Nurburgring- comedy of errors!

Well for those who do not follow F1, this was the place where the most amazing European grandprix of this season was held on 22nd july, 2007. I thought I would not move my ass out of the hotel room (In coimbatore, on a paid holiday which turned out to be a self confinement) today, but i couldnt hold myself back after the comedy of errors at the race and the brilliant finish, offcourse.

Here are a few facts from the race.

1. Massa started 1st at the pole position, followed by Alonso; Raikonnen 7th; but the most amazing stand was that of Hamilton at 10th after leaving the track on a stretcher at Q3.

2. Hamilton gains 4th position from 10th within 100mts of the start of the race.

3. The 1st 4 laps are lashed by heavy rain, flooding the track and taking out drivers out of the game like flies, including Hamilton.

4. After the rain hit laps, the conrol panel calls for a restart, with Spyker-Ferrari's Markus Winkellock (Debutant) starting 1st at the pole, followed by Massa. Hamilton starts 17th, a lap behind everyone else.

5. Massa leads the race followed by Alonso(+7 secs) and Raikonnen (+9 secs).

6. Raikonnen is ousted off the track after a mechanical failure. This calls Ferrari to answer their stand on reliability which was so closely questioned by team maye Massa after the spanish grand prix.

7. Massa lost time in the 4th pit stop after a rain prediction called for a change of tyres.

8. Alonso got on to the track with only a 1.2 sec drag from Massa.

9. Alonso over took Massa in the 5th lap to finish 1st on the podium.

10. Hamilton finished 9th after compensating for an entire lap and making a record 5 consecutive fastest laps in the race.

11. The results were astonishing. Alonso, Massa and Webber(Who would have given away the podium finish to Wurz if he had not held his steer in the last lap).

12. The race started off with 22 drivers and only 13 could make it to the finish line with 60 laps complete.

13. With the total pits stops averaging to 4 and a maximum of 5, and decisions made by Renault's weather forecaster( Best in the business) to change onto wet tyres at the last 8 laps and a surprising finish of red bull on the podium after 2 long years, this was one grand prix which you would not have liked to miss.