F1 title thriller heads for Germany

Trackside’s Keith Collantine assesses F1’s closely-fought battle for supremacy.

View pictures of every F1 car in the German Grand Prix

Last year’s F1 title ended with three drivers separated by just a single point.

This year it’s even closer with three drivers leading the championship on exactly the same points total.

Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa each has 48 points. And to make things even closer Robert Kubica is just two points behind the trio.

There are eight races left which means there are 80 points up for grabs between now and the end of the season.

This weekend’s race takes place at the Hockenheimring near Heidelberg in Germany. Hamilton will have his work cut out at a track where the Ferraris are usually strong – they scored a dominant one-two at the last race here in 2006.

Ferrari’s F2008 was quicker than Hamilton’s McLaren in testing last week and the red cars are expected to have the upper hand if it stays dry.

Hamilton scored a crushing win in front of his home crowd at a wet Silverstone. And he received a hero’s welcome when he turned out in front of 50,000 fans at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

What happens if two or more drivers end the championship with the same number of points?

Two drivers ending the year on the same number of points is something that has never happened in F1 before. The closest finished was in 1984 when Niki Lauda beat his McLaren team mate Alain Prost by half a point.

If two drivers finish with the same score the number of wins they have scored is used as a tie-break – the one with the most first place finishes is champion.

If that is tied, then most second places, then third places, and so on.

Video: German Grand Prix preview

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