Fernando Alonso became the first driver to win for the third time this season but he had to work very hard for it. The result of the German Grand Prix was never certain until the Ferrari crossed the line 3,7 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull and the McLaren of Jenson Button.
In fact, that 3,7-second gap is deceptive thanks to the first three backing off slightly on the 67th and final lap. Alonso had led from pole position but, as he said before the start of this 10th round of the championship, everyone was racing into the unknown thanks to rain during the previous two days.
There had only been 50 minutes of dry running in four hours of practice, which meant there was no intelligence on how the Soft and the Medium tyres would work in the dry race conditions. This and the fact that the track would be ‘green’ after all that rain and Pirelli had not raced at Hockenheim before thanks to the German GP alternating with the Nürburgring.
With the leading runners starting on the Soft and Alonso holding on to the lead, it was a matter of covering his rivals’ moves. Those rivals turned out to be Vettel, who remained within a couple of seconds of the Ferrari, and Button as the McLaren driver eventually worked his way from sixth on the grid. And once Button got close, he was assisted by team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who was having a miserable 100th Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s race literally got off to a bad start when he was slow away from seventh on the grid and then picked up a puncture from debris created by Felipe Massa knocking off his front wing against the rear wheel of a Toro Rosso. By the time Hamilton reached the pits, he was at the back of the field and now on a different strategy.
That strategy meant he emerged among the leaders with fresh tyres and then managed to unlap himself by overtaking Vettel, a move which angered the World Champion and allowed Button to close in and, coincidentally, Alonso to pull away slightly.
Having been noted for some clumsy tyre changes this year, McLaren rewrote the record books by producing the fastest-ever pit stop thanks to having Button away in a phenomenal 2,4 seconds; good enough to help him get into a position to take second place from Vettel. The initial thought was Button would take the lead as he got to within 0,5 seconds of Alonso but then two things happened; Alonso’s tyres did not drop off in the way they had done in recent races, Button’s pace fell away slightly and Vettel closed in.
With a few laps remaining, Vettel tried a move around the outside of Button at the hairpin but ran slightly wide under braking. Vettel completed the pass by taking to the painted kerb and then the run-off area at the exit; a move that got the attention of the stewards. Vettel was later given a 20-second time penalty, which dropped him to fifth, moved Button back to second and elevated Kimi Raikkonen to third. But none of this took anything away from Alonso’s impressive victory.
“It was a difficult race and a lot of pressure,” said Alonso. “I didn’t have a single lap to relax a little bit. There’s really only one point to overtake at Turn 6 and we managed to have good acceleration away from the corner before. Red Bulls and McLarens had extra pace in the free air so we still have some work to do. But when you think Ferrari were two seconds off the pace during the pre-season tests, now we are in a good position with the championship points.”
Indeed they are, Alonso ahead of the drivers’ title race by 34 points and Ferrari closing on Red Bull in the constructors’ championship at this halfway point in the season. Round 11 will be in Hungary next weekend.
Drivers championship
1. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) – 154
2. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) – 120
3. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Renault) – 110
4. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault) – 98
5. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) – 92
6. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) – 76
7. Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) – 68
8. Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault) – 61
Manufacturers championship
1. Red Bull-Renault – 230
2. Ferrari – 177
3. McLaren-Mercedes – 160
4. Lotus-Renault – 159
5. Mercedes – 105
6. Sauber-Ferrari – 80
7. Williams-Renault – 47
8. Force India-Mercedes – 46