Again, allow me to begin by apologising for not posting this
race report sooner – Yesterday, I was at Brands Hatch, soaking in some British
Superbike action, whilst I have spent today doing work experience with Motorsport News.
The German Grand Prix arguably marked the start of one man
finally taking a firm grasp of this most unpredictable of championships. That
man was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who delivered an utterly textbook
performance to lead virtually from start to finish following on from an equally
blistering pole position lap after a sudden downpour on Saturday.
The Spaniard made a dream start whilst fellow front row
starter Sebastian Vettel had his hands full defending from Michael Schumacher
during the opening lap following a mediocre getaway. The Red Bull driver soon
set about challenging Alonso for the lead however, but never really looked like
finding a way past him during the opening stint.
In fact, he would soon find himself demoted to third by
Jenson Button’s McLaren, who after spending a lengthy spell in the doldrums was
back on form in Germany. The rain during qualifying restricted him to a grid
slot of sixth, but the Brit passed Pastor Maldonado, Nico Hulkenberg and
Schumacher during the opening stint to put himself in contention for a first
win since the curtain-raiser in Melbourne.
A blistering 2.4 second pit-stop by the McLaren mechanics
was partially responsible for Button now finding himself in second position and
in hot pursuit of race leader Alonso during the second stint. Despite the McLaren being ostensibly the
quicker package in the dry, Alonso remained in total control, and was able to
resist Button’s advances throughout the second stint.
McLaren brought their man in for a second change of rubber a
lap sooner than Alonso and Vettel, but it wouldn’t be sufficient for Button to
move into the lead. Instead, Frome’s finest would find himself coming under
pressure from Vettel towards the end of the race as the McLaren’s tyres
deteriorated faster. The home favourite attempted to pass Button around the
outside of the Spitzkehre hairpin, but he ran off the circuit at the exit of
the corner as he executed the move.
The German therefore crossed the line second behind Alonso, but
was awarded a 20-second time penalty after the race as the stewards deemed his
overtake on Button to be illegal. That demoted Vettel to fifth, costing the
German eight points, but he was arguably lucky to score any points at all; Red
Bull became embroiled in controversy prior to the start of the race when the
team was accused of using illegal engine mappings that simulated the effects of
a traction control system.
Button was promoted to second, marking his best result since
the Chinese Grand Prix in April, whilst the final spot on the podium went to
Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus. The Finn made swift progress from a lacklustre grid
slot of tenth during the first stint, but the team’s decision to make him run
the slower soft tyre in the middle stint cost him any real shot at challenging
the leaders.
Kamui Kobayashi may have only started twelfth, but his
Sauber’s tyre-saving tendencies facilitated some eye-catching progress
throughout the race. The Japanese driver finished fifth on the road, though
that would become a career-best fourth after Vettel’s penalty. Sergio Perez
meanwhile had even more ground to make up after being dropped five places on
the grid for blocking Raikkonen during Q2. The Mexican thus lined up
seventeenth, but like his teammate was able to combine some solid race pace
with excellent tyre preservation to finish an improbable sixth.
Going backwards on the other hand was Schumacher. Much as he
did at Silverstone, the four-time German Grand Prix winner profited from the
wet on Saturday to start the race from third position, but was powerless to
prevent his decline as the race wore on. He was able to hang on to fifth for
much of the distance, but excessive tyre wear necessitated an extra stop which
saw him slip behind the Sauber duo into seventh place.
A five-place penalty for a gearbox change saw Mark Webber
demoted to eighth on the grid after setting the third quickest qualifying time,
but the British Grand Prix winner failed to show the same race pace at the
wheel of the Red Bull as teammate Vettel, the Aussie disappointingly unable to
finish any higher than he started.
Hulkenberg suffered a similar fate to Schumacher, winding up
a disappointing ninth after achieving a heady grid slot of fourth as his Force
India’s tyre woes also warranted a three-stop strategy. Paul Di Resta in the
meantime tried to get by on two stops, but was powerless to fend off Nico
Rosberg in the dying stages of the race as the German clinched tenth place in
an impressive comeback from 21st on the grid – itself a result of a
torrid qualifying session and a gearbox change penalty.
In stark contrast to his teammate Alonso at the front,
Felipe Massa lost his front wing almost before the race had started when he
clouted the rear of Daniel Ricciardo’s Toro Rosso on the approach to the first
corner, and after a first-lap stop for a fresh nose had to be content with a
twelfth place finish. The clash left a smattering of debris on the track, which
would account for Lewis Hamilton’s race.
Hamilton had started seventh behind Button, but his race was
ruined on the third lap after sustaining a puncture from the debris. Despite
losing a lap as he cruised back to the pits, Hamilton did nonetheless make his
presence felt among the leaders when he unlapped himself against Vettel, much
to the German’s chagrin. McLaren retired the car ten laps from home to avoid
damaging the car further when it became apparent there was no chance of
Hamilton salvaging any points.
Also caught out by debris was Maldonado, whose grid position
counted for little as damage to the car saw him gradually fall to fifteenth.
Things didn’t get much better for Williams as Bruno Senna collided with Romain
Grosjean on the opening lap, whose race had already been severely compromised
by a gearbox change penalty that saw him start from nineteenth on the grid.
That was one place ahead of fellow Frenchman Charles Pic, who deserves an
honourable mention for out-qualifying and out-racing Marussia teammate Timo
Glock despite missing final practice due to engine problems.
The race marks a career milestone of 30 wins for Alonso, who
now possesses a rather handy 34-point lead in the championship from Webber at
the halfway stage of the season. With
ten races left, there’s still time for the Aussie, along with Vettel and
perhaps even Raikkonen or Hamilton, to catch up, but what must come as a worry
to them is that Alonso’s resounding success came at the wheel of what clearly
is not the best car – it is the driver that is making all the difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment