BF2S Forums Alonso Wins!

After a chaotic final 5 laps at Germany's Nürburgring, McLaren-Mercedes' Fernando Alonso takes the win to put him just two points behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers' World Championship.

Weather predictions were right, and by Lap 1 of the Nürburgring, it was pouring down with rain. This was fantastic news for the only man on wet tyres, Markus Winkelhock, who went on to lead the race on lap 2 until the red flag came out - just 3 minutes after the race had begun. In and amongst the heavy rain on Lap 1, Lewis Hamilton suffered a left-rear puncture and both of the Williams collided at turn 2. Finally, disaster struck for Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen as he missed the pit-lane coming in to the final turn, meaning that he was attempting to drive yet another lap on dry tyres. During Lap 2, Raikkonen pitted and this then changed the race leader to Spyker's Marcus Winkelhock, who was leading his first wet Grand Prix from a pit-start. However, during this, the corner at turn 1 was becoming a severe hazard due to the level of rain.

Turn 1 during lap 3 was a moment to remember when 6 cars, including Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, found themselves in the gravel trap due to the sheer lack of grip on the track. Liuzzi, at one point, had his car lifted off the track during a spin into turn 1, narrowly missing the deployed Safety Car.

Hamilton, however, was not going to let this ruin this race in which he endured both many frustrating laps, but also a heavy crash during yesterday's Qualifying session. His car engine remained on, and he had his car lifted back on to the track, to continue driving, despite being last.

The officials had had enough, and red-flagged the race until the weather had lightened up. 35 minutes after the race had initially started, the cars were back out under the Safety Car, in the order they appeared before the red flag was announced, meaning that Winkelhock was still leading the race.

The Safety Car drove round the circuit once, and then again to allow each team to determine what tyres to use. Hamilton, who was already a lap down, was allowed to overtake all of the cars in front of him and also the safety car in order to rejoin at the back of the grid. However, Hamilton took a risky stop to put on dry tyres, despite the track still having a noticable amount of rain on it. Come Lap 7, the Safety Car was brought back in to the pits and the race continued. With the weather being lighter, Massa and Alonso immediately tore past Winkelhock at Turn 1. During this lap, Hamilton's plan had failed, and he did not have the grip that he needed, and ended up off the track yet again.

At around Lap 11, the track was suitably dry for intermediate and wet tyres to come off, and for the dry to come back on. This, of course, meant that there was another pit-stop speed frenzy to get tyres and some fuel in as fast as possible. Further on, with a few pit-stops and passes, Lap 15 showed that Hamilton was again down by a lap. Ex. race leader Winkelhock retires due to a suspected hydraulics issue. However, by the next map, Hamilton was pulling back his tremendous bad luck, and setting times faster than the current fastest lap (set by Raikkonen).

Ralf Schumacher than had his bad luck set in, too. At turn 15 (the final corner), Hiedfeld took a chance to overtake him. He went down the inside, but Ralf, unaware, simply pulled in to take the corner and they both collided. Ralf spun off the track, shaking his fist at Hiedfeld, and also (amusingly) pushing back someone who came near him. Sato retires, also. By Lap 29, Massa is ahead of Alonso by almost 6 seconds.

Lap 34 then struck disaster for Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. He was experiencing alleged electrical problems, and was forced to retire from the race. Meanwhile, Hamilton, setting a fantastic pace, is up to 10th position by Lap 41.

By Lap 48, with just 12 laps to go, rain was predicted within 7 minutes. The crowd were anxious and hastily put on their raincoats as a drizzle started. Kovalainen, who was driving a great race from 5th, pitted a lap too early and put on intermediate tyres. The Renault team had taken a gamble, much like McLaren, and had failed. With 8 laps to go, the rain is now on at some parts of the track but not at others. 2 Laps further ahead, Massa and Alonso come in to pit. Alonso's stop is slow, and he pulls out in front of Fisichella, and Fisichella is forced to break in the pit lane to allow Alonso through.

Lap 56 was a moment for Alonso fans to remember, as both Massa and Alonso battled around the race. Alonso was taking every opportunity he could to get past, and finally he did, with their wheels touching as Alonso dived in the inside lane.

Meanwhile McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was pulling up spaces, and for a moment, it looked like he was going on for 8th, giving him one world championship point. Unfortunately, he made it up to 9th but Kovalainen retained 8th position.

Overall, it was a very intense race with an incredible start and finish. Race results to follow.

Last edited by leetkyle (2007-07-22 08:38:07)