Fisichella's similarly early final pit-stop suggested Kovalainen's may not have been entirely opportunistic, while Raikkonen's charge seemed to have been blunted somewhat as he struggled to keep within two seconds of Alonso. Just a matter of laps later that drop-off in pace was explained as the
Ferrari suddenly slowed and he failed to even make it back to his pit box, the Finn's appalling Nürburgring luck returning following retirements from the lead with McLaren in both 2003 and 2005 due to an engine blow-up and front suspension failure respectively.
There were no such problems for team-mate Massa, however, as he sailed serenely on and continued to open out an advantage over the chasing Alonso, up to 8.4 seconds prior to his final pit-stop. Raikkonen's demise promoted Webber, Wurz and Kovalainen into a scrap for the bottom step of the podium, while Hamilton's first target on his climb back through the field was Fisichella, who refused to yield into turn one but had no answer to the flying Briton's pace later on in the same lap as the McLaren fearlessly went all the way around the outside of turn eleven with two wheels brushing the grass and up the inside into the final chicane.
Trulli made the job somewhat easier for him a couple of laps later, and when the recently-refuelled Silver Arrow shot down the inside of Barrichello he was up into the top ten and off in search of Fisichella once more for ninth. With Kubica and Heidfeld 31 seconds ahead of the
McLaren, Massa bearing down to lap him behind, Alonso cutting the gap on the Brazilian from 11.4 seconds to just six and 18 laps left to run, few doubted that the drama was far from over yet.
A little further back, meanwhile, Lady Luck seemed to be smiling on the perennially luckless Webber for once as he rejoined from his final pit-stop still ahead of Wurz and Kovalainen and looking good for a podium spot – only the second of his five-and-a-half-year career in the top flight.
