As he has done so many times, Sebastian Vettel was out in front
from the start and took his fourth win of the season and the 30th of
his career. But don’t be fooled into thinking this was an easy win; he didn’t
have the fastest car today, yet he looked in complete control once again.
Vettel started from second and despite being squeezed by
pole sitter Lewis Hamilton away from the line, he took the
lead also keeping at bay the bizarre sight of a fast starting Mark Webber.
Pirelli brought the medium and soft compound tyres to
Germany with the Kevlar belt and a number of instructions for the teams on how
to use them. There were no issues with them at all, except that they worked for
some and didn’t for others.
The softs didn’t last for long and all of those who started
on them pitted within 10 laps with the exception of Romain Grosjean in the
Lotus who got to lap 13. This meant that the top 6 qualifiers had to battle through those who
were running longer on the mediums.
However on fresher tyres this didn’t pose much of a problem for
many of them with the added advantage that many outside the top 10 also chose
to run the softs first. Therefore Vettel was soon back in the lead of the race.
A terrible pit stop for his Red Bull team mate Webber where
a wheel came off and struck a cameraman luckily with no lasting damage, meant
that Vettel was now being chased by the Lotus’, this weeks challenger to Red
Bull.
It was Grosjean doing the chasing, today showing just how
good he can be when he combines his pace with no mistakes. He could get a win if he could do this more often. A safety car for
Jules Bianchi’s fire stricken then rolling backwards Marussia half way through meant Kimi Raikkonen caught back up too and it was now game on.
Kimi had been stuck behind Rosberg and Hamilton before dispensing
with them both but he was 10 seconds behind before the safety car gave his race
added impetus.
For lap after lap the three of them, Vettel, Grosjean and
Kimi, circulated no more than a few seconds apart, within DRS range but not
quite able to mount a move. It looked like it could even be Grosjean’s breakout
race such was his resolve.
But you could kind of feel it coming, there’s a fight for
the championship going on and Grosjean is not Lotus’ man. As Vettel and
Grosjean pitted for the final time Kimi kept on going. With 11 laps left it
looked like he might try to make it on a two stop, but he pitted on to the
softs for the final time.
Their extra grip took him past a helpful Grosjean, who didn’t
seem overly delighted by the radio message not to hold Kimi up, but understandable
from a team point of view. Kimi closed up on the back of the Red Bull and on
the final lap he had DRS. He couldn’t make a move and Vettel held him off to
win by a second with Grosjean third.
He’d won his home race for the first time and quite rightly described
it as a ‘tough one’. Vettel was brilliant today, it probably should have been a
Lotus victory, but he’s not a three time champion for nothing. He made the
moves quickly and decisively when he was coming back through the field after
pit stops, he controlled his pace and always kept enough of a gap to those
behind. His win has now stretched his lead up to 34 points, not insurmountable for the rest but a tough ask when Red Bull are the only team consistently at the top.
Who can stop Vettel?
Today there were three drivers who could have beaten Vettel.
First Webber looked very quick, but unfortunately after his botched first pit
stop he was never a contender, although he managed a great climb back up to 7th.
Kimi and Grosjean could have ruined Vettel’s home race but Kimi was held up
behind Mercedes and didn’t chance it with the medium tyres to make it to the
end.
There was the possibility that the tyres may have fallen away
dramatically, but the Lotus is one of the kinder cars to their rubber so it
might have been worth a go. Vettel wasn’t catching too fast and still had
Grosjean hassling him. I think they know they should have taken that risk
because right now it’s about taking risks if anyone wants to prevent Vettel and
Red Bull making it a four season roll.
However, it’s not quite as simple as that because sometimes
you should just bag the points, is their thinking that they just wanted to secure a double
podium? You can understand why. In the previous three races their best result
was fifth and if anything Lotus looked like they were falling away until this weekend. At the very least Kimi has let it be known he's not out of this title race yet.
Over the last few races it’s been Mercedes who’ve been
stepping up, unfortunately today their tyre degradation problems resurfaced
again as the track temperature rose up to 44C. Hamilton fell to fifth from a great pole, while
Rosberg managed to climb up from his mismanaged qualifying; 11th to
9th isn’t bad when you
consider the problems they had earlier in the year with tyre deg.
