first corner. Further back and Lewis Hamilton had stormed off the line from tenth position, elevating his Mclaren into a battle with the two BMW-Saubers, a position he very probably wishes he had avoided at this point.

A few corners into the lap came a team manager’s nightmare as Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld clashed in the white cars, both losing ground and gaining damage in the process – Heidfeld would take on anew wing when he got back to the pits. Hamilton was the unfortunate victim of this incident and sustained a rear puncture, necessitating a very slow few miles that effectively put paid to his hopes of points.

It was evident that a prompt visit to the pits was the order of the day, and Raikkonen duly led the field in, and comically straight-lined the pit entry, forcing another lap on himself while his rivals switched to the right tyre for the pouring rain. Other cars had suffered spins and excursions in the opening stages, notably David Coulthard who careered across a gravel track but managed to regain the circuit.

The train of cars streamed into the pits as Raikkonen tip-toed around on what was now a lake, not a race track, with Massa, Alonso, Mark Webber in the Red Bull, Jenson Button’s Honda, Heikki Kovalainen in the Renault, Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota and Anthony Davidson in the Super Aguri pitting, and emerging, in pretty much that order.

However, few had noticed that, in the melee that was the first lap, Winkelhock had gained places and, following Raikkonen’s subsequent pit-stop, the debutant in the Spyker found himself in the lead of his home Grand Prix– by twenty seconds!

On lap two we saw Button’s Honda parked against the barrier at the first turn, and instantly knew that the corner was impassable. Intermediates were no longer adequate for the conditions. What followed was one of those scenes that cause a sharp intake of breath, and a sense of relief that nobody was injured for, with marshals running around the area, Lewis Hamilton went straight on and stopped just feet away from Button’s car. Next came more horror, and potential carnage, as the Spyker of Adrian Sutil careered – at speed – backwards into the barrier, missing the stationary Mclaren by a small margin.

By now the Safety Car had been deployed, but not before Nico Rosberg fell victim to the same corner, and worst of all, Tonio Liuzzi lost it just as the Mercedes took to the track, missing the Safety Car by inches and clipping a recovery vehicle as he came to a standstill.

Five cars, then, parked in a small space, with the strong chance of more joining them. A remarkable scene followed whereby a crane lifted Hamilton’s McLaren, with driver intact, onto the track. Lewis, somehow, had kept the engine running and under the ‘dangerous position’ rule was quite entitled to carry on!

With cars skidding off all around the circuit – Scott Speed an unfortunate victim – the red flags (rare these days) came out, and the race was promptly halted with five laps gone.

The order in which they lined up for the re-start saw Winkelhock head the field, with Massa, Alonso, Webber, Coulthard, Kovalainen, Raikkonen and Barrichello making up the top eight. Hamilton would line up 17th, and a whole lap down.

With the cars no longer under parc ferme conditions, the grid saw much altering of wings and changing of tyres, and threw everybody’s planned strategy into complete confusion.

The second start was made behind the safety car, the rain having stopped almost as the cars did and the circuit bathed in bright sunshine for the break. A drying line appeared quite quickly, although almost everybody stayed on intermediates for the time being (Heidfeld, Trulli and Winkelhock had taken the start on wet tyres, the former pitting behind the safety car to take on intermediates.)

A strange sight caught the eye a lap in, as Hamilton began overtaking the cars in front, and finally the safety car, and charged off on a mission to catch the pack. Things took an even stranger turn when the Mclaren dived into the pits at the end of the lap, took on fuel – and dry tyres! This was a gamble, but there was little to lose.

With 54 laps to go, and a dry line appearing, the Safety car peeled off into the pits.

Winkelhock had fallen down the order very quickly on the first lap – Spykers moment of glory described as ‘good while it lasted’ by Mike Gascoyne – and Trulli had also changed to intermediates in the meantime.

Coulthard took team mate Webber on the run down to turn one, but it would be short lived as the Australian clawed past shortly afterwards, and began to pull comfortably away.

The stop watches were on Hamilton at this point for he was the barometer, although it was clearly too early for dry tyres as the Mclaren had an off track moment on lap eight. A great fight was underway between Kovalainen and Kubica, with the Finn being passed by the BMW but immediately pulling the place back.

On lap ten Hamilton’s lap time was significantly faster, this a signal for the rest to look for dry tyres. First to go was Raikkonen who took the chance a lap later. On lap 12 a train of cars – Massa, Alonso, Webber, Kubica and Fisichella – followed suit, momentarily leaving Coulthard and Heidfeld out front until that pair stopped for wets on the next lap.

