Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes starts in pole position at Hockenheim, Germany - the halfway point of the F1 season Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Ferrari is tied with Hamilton and Felipe Massa at the top of the drivers' championship, but starts in sixth Flavio Briatore helps the Renault drivers Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso celebrate their upcoming birthdays before the race Many celebrities, including world boxing heavyweight number one Vladimir Klitschko, point out the finer features of the pits Hamilton leads from the start at Hockenheim, with Massa driving defensively to hold second place from Kovalainen The McLaren-Mercedes driver opens a lead of eleven seconds ahead of Massa and Kovalainen before his first pit stop McLaren-Mercedes' strategy is to pit twice, short and then medium, and Hamilton is in control of the race after the first round of stops British drivers Jensen Button and David Coulthard, who will retire at the end of the season, battle for twelfth place Timo Glock loses his right suspension and crashes in to the pit wall on lap 37 and brings out the safety car until lap 41 Glock is conscious throughout the crash and walks away from it but is sent to hospital by the Toyota doctors as a precaution The safety car causes confusion as Heidfeld, Hamilton, and others decide not to pit and Renault's Nelson Piquet takes advantage Hamilton pits from the lead and rejoins down the field only to pass Kovalainen, Massa, and Piquet to lead once more Felipe Massa of Ferrrari and Brazil finishes third on the track but moves to second on the drivers' leaderboard Hamilton's fourth chequered flag of the sesason moves him clear in to the lead of the drivers' championship Plaudits also go to Nelson Piquet, who takes brilliant advantage of the safety car, and finishes second, the first podium of his F1 career
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Report: BBC Radio 5 Live's David Croft
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