In a race that saw championship leader, Sebastian Vettel, fail to achieve a top three finish for the first time in 2011, Britain’s Lewis Hamilton shocked a lot of people – including himself – to take the win at this weekend’s German Grand Prix. “Coming into this weekend, I said I’d take things one race at a time. So to win today is massively positive for us, but there’s a long way to go and it’ll be about consistency as well as speed from here on in,” said Hamilton.
Starting from second on the grid, the McLaren Mercedes driver muscled his way past pole man Mark Webber, only for the Red Bull driver to regain his place after the first set of pit stops. However, Hamilton managed to pass the Australian after the second stop, and stayed there for the remainder of the race.
Webber had stayed out until lap 56 before eventually coming in to take on a set of the harder compound tyres, but the gamble did not pay off, resulting in him rejoining the race some distance behind Hamilton and Alonso. That’s how the podium looked, with Sebastian Vettel running a rather muted race, but doing well to grab fourth after experiencing a half spin on the ninth lap, then suffering with a rear brake problem.
Mercedes GP team-mates Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher came home seventh and eighth respectively.
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1h37:30.334
2. Alonso Ferrari + 3.980
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 9.788
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 47.921
5. Massa Ferrari + 52.252
6. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:26.208
7. Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
8. Schumacher Mercedes + 1 lap
9. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
10. Petrov Renault + 1 lap
11. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 1 lap
12. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
13. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1 lap
14. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
16. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 2 laps
17. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
18. D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
19. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 3 laps
20. Chandhok Lotus-Renault + 4 laps
[Source: BBC F1]