With all cars now on the same tyres, the order settled down with Massa leading Alonso, Raikkonen looking handy in third, Webber next, Alex Wurz having made good progress to fifth in the Williams, and Kovalainen next.

Raikkonen was the fastest man on track at this point, taking a couple of tenths out of team mate Massa and Alonso, with Hamilton matching him and ploughing on down in the early teens.

One of those ‘racing incidents’ occurred on lap 19 when Heidfeld took advantage of a mistake by Ralf Schumacher and went for it. German in a Toyota turned in, hitting German in a BMW, but it was the red and white car that spun off track, leaving Schumacher beached and out of the running.

Kovalainen, meanwhile, was going great guns and, having cleanly despatched Wurz into the first turn, set about Webber in front. It was a great battle, but Kovalainen was unable to make it stick and pitted a couple of laps later looking for track position.

Massa had by now begun to edge away from Alonso, and Raikkonen – having been right on the McLarens tail – dropped away lap by lap. It was looking very good for Massa, as the Mclaren was clearly not as quick.

Hamilton, meanwhile, pulled off a great move on Fisichella, ducking sown the inside of the Renault on the way into the chicane, two wheels on the grass as the Italian shut the door. Massive commitment, and superior braking from the MP4-22, helped him on his way.

On lap 34 – just after half way – the sight of a Ferrari going very slowly flashed on the monitors: it was, inevitably, Raikkonen, with what turned out to be a hydraulic failure. No three on the trot for Kimi, then.

Around this time Hamilton pitted for fuel and tyres, as did Trulli, and shortly afterwards Wurz came in – from fourth position. Trulli came out just ahead of Hamilton, but that swiftly became just behind Hamilton as the Mclaren made the Toyota look like it was standing still along the main straight. Alonso also made his stop around this time, and Massa a lap later. It was stalemate, however, as the two emerged in the same order, and about the same distance apart.

Shortly after this Hamilton’s relentless charge continued with a clean and precise pass on Rubens Barrichello at the chicane, while Webber made his stop and emerged easily ahead of Wurz, and still in third place.

Alonso’s Mclaren now appeared to be working better, and the World Champion chipped away at Massa’s lead. The two were coming up to Hamilton, and Lewis let the Ferrari pass, tagging himself onto its tail. Alonso continued to make inroads, getting the gap – at one point around eight seconds - down to the four second mark.

With twelve laps of an already eventful race remaining, it began to look as though we had a race on our hands. It also began to look like it would rain. Indeed, an official forecast at this point told us showers were imminent, and Renault took a chance on a massive gamble by bringing Kovalainen in from fifth position in the anticipation of a downpour. The Finn took on intermediates, and gingerly set out again.

Renault were perhaps a little premature, for it would be two further laps before Heikki informed the team it had begun to drizzle at some points on the track, and a further lap before the rain became serious.

With eight laps left Davidson, Coulthard and Kubica took on intermediates, and one lap later the front two led in the rest of the field. Mclaren, in their eagerness to get Alonso on the road, let him go as Fisichella was also exiting his pit, and the resulting close call was a little too close for the Honda mechanics in the next bay.

Massa and Alonso came out in that order and it quickly became clear that the Mclaren was the car to have in the conditions. As they crossed the line with six laps left Alonso was just over one second adrift of the Ferrari, and closing fast.

A fantastic tussle ensued, with Alonso ducking and diving at the rear of the Ferrari, pushing his McLarens nose in beside the red car in an effort to find a way through, and it finally came with a fabulous move in which the Mclaren edged alongside the Ferrari, the two banged wheels briefly, and the silver car emerged ahead.

Immediately Alonso pulled out a lead of a couple of seconds, Massa having no answer in the rain.

Behind these two, Webber was being closed down in similar fashion by Wurz, but ultimately the Red Bull would keep the third place to give the Australian the second podium finish of his F1 career.

Into fifth came Coulthard, sealing a great race for the Red Bull team, with Heidfeld and Kubica sixth and seventh for BMW.

Kovalainen finished eighth with a fast closing Hamilton on his tail, the Mclaren having forced past – again – the sister Renault of Fisichella on the final lap, but finding one Renault just too much to handle. The first non-points finish is on the card for Hamilton at last.

Barrichello, Davidson and Trulli were the only other finishers.

An interesting race, book-ended by changeable weather, leaves the title chase finely balanced, with Alonso now just two points behind Hamilton as we head for Hungary in two weeks time.

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Written: Sun, 22 Jul 2007 19:26:49