Absolute Geek!!!

Piquet comes good for Renault

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Renault came away with its best finish of the season today as a brilliant tactical drive saw Brazilian rookie Nelson Piquet take second place in the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim. Teammate Fernando Alonso endured an eventful race coming home in 11th place.

"I am obviously very happy!" exclaimed Piquet. "After qualifying yesterday I was thinking that my weekend was over, but we opted for an aggressive strategy in the race and the team made some great decisions when the safety car came out. Then I had to concentrate to keep my pace up and look after my tyres as much as possible towards the end of the race. I knew that Lewis was much faster than me, so I did not want to take any pointless risks. This second place today is a great reward for the whole team."

Alonso commented, "That was a difficult race for me. I had a bad start and lost several positions. Then I was on the pace but it was difficult to recover. I think that we were simply out of luck today, but we must now look forward and concentrate on the next Grand Prix."

Team boss Flavio Briatore added, "Nelson had an amazing race. He proved to be very fast towards the end of the race and was able to remain strong under enormous pressure. He was not able to hold off Hamilton who was much faster, but he was able to defend his second place strongly. I am delighted for him and for the team who really deserve this result."

Victorious Hamilton would have preferred easy ride

Lewis Hamilton was delighted to have won the German Grand Prix and taken a clear four point lead in the drivers' championship, but the McLaren driver said he would have liked it easier than it came when his team didn't pit him during the safety car period.

"First of all I didn't plan on it and I would have much preferred an easy, comfortable afternoon out front," Hamilton said. "It started off well, we had two very comfortable stints and the team opted for me to stay out thinking I could make the gap, but I needed 23 seconds and had seven laps so I don't know how that would have worked out."

On the decision not to bring him in during the safety car period Hamilton said, "There wasn't much discussion, they said the decision and I said, 'are you sure?' and they said 'yes' so that was it. We all have our decisions on thngs and I'm sure we'll learn from this and move on. We had the best car this weekend and we came out on top."

"I was pushing hard to build the gap and came out behind Heikki, a great team mate, and I have to say thank you to him who saw I was quicker and didn't put up a big fight," Hamilton added. "I knew I was a second a lap faster than Felipe and had a few laps to get past before my tyres started graining and I just had to get him on the brakes and he gave me room so it was good fun. Then I thought my work was done and they said I had to get past Nelson who put up a battle but it was fair."

Hamilton storms to victory

Lewis Hamilton stormed to victory in the German Grand Prix and made up for a dubious strategy call under the safety car, to retake the lead and take the win in the closing stages of the race. Nelson Piquet Jr made the most of a one-stop strategy and safety car period to finish second ahead of Felipe Massa.

Hamilton had a strong start, cutting across Massa into turn one causing the Ferrari to come under pressure from Kovalainen into turn two. The Brazilian resisted and the trio fell into their starting order at the end of lap one. Meanwhile Kubica made a strong start to climb to fourth by the end of lap one ahead of Trulli, Alonso and Raikkonen down to seventh.

On lap three Fernando Alonso tried a move down the inside of Trulli who wasn't having any of it, closing the door firmly. Alonso, forced to go defensive lost sixth to Raikkonen in turn two.

By lap six Hamilton had built a lead of 4.6s over Massa while Trulli, Raikkonen and Alonso continued to squabble over fifth, sixth and seventh. By lap 10 his lead had grown to seven seconds and the McLaren driver looked untouchable.

The British driver was the first to pit from an 11s lead on lap 18, followed in by BMW's Kubica. Hamilton had a moment in turn two and let Trulli past him. Hamilton looked like he was urgently trying to find a way past the Toyota, but to his fortune Trulli pitted at the end of the lap, followed by Alonso. Massa pitted on lap 20, and Kovalainen the lap after.

Hamilton resumed the lead by 8.5s over Massa. Timo Glock was a surprise, staying out very late until lap 29 before pitting and rejoining in eighth, ahead of Alonso.

At half race distance Hamilton led Massa by 11s ahead of Kovalainen, Kubica, Raikkonen, Trulli, Vettel, Glock, Alonso and Webber.

On lap 35, just as everyone was beginning to doze off, Timo Glock suffered a right rear suspension failure on his Toyota on the exit of the final corner, pitching round and backwards into the pit wall at 140mph. The safety car was deployed as marshals removed scattered debris from the pit straight.

Lap 38, as the pit lane was open, Felipe Massa led a stream of almost everyone else in for their second stops, while Hamilton remained in the lead. After the stops on lap 40 Hamilton officially led Heidfeld and Piquet who also did not pit. Massa was in fourth, just four seconds down the road.

The race resumed on lap 41 with 26 laps to go and a lap later Kovalainen pulled a great move out to go round the outside of Kubica and take fifth.

Lewis Hamilton began to build his lead again, but had to pit eventually on lap 50, rejoining in fifth, just behind Heikki Kovalainen. A quick radio call from the McLaren pit wall and Hamilton eased past Kovalainen with 16 laps to go as he tried to repair the damage of not pitting behind the safety car.

Heidfeld pitted on lap 53, rejoining behind Hamilton and ahead of Kovalainen. Hamilton meanwhile closed up to within two seconds of Felipe Massa as Nelson Piquet Jr inherited the lead, and was keeping a steady two-second gap over the Ferrari.

Lap 56 and Hamilton put the pressure on Massa and passed him down the inside of the hairpin for second place. Meanwhile Piquet continued in the lead, but Hamilton was closing and on lap 59 pulled a repeat move on the Renault to retake the lead.

Hamilton cruised home to the chequered flag and victory ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr and Felipe Massa. Hamilton's win takes him four points clear of Massa in the drivers' championship. Nick Heidfeld recovered from his poor qualifying to finish fourth ahead of Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen. Kubica and Vettel took the final points in seventh and eighth.

pangkor....muahahahaha part3

Saturday, July 19, 2008

part3 of pangkor visit 2008

Hamilton storms to Hockenheim pole

Lewis Hamilton stormed to pole position for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim ahead of Felipe Massa and Heikki Kovalainen.

Despite a short burst of light rain before qualifying, conditions remained dry for the hour. The first session saw Nakajima, Piquet, Barrichello, Sutil and Fisichella drop out.

In the second session Timo Glock ended up eleventh ahead of Heidfeld who made a mistake on his final flying lap and Rosberg, Button and Bourdais.

In the final pole shoot-out, Lewis Hamilton snatched pole from Felipe Masa in the final moments of the session while the morning pace setter Heikki Kovalainen ended up third. Jarno Trulli enjoyed another competitive run in the Toyota to end up fourth ahead of a strong lap from Fernando Alonso in fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen ended up sixth on the grid as he struggled for grip in his Ferrari ahead of Robert Kubica, Mark Webber and his new team mate for 2009, Sebastian Vettel. David Coulthard rounded off a good day for Red Bull in tenth.