As Kubica began to edge clear in the battle over fourth and Raikkonen piled the pressure on Trulli ahead of him, Hamilton had extended his advantage to some 3.7 seconds at the end of lap four, a full
eleven seconds clear of the delayed Raikkonen and was continuing to set fastest lap after fastest lap
A slow-starting
David Coulthard who lost five places off the grid in his final German Grand Prix was forced to go wide into the hairpin as he almost ran into fellow Brit
Jenson Button, the pair already sharing a history from Bahrain earlier in the year and going on to tussle over 13th position, the Scot finally getting the verdict 14 laps in and leaving the
Honda ace at the mercy of
Nico Rosberg's Williams behind.
Toyota made it clear that they believed Trulli was racing eighth-placed Vettel by telling the Italian over the team radio that he needed two more seconds over his German rival in order to be safe from attack, whilst up at the front Hamilton just kept on pulling away nigh-on ten seconds clear 16 laps in and turning the grand prix into something of a one-horse race, with not so much as a prancing one in with a shout.
Kazuki Nakajima rejoined following a spin from a lowly 17th position as
Williams' woes continued, with both
Nelsinho Piquet and
Giancarlo Fisichella nipping past for good measure to leave the Japanese ace in penultimate place.
Hamilton was unsurprisingly the first driver to blink at the end of lap 18, with Kubica doing likewise, and as the former rejoined he did so critically
just ahead of Trulli, who got past the
McLaren when the erstwhile race leader made a small mistake. Happily for the Briton, however, both Trulli and Alonso were in together at the end of the following tour.
