Vettel wins German Grand Prix thriller

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel finally claimed victory in his home race as he edged out Kimi Raikkonen to win the German Grands Prix at the Nurburgring. Vettel and Red Bull won the tactical battle against Lotus, who pitted Raikkonen two laps too late as he could only catch Vettel in the dying laps and couldn’t manage to find a way through.

Raikkonen’s team-mate, Romain Grosjean, gave a timely reminder to everyone in F1 of his speed as he drove a superb race to finish 3^rd. Grosjean had chased Vettel all afternoon but was forced to move aside for his team mate as he battles for the 2013 F1 drivers championship.

Fernando Alonso made the most of a downbeat Ferrari to finish 4^th ahead of pole sitter Lewis Hamilton, who’s Mercedes suffered once again with tyre degradation. Hamilton claimed this week that his Mercedes was finally as quick as the Red Bull but he was left with egg on his face as the Red Bull was clearly far superior in race conditions.

Hamilton gets passed by the Bulls

Hamilton was talking of a possible race victory but that evaporated as soon as both Vettel and Mark Webber overtook him straight from the start. Webber, a Nurburgring specialist, was looking good until the first round of stops cost him any hope of a podium place. The Australian’s back tyre wasn’t secured properly and as he was released the wheel came off and collided with an unsuspecting cameraman. This left Vettel clear of the field although he didn’t expect Grosjean to progress from 6^th to 2^nd and become his rival for the race. Hamilton fell further behind as Raikkonen and Alonso took full advantage of Hamilton’s team mate Nico Rosberg refusing to allow him to overtake.

A safety car half way through the race added the spice that we badly needed. Jules Bianchi’s Marussia caught fire after an engine explosion and rolled back down the circuit. It was lucky no damage was done but a safety car was immediately called. This presented a fascinating battle for victory between Vettel, Grosjean, Raikkonen and Alonso who were each on different tyre strategies. Grosjean kept pace with Vettel at the front and was the first man to stop, putting tyres on until the end. Vettel pitted a lap later to cover Grosjean’s move and emerged just in the lead but Raikkonen and Alonso stayed out an extra ten laps. On fresher tyres Raikkonen became the favourite to win the race but he lost time in the back markers and struggled to pass his team mate. Eventually Vettel held on to win.

Podium 2013 German F1 GP: 1. Vettel 2. Raikkonen 3. Grosjean

After his earlier pit stop problems Mark Webber was another benefactor of the safety car as he came back through the field to finish 7^th behind Jenson Button. The McLaren man made his tyre strategy work, much like his team mate Sergio Pérez who came 8^th. Felipe Massa suffered another embarrassing moment as he bizarrely spun his car into retirement in the early stages.

However the day belonged to Vettel who has extended his lead at the top of the championship to 34 points over Alonso. Better consistency from Vettel’s rivals is needed if they are to stop him running away with the title again.

See complete 2013 German Grand Prix classification.

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