Sebastian Vettel finally takes home Grand Prix victory at Nurburgring
Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took victory at the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring after getting a great start to jump pole sitter Lewis Hamilton off the line and fighting off a late charge by Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn taking the chequered flag just over one second after the German.
Red Bull threw away a potential 1-2 finish during Mark Webber’s first pit stop where the pit-crew failed to secure the right rear wheel, which left the wheel hub as he exited the pits injuring FOM cameraman, Paul Allen, thankfully the cameraman just suffered a broken collarbone and ribs. Red Bull were later fined 30,000 Euros for an unsafe release, the maximum that can be imposed. Webber went on to recover from a lap down and stone last to seventh overtaking Perez on the final lap!
It was a good race for Lotus claiming second and third places; Raikkonen finishing just over a second behind race winner Vettel. Raikkonen was gifted second place after the Lotus team ordered Romain Grosjean to not fight Raikkonen for the position. The Frenchman managed to hold off Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso during the final handful of laps to stand on the third step of the podium!
Ferrari didn’t have the best of races, Felipe Massa’s race ended on lap four when his gearbox got stuck in 5th gear causing him to spin into turn 1 while running in sixth ahead of team mate Alonso. The Spaniard managed to fight upto fourth place in the closing stages but his rise was stalled by Lotus’ Grojean. No podium for Alonso in Germany, but it was close run, another couple of laps and it could have been a different story, you have to be impressed by Alonso’s dogged determination.
It seems that Mercedes were back to the tyre woes of previous years after their recent resurgence, Hamilton complaining about the lack of grip many times over the team radio, making such statements as “these tyres have no grip, man” and “everyone else are on different tyres”. Team mate Nico Rosberg was having an equally tough time with tyres, racing on the fringes of the top 10 most of the Grand Prix; after starting 11th, eventually finishing the race in ninth place while Hamilton finished the race in fifth place, overtaking Jenson Button’s McLaren on the final lap.
After zero points from the last two races, McLaren scored 12 points with Button and Sergio Perez claiming sixth and eighth places respectively. Button claims that he could have had fifth place if it wasn’t for the battling Caterham’s holding him up during the closing laps, McLaren claim that the Briton lost four seconds getting past Pic and Van der Garde who were battling for 18th place when the Briton came upon them. Perez also lost out to the recovering Mark Webber on the final lap but after two no scores, this is like a victory for McLaren, a big improvement from Silverstone.
Two Germans completed the top 10; Mercedes Nico Rosberg finishing in ninth place after an anonymous race while Nico Hulkenberg snatched a point for cash strapped Sauber, not bad for a driver that allegedly has not been paid! Force India’s Paul di Resta eventually finished just outside the points in 11th and Max Chilton brought up the rear in his Marussia as is par for the course.
Top 10 finishing positions for the German Grand Prix:
|
1. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 1:41:14.711 2. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) +1.000 3. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) +5.800 4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +7.700 5. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +26.900 |
6. Jenson Button (McLaren) +27.900 7. Mark Webber (Red Bull) +37.500 8. Sergio Perez (McLaren) +38.300 9. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +46.800 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +49.800 |