Last weekend's rain soaked European Grand Prix at Germany's Nurburgring saw many of the drivers aquaplaning out of control early on in the event. Rain started in just the second lap of the race and it had to be restarted by the fourth lap due to dangerous conditions. By the time the race restarted the rain had stopped and the track dried up quickly.
Fernando Alonso managed to take the top spot on a day where it seemed that anyone could win, but even he suffered a hitch during the closing laps as he tried to overtake Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who was in first place. Massa's front wheel grazed the side of Alonso's McLaren and this led to a heated argument between the two post-race.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was one of the drivers who slid off the track in the beginning, but he was given a lifeline when his car was lifted by crane back onto the track. A poor decision to switch to dry tires too early after the rain had stopped saw him spin out again. This left him out of contention of a podium finish, and at the end the rookie came at in 9th place.
The major disappointment was pole sitter Kimi Raikkonen being forced to retire because of mechanical problems with his Ferrari. This allowed the competent Mark Webber to cruise into the third spot to gain his first podium finish at Red Bull racing. Another disappointment were the BMW boys, with sixth placed Nick Heidfeld hitting the side of team-mate Robert Kubica and then doing the same again with Ralf Schumacher.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike @ Jul 23rd 2007 9:32PM
POINTS FOR WEBBER!!! WOO HOOOOOOO!
Travis Rassat @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:31PM
That was quite an exciting race - I couldn't believe what was happening during those first 4 laps or so. The whole race was fun to watch - even the post-race interviews were interesting with the interaction between Alonso and Massa. This race was right up there with the Canadian Grand Prix for the wackiest race of the year so far...
tbyron @ Jul 23rd 2007 10:32PM
Great race. So many of the best race over the past few years have come in the rain. Funny thing what reduced tire grip and aero advantages will do for the racing.
And Kimi ran out of gas, literally. The failure was in the pits.
Brad @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:59PM
The rain threw a huge monkeywrench into the strategy. We actually had a Spyker leading the race! (well at least to the first corner after it went back green). A five car parking lot at the end of the first turn in that deluge. The safety car nearly gets taken out by Liuzzi.
It gets dry then the rain comes back again. Kimi runs out of gas (I guess). Massa can't hold off Alonso. Just a lot of wild things happening.
Then to top it all off, we get a verbal confrontation between Alonso and Massa in Italian.
Yago Bal @ Jul 24th 2007 12:30AM
Funny thing, since Massa speaks portuguese and Alonso spanish. ;)
Kimi didn't run out of gas: the hydraulic system began to malfunction, and he finally was forced to stop.
Brad @ Jul 24th 2007 12:53AM
I guess they both know Italian from competing earlier in their careers in the lower Formulas in Italy. I think I heard that Massa speaks 5 languages. Alonso probably speaks many languages also.
Logik @ Jul 24th 2007 1:39AM
Yep. Once you learn one of the romance languages, the come quite easily. Plus, in Europe, everyone speaks at least two languages.
Logik @ Jul 24th 2007 1:40AM
Doh! It should read, "...the rest come quite easily."
nagmashot @ Jul 24th 2007 2:04AM
was extrem interesting race with a longe time missed wheel to wheel fight for the first place. Alonso showed that he is for a good reason 2 time World champion. Fun for Markus Winkelhock to get in his first F1 race from last place to first place in the first lap ... Spyker played a game and had won it .. unfortunatily he had no chance as the other switched to rain tires too..
ermax18 @ Jul 24th 2007 8:24AM
Thanks for the spoiler warning!!
Khanh @ Jul 24th 2007 1:09PM
Aww darn, I was so busy I totally forgot about the race last weekend! It sounded so exciting that I can't believe I missed it! If only I had like.... TiVo or the Apple TV thing, it would have been possible for me to record it. I'd like to know the finishing positions of every F1 car, if anyone cares to post. Oh, and was it the WHOLE 13.something mile track of the Nurburgring?!
Brad @ Jul 24th 2007 10:03PM
This was not at the Nordschleife. They haven't raced there since 1976 when Nikki Lauda got badly burned in a crash there. The new Nurburgring was built adjacent to the old track. Here are the results.
1. Fernando Alonso
2. Felipe Massa
3. Mark Webber
4. Alexander Wurz
5. David Coulthard
6. Nick Heidfeld
7. Robert Kubica
8. Heikki Kovalainen
9. Lewis Hamilton
10. Giancarlo Fisichella
11. Rubens Barrichello
12. Anthony Davidson
13. Jarno Trulli
14. Kimi Raikkonen
15. Takuma Sato
16. Ralf Schumacher
17. Markus Winkelhock
18. Jenson Button
19. Adrian Sutil
20. Nico Rosberg
21. Scott Speed
22. Vitantonio Liuzzi
Khanh @ Jul 25th 2007 4:03PM
Wow, that sucks for Raikkonen for being in 14th place. But anyway, thanks for replying with the race results =)
thesawzall @ Jul 24th 2007 3:51PM
Sadly it sounds like Scott Speed has run his last race. With the loss of Indy from the sched next year and possibly the only American gone from the grid, it sounds like another dark era for F1 in America, just when I was getting interested.
nmt @ Jul 25th 2007 3:07AM
I watched the race live on speed channel and there is no question Massa intentionally drove into him. It was an extremely risky move on Massa's part that could have easily ended badly for both of them. With as much video of it, I am really surprised Massa is not going to be in any way penalized.
As far as the Heidfeld/Schumacher incident, to me it looked like Heidfeld was under Schumacher on the inside and Schumacher just didn't know it and came to far into the corner causing them to touch. Thats not Heidfeld's fault.
dailyCarVideos @ Aug 6th 2007 4:24PM
watch video highlights of the race:
http://dailycarvideos.com/2007/07/23/2007-formula-1-nurburgring-european-gp/
one of the best F1 battles between Alonso & Massa:
http://dailycarvideos.com/2007/07/23/alonso-vs-massa-last-6-laps-of-f1-euro-gp/