At the Nürburgring
yesterday Scuderia Ferrari took its fifth podium of the
season, all of them courtesy of Fernando Alonso, after
the Spaniard finished second in the German Grand Prix.
Felipe Massa added to the team’s points haul by bringing
the other 150º Italia home in fifth place, having been a
protagonist in some of the most exciting battles in what
was an action packed afternoon. Joining Fernando on the
podium was winner Lewis Hamilton for McLaren and third
placed Mark Webber for Red Bull Racing.
While there had been plenty of light rain in the
morning, the track was actually completely dry as the 24
cars formed up on the grid. However, just a few seconds
later, it began to rain very slightly, although not
enough for any other tyre choice but slicks. When the
lights went out, Lewis got the jump on pole man Webber,
as Fernando, from fourth on the grid, got the better of
Vettel but then had to fight him off for a few corners,
while Rosberg managed to pass Felipe, relegating the
Brazilian to sixth. On lap 2 Fernando was very close to
Webber but ran wide and Vettel got past again. One lap
later and the Spaniard was sitting on the German’s tail
and Felipe was right behind Rosberg’s gearbox.
At the start of lap 8 Fernando again got past Vettel,
while lower down the order there was another good battle
as Button tried to get his McLaren past ninth placed
Petrov in the Renault. On lap 10, the Rosberg-Massa duo
had closed right up to Vettel who lost time with a spin
when he appeared to lose grip on a white line. Lap 11
and Heidfeld retired after crashing into Buemi as they
battled for 15th spot and finally, going down the main
straight to start lap 12, Felipe managed to muscle his
way past Rosberg, the two of them touching wheels at
Turn 1. By now, Webber had closed up to the race leader
and actually got past the McLaren briefly as the two men
raced wheel to wheel, but the Englishman managed to keep
the lead. This scrap had allowed Fernando to close up to
the Red Bull and he even got alongside the Australian
briefly, before Webber was the first of the lead group
to pit for tyres on lap 14. Rosberg came in on the same
lap. Felipe was now less than half a second behind third
placed Vettel.
Lap 16 and Hamilton and Fernando pitted together, while
Felipe had got ahead of Webber going into Turn 1 as
Vettel dived for the pits so that the Brazilian was
leading on lap 17 when he headed for pit lane for his
own tyre change. The run of pit stops at the front meant
that Webber was now leading Hamilton by 0.6s, with
Fernando just 0.3 behind this duo and Felipe was eighth
ahead of Hamilton, although the cars in between them and
the lead trio had yet to pit. Felipe and Vettel then
dispensed with Kobayashi’s Sauber to move up to seventh
and eighth, but found themselves stuck behind Petrov’s
Renault. Felipe passed the Russian on lap 22 and Vettel
took a bit longer to manage the same move. Sutil pitted
from fourth on this lap which promoted Felipe to fifth
behind Button.
Lap 24 saw Schumacher spin in his efforts to catch
team-mate Rosberg and Felipe was up to fourth behind the
other 150º Italia, albeit over 20 seconds behind, after
Button finally pitted for fresh tyres. Meanwhile, it was
still very close at the front with only 2.6 seconds
separating Fernando from leader Webber, with Hamilton
exactly a second behind the Red Bull on lap 27. But a
couple of laps on and Fernando stepped up the pace so he
was only 0.7 behind Hamilton, having set the fastest
race lap up to that point.
Webber was the first of the lead trio to make a second
tyre change on lap 30, which meant Hamilton now led from
Fernando, although Webber came out of pit lane in third,
ahead of Felipe. One lap later and it was the McLaren
man’s turn to pit and this time he managed to come out
wheel to wheel with Webber, just forcing the Red Bull
wide to go second behind Fernando. It was exciting stuff
as the Ferrari emerged from pit lane to slot in ahead of
leader Hamilton, but with the momentum of running on
track, the McLaren retook the lead, leaving the Spaniard
just ahead of third placed Webber. Button seemed to have
been involved in plenty of action and he finally made it
into the top six by getting past Rosberg on lap 35, to
sit behind Vettel who was 2.4 seconds off Felipe. But
the Englishman’s race ended one lap later with an
hydraulic problem.
Vettel made his second trip down pit lane on lap 40 and
Felipe followed him next time round and immediately
found the German on his tail, pushing hard on tyres that
were more up to temperature. But Felipe fought him off
and gradually pulled out a small gap once again,
especially as the German overshot and missed the chicane
and had to lift off. But the battle intensified and a
couple of laps later it was Felipe’s turn to run
slightly wide, allowing the Red Bull to close up. On lap
47, after the gap had grown slightly, Vettel set a race
fastest lap so the gap came down again this time to 0.9.
On lap 50, with just ten laps remaining the gap was only
half a second, with Felipe locking up his front wheels
under braking in his efforts to stay in fourth place.
Lap 51 and Fernando inherited the lead as Hamilton made
a third stop for fresh rubber, and as soon as the
Englishman had left pit lane, the Ferrari mechanics took
up position in pit lane to do the same for Fernando, but
the Spaniard drove by and the tyres went back in their
blankets. He now had a 4.0 lead over Webber, with
Hamilton back in third, but a poor second sector on that
lap, meant the Spaniard would really have to produce a
quick lap if he wanted to pit and maintain the lead.