Still, after 2 wins and a
podium in the last 3 races they would have hoped for more even if Lewis did
come on song in the last stint to steal his position from Button on the final
lap.
Ferrari have been sporadic, and if anything, despite Alonso
coming up from eighth today to finish fourth, they’ve not really looked like
challenging for the win since Spain. Partly this is down to their qualifying
form, but it’s also looking like they’re going in a poor direction with the
development of their car.
Alonso is still second in the title chase but at the moment that looks as good as it's going to get. I think Alonso is beginning to feel that too saying their result today was an over achievement. Massa spun out while lying sixth, he's still looking quick but he's not getting the results he had earlier in the year which he'll be concerned about.
All of these teams can beat Red Bull but there is no consistent challenger to Vettel, the only way I
see his lead being reversed is if they all get on their top form and starting
bumping Vettel off the podium. It has to happen soon though.
Tyres
Pirelli brought their new construction to Germany, and will
bring their 2012 construction with 2013 compounds for Hungary to mix up the
order once more. I think it’s made life a little easier for Red Bull, although
I didn’t expect it to hurt Mercedes so much with Lewis saying he had nothing
good to say about the tyres.
However, I believe that is because of the high temperatures.
If anything I expected Lotus and Ferrari to suffer a bit more, but Lotus were
very much the should have won team, while Ferrari continued their current form.
Sauber seemed to find some good pace; if it wasn’t for the safety
car Nico Hulkenberg might have picked up more than a point for 10th.
In the other direction Force India fell back a bit, not scoring and not even
qualifying in the top 10. They’ll be hoping this is just a blip and not a tyre
change that is about to effect the rest of their season.
Toro Roso also seemed to suffer a little bit despite Daniel Ricciardo qualifying a brilliant sixth. In the race though their form dipped and he fell to 12th.
McLaren were strong today, genuinely so. I’m not sure if
this was a tyre thing, but it certainly didn’t hurt them. If it hadn’t have
been for battling Caterham’s in the final stint then Jenson Button would
probably have held off Lewis, instead he had to settle for 6th although I
think Button could have given him a slightly harder time. Sergio Perez
finished 8th to join Button in scoring McLaren their first points since Monaco. They
are nowhere near wins but at least it’s progress. Unfortunately this might be
as far as they get as they’ve turned their attentions to the 2014 car.
We’ll see if the order is shaken up a little bit more in
Hungary when Pirelli bring their newest batch of tyres.
A few thoughts
One of the highlights of the race for me was when Fernando
Alonso caught a struggling Lewis Hamilton on worn tyres. I’d love to see these
two go head to head for a title again, because every now and then you get these
snapshots of just how amazing it would be.
It was a fair battle too, the DRS zones didn’t make it too
easy to pass so Alonso had to work for it, but Lewis kept his line, defended
well and for three laps we were treated to a fantastic display of driving from
both of them before the Mercedes pitted. It was thrilling stuff.
For now though they both have to think of how to get back on
terms with Vettel. He's the one re-writing the record books which they believe should be them. There is a long way to go in the season, still 10 races but
the Red Bull driver continues to get better, and it’s going to take a great run of form to beat him.
The young driver test starts at Silverstone on July 17th,
the teams need to use it as wisely as they can. With new Pirelli tyres being
tested too the FIA has allowed race drivers to take part. Of course Mercedes won't be taking part as they have been banned from attending due to their earlier ‘secret’
test, the rest of them must hope they find something if they want to stop Red Bull.
Final Result:
1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull
2. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus
3. Romain Grosjean - Lotus
4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari
5. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
6. Jenson Button - McLaren
7. Mark Webber - Red Bull
8. Sergio Perez - McLaren
9. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes
10. Nico Hulkenberg - Sauber
11. Paul di Resta - Force India
12. Daniel Ricciardo - Toro Rosso
13. Adrian Sutil - Force India
14. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber
15. Pastor Maldonado - Williams
16. Valtteri Bottas - Williams
17. Charles Pic - Caterham
18. Geido van der Garde - Caterham
19. Max Chilton - Marussia
R. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - Hydraulics
R. Jules Bianchi - Marussia - Engine
R. Felipe Massa - Ferrari - Spin
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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