Wednesday, July 23 2008 -- Lewis Hamilton seems to be getting back into the groove that saw him rise like an incredible force in his debut season. His domination of Sunday's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim gave McLaren their first win in Germany since Mika Hakkinen in 1998. Hamilton's win has left other championship contenders, including giants Ferrari, wondering what went wrong. Renault had a strong moment for the first time this season but surprisingly, it wasn't their two time world champion who got them the smiles.

A team-by-team analysis of the race-day is as follows:

Drivers' Standings

01.Lewis Hamilton
02.Nelson Piquet
03.Felipe Massa
04.Nick Heidfeld
05.Heikki Kovalainen
06.Kimi Raikkonen
07.Robert Kubica
08.Sebastian Vettel
09.Jarno Trulli
10.Nico Rosberg
11.Fernando Alonso
12.Sebastien Bourdais
13.David Coulthard
14.Kazuki Nakajima
15.Adrian Sutil
16.Giancarlo Fisichella
17.Jenson Button
Rubens Barrichello, retired lap 51
Mark Webber, retired lap 41
Timo Glock, retired lap 35

McLaren Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton was simply stunning during the entire course of the race. Despite a safety car session spoiling his work, he fought back and got the advantage that he needed. He was driving at a whole different level and it can safely be said that no one came close to him this time. As for team mate Heikki Kovalainen, there was nothing he could do after his tyres gave up on him when it mattered most. He had a bad race but still managed to grab a fifth place finish.

Scuderia Ferrari

Ferrari had a torrid time. The car had all sorts of problems. Initially, Massa was struggling to keep Hamilton in sight but as the day went on, things became better. In the middle of the race, Massa and Hamilton were almost neck-and-neck until Massa's car gave in. The Ferrari lost grip and was slipping and sliding around with only Massa's superlative control keeping the car on the track. To add to his woes, the car developed a braking problem as well and Massa's third place was probably the result of a lot of praying in the Ferrari Pit Garage. Massa's torrid day still ended on the podium with a third place while Raikkonen, who was suffering the same issues right from the start, could only get three points with a sixth place finish.

Renault

Alonso had come out and said, before the race, that Piquet had to come forth and prove that he was worth the hype that was surrounding his entrance into the big league. The Brazillian didn't disappoint and while Alonso, the two-time World Champion, could only manage an 11th place, Piquet held onto the second place with an excellent single-stop strategy. He had started the race from way down the pack and his pit-stop strategy allowed him to stay out longer and despite a safety car deployment, when he was leading the race, he hung onto second place after Hamilton disappeared over the horizon.

BMW Sauber

BMW had a relatively happy day with Heidfeld staying out for a long time as compared to other drivers. Having started at 12th with a heavy fuel load, Heidfeld was quite satisfied to stay out and even after refueling pushed him down the track positions, he never looked in too much of a hurry. Heidfeld was happy with fourth but the same could not be said of Robert Kubica who struggled to get his car in at seventh. Kubica, initially, was quick enough to compete with McLaren and Ferrari but that joy was shortlived and soon he was dropping back and could not manage to hold off a struggling Raikkonen even.

Toro Rosso

Sebastian Vettel got the final points for his team leaving both Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso trailing behind in his wake. His fiesty and solid performance seemed to have evoked some of the same in team mate Sebastien Bourdais who decided, towards the end, to push Alonso to the limit, battling for 11th place. Bourdais managed to come 12th while Vettel got a more deserved 8th place finish.

Toyota

Jarno Trulli was having a wonderful race up until his second pit-stop. Thereafter, the Toyota seemed to lose all balance and just slid down the order and out of the points into 9th place. Timo Glock was running in third place due to a heavier fuel load but when his right-rear suspension gave way, the German went backwards into the pit wall on the 35th lap. The safety car came out and although it was a hard hit, Glock came out without any major injuries.

Williams

Team Williams was not as happy as their driver, Nico Rosberg, was. Rosberg was pushing Trulli and Vettel for 8th place but seemed rather content with a 10th spot, ahead of Alonso. Kazuki Nakajima had a tough time staying away from the walls as he spun twice on his way to fourteenth.

Red Bull

Everything that could go wrong for the retiring DC, did! He had a bad start and lost five track positions; He then got stuck behind a slower Jenson Button for a rather long period of time and later in the race, he collided with another veteran, Rubens Barrichello, and spun. He was lucky to finish the race at all, in 13th. Marc Webber was unfortunate in catching some of the debris laid out on the track from Glock's accident. Webber seemed to be a strong contender for the lower points' positions but a split oil cooler sent him to an early shower.

Force India

The drivers were mostly competing against each other and Sutil, despite spinning, managed to catch up with, and drive past, Giancarlo Fisichella into 15th place. Fisichella pitted at the wrong time and the resultant 25-second penalty lost him two track positions and he ended in 16th.

Honda

Jenson Button was constantly battling his own car on the hard Bridgestone tyres. The car was not competitive and although Barichello's race ended after a collison with DC caused major damage to the nose cone, Button stayed out to bring up the rear in 17th place.