Would it be enough, as he came in on lap 53? Sadly the
answer was no, as he emerged from pit lane just behind
Hamilton. 23 seconds further back, Felipe’s mirrors were
full of Vettel’s Red Bull. Webber, who only changed
tyres twice was now leading, but he had to make a third
stop on lap 56, which put Hamilton and Fernando back to
first and second. The top three would remain in this
order to the flag, but the fight over fourth place kept
the excitement going right to the flag. On the very last
lap, Felipe and Vettel both had to pit, because so far
they had only run the Option tyre and the rules state a
driver must use both Option and Prime in a race.
Unfortunately, the Red Bull crew was fractionally
quicker getting their man away, so in the end Felipe had
to settle for fifth place. It had been a fantastic race,
with action throughout the field and now the teams must
pack up quickly for the 1154 kilometre trip to Budapest,
where the cars are back on track this Friday for the
start of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend.
Stefano
Domenicali: “A positive
team result at the end of a great race, which was very
exciting and in which both our drivers delivered a very
good performance. The weather was the worst it could be
for us and to have been in the fight for the win right
to the end of the race is significant. We are working in
the right direction and we have to continue like this,
while realising we have to raise our performance level
still further. I am sorry for Felipe, who lost a place
at the very last pit stop: these things happen as we
have seen so often this year down the length of the pit
lane. Now, there are just a few hours to pause for
breath before immediately turning our attention to the
next round in Budapest, where we would like to confirm
all the progress we have seen to date, while remaining
well aware that we are up some very strong opposition.
It’s not by chance that Fernando has scored more points
in the last three races than any other driver and the
team has done best in the last two. It means we are
pushing as hard as possible and we believe in what we
are doing, without ever giving up in our efforts.”
Fernando Alonso: After a second place
like this, it’s easy to say that it could have been
better, but I am pleased nevertheless. We must improve
in qualifying, because we have a very strong race pace
and I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.
Everything went well today: the start, the pit stops and
the strategy. We still lack something on Saturdays,
because yesterday we were three or four tenths away, but
I am confident we can also improve on this front. Today,
Hamilton was quicker and so well done to him and his
team: when I was behind him I was pushing as hard as I
could, but I could not get very close. Even though I
came out ahead of him at the second pit stop, I had
absolutely no grip and he managed to pass me round the
outside: immediately he then built up a few seconds
lead. Today, we were clearly superior to the Red Bulls
in terms of performance and this is important, given
where we were at the start of the championship. That
does not mean it will be the same in the coming races,
but the situation is getting back to normal. The
classification? I’m not looking, but if there’s a
chance, it depends on always finishing on the podium
hoping that Vettel does not do the same. Why did I park
the car at the side of the track at the end? The team
asked me to cut the engine as a precaution and luckily
Mark was alongside me and stopped to give me a lift. I
don’t know how he knew I was shutting off the engine;
maybe he has a radio link to my engineer!”
Felipe Massa: “It was a good race, in
which I went head to head with Vettel for many laps. A
shame about the time lost at the start behind Rosberg:
the Mercedes is one of the hardest cars to overtake
because it is very quick on the straights. The DRS was
not a big help here, to such an extent that I passed him
and Vettel under braking for Turn 1 where you cannot use
the moveable wing. Sure, I would have preferred to have
stayed ahead of the World Champion right to the end, but
at the final pit stop there was a problem with the wheel
nut on the left rear which cost me a few seconds: these
things happen and recrimination achieves nothing. I got
away well at the start, but then Vettel closed the line
on the inside and I tried to go round the outside,
because there was nowhere else to go if I wanted to make
up some places. In fact I actually lost one to Rosberg.
Now we go to Budapest: we will have the softest tyres
there and, let’s hope some more summer-like weather,
which should help. We must continue down this road and
we will get some satisfaction from it I am sure.”
Pat Fry: “I think it was clear to see
that even on a track like this one and with the worst
possible weather for us, we confirmed the progress first
seen in the races immediately preceding this one. We
knew that, with the cold, and it definitely was cold
today, we struggled a bit more than the others to get
our tyres up to temperature, with both the Prime and the
Option, as could also be seen yesterday in qualifying.
Our race pace was very good, but we must consider that
today, even with the DRS, overtaking was very difficult:
it’s not by chance that it was actually easier to
overtake at the first corner than in the zone where you
could use the moveable wing. We must make a further step
forward, but it’s a fact that the top three teams are
much closer now than at the start of the season.
Fernando and Felipe both drove great races. The
Brazilian lost time at the start behind a Mercedes,
which are very quick in a straight line and then he lost
a well deserved fourth place at the final pit stop. A
shame, but we know we must work a lot on certain aspects
of the car like the wheel nut, which has given us
problems this season. In Budapest, we can expect a tough
race, but we will tackle it in the same spirit that has
marked these last few weekends at the race track: we
want to fight for the top places.”
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