German Car Zone

Dam it, it was so close to a Ferrari Massa win, he fully deserved it, but as always in F1, these things just happens. Massive respect for Massa.

Kova got his lucky 1st win even being hopelessly out performed by Lewis. Glock bounced back superbly after his incident in Germany and drove mighty well throughout the weekend, maybe this is the turning point for him to consistently get the upper hand over Trulli.

As for the rookies, Nelson did ok, managed to stay close to Alonso and kept the car on the circuit. Nakajima beat Rosberg again, despite qualifying 2 positions behind.

BMW is nowhere to be seen, seems like the Renaults, Toyota have overtaken them with Red Bull not far behind.

Bloody debris on the track cost us a 1-2 victory!!!!

Thankfully Heikki held it together and we managed to win. I'm very impressed by Toyota this year, they've made a giant leap forward and might close in to BMW in a year or so. Congrats to Heikki and Glock. Impressive overtaking move by Massa, he did a great start for once and just like with Hamilton he became the victim of F1 unpredictability. But just like the case with Kubica's victory Heikki didn't win because he was the fastest driver but more because his two top opponents were canceled out.

WOW just finished watching the race.
Great for Heikki!
Too bad for Hamilton with the tire.
OMG Massa. I called Kimi blowing up, but Massa worked better.

Are you serious? Do you really think Massa wouldn't have won?

Oh yeah. sorry forgot about Massa. There would have been a chance of leap frogging him during pit changes, but overall Massa pretty much had the pace to win the race even if Hamilton wouldn't have had a deflated tire.

Sure did! About time too, after all the bad luck Kova has had all season.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Hungarian Grand Prix
The Hungaroring, Hungary;
70 laps; 306.663km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time
1. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1h37:27.067
2. Glock Toyota (B) + 11.061
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 16.856
4. Alonso Renault (B) + 21.614
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 23.048
6. Piquet Renault (B) + 32.298
7. Trulli Toyota (B) + 36.449
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 48.321
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 58.834
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 1:07.709
11. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:10.407
12. Button Honda (B) + 1 lap
13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
14. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
15. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
16. Barrichello Honda (B) + 2 laps
17. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) + 3 laps
18. Massa Ferrari (B) + 3 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:21.195

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap
Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 63
Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 23

World Championship standings, round 11:

Drivers:
1. Hamilton 62
2. Raikkonen 57
3. Massa 54
4. Kubica 49
5. Heidfeld 41
6. Kovalainen 38
7. Trulli 22
8. Alonso 18
9. Webber 18
10. Glock 13
11. Piquet 13
12. Barrichello 11
13. Rosberg 8
14. Nakajima 8
15. Vettel 6
16. Coulthard 6
17. Button 3
18. Bourdais 2

World Championship standings, round 11:

Constructors:
1. Ferrari 111
2. McLaren-Mercedes 100
3. BMW Sauber 90
4. Toyota 35
5. Renault 31
6. Red Bull-Renault 24
7. Williams-Toyota 16
8. Honda 14
9. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 8

interesting to note that the StarSports commentator assumed that Hammi's deflated tyre was his own doing. he pointed out that Hammi is a very unique driver, something like Alonso, has a rough way of handling the tyres, which suited him and the car, and which is why Kova, who is a much more tidy driver, struggled to keep up with Hammi this season.

i think he could be right. there weren't any incidents on the race track that resulted in massive debris. if there were incidents, it was pleny of faulty fuel rigs.

anyways, the commentator mentioned turkey before the race, where Hammi had a unique 3 stopper, because the tyre just could not last under him.

if this is all true, would be interesting to see if Hammi changes his style of driving.

edit : i wonder what happened to BMW.

Bridgestone suspects that Lewis Hamilton's tyre failure in the Hungarian Grand Prix was a puncture caused by debris - but the Japanese company is still not completely sure.

Hamilton lost any chance of winning at the Hungaroring on Sunday when his left front tyre suddenly deflated on lap 41 as he braked for Turn Two. He lost time returning to the pits but still recovered to finish fifth.


Bridgestone analysed the tyre after the race and its initial conclusion suggests that it was punctured by debris – although it does not know exactly with what or how because the tyre got so badly damaged when Hamilton returned to the pits.


Further examination will be needed and the tyre will be flown to Japan for a more detailed inspection.


Hirohide Hamashima, Bridgestone's director of motorsport tyre development, told autosport.com: "We have not found the actual cause but there is a high possibility of a puncture.
"We could not see any debris on the tread surface, although we could not analyse the shoulder area because he ran half of a lap with a depressed front tyre and the sidewalls were badly damaged. So the possibility is of a side cut, and then after that it depressed suddenly."


There is a chance that a cut was made in the tyre in one of the areas where Hamilton had a flat spot on the tyre.


"He made many flat spots, that is true," said Hamashima. "When there is a flat spot, it means there is a very thin shoulder area close to the ground. So maybe a sharp stone touched the sidewall, meaning there was a possibility to cause a puncture."


Hamashima ruled out a stress failure or any problem relating to excessive tyre wear – as Hamilton has suffered in the past.


"We could not see a problem like 2007 in Turkey, or the small problem in Turkey this year." said Hamashima. "I think the tyre itself would have been no problem."

Hamilton has always been best of the prime tires. Driving on option tires he wear them out like a dyslectic run though an eraser when writing an essay. But the prime tires have never been a problem for him and I don't think his driving caused the puncture.

In Turkey Mclaren's car wasn't very good and they had a problem with tyre wear and the three stop strategy was the strategy chosen so that Hamilton could drive at 110% maximizing his opportunities of ending up on the podium.

But what you've said about the car might be right. Might suit Hamilton more while Heikki would have been better of in the F2008.