After the mockery lived during the Great Britain Grand Prix, with the mistake during Sebastian Vettel's pit-stop and the result overtake by Fernando Alonso, in Red Bull Racing the internal controversies continue. Subject of criticism is the usual Mark Webber, never too loved in the team and responsible for having mutinied himself during the last Great Britain Grand Prix, won by the Spanish driver of Ferrari. But in this case the episode could have marked his future with the Anglo-Austrian motorhome. In Germany everyone talks about a possible replacement for next season, with Kimi Raikkonen alongside Sebastian Vettel in the 2012 World Championship. Red Bull's boss, Dietrich Mateschitz, ends the case:
"Mark Webber will renew the contract with us".
Even if the team principal, Christian Horner, sentenced in his statements:
"Mark has put in danger Sebastian's seat, his third place and the 33 points of the team. It doesn't work this way".
In the final standstill of the last race, the Australian has ambushed his teammate's second place a few times, it was not liked by the heads of the team.
"He is a driver and I understand him. But I saw something not all people could have noticed on the monitor. Mark has led Sebastian almost to the limit and in two points there was the risk of an absolutely incomprehensible accident. If everyone out of the 500 people in the team thought about themselves, we wouldn't be able to reach our goals".
However, the team's orders imposed in Silverstone looked a bit excessive, considering that 10 races are left. Sebastian Vettel is leader of the World Championship with 80 points ahead of Mark Webber and 92 points ahead of Fernando Alonso, gaps that can leave the German calm. But Horner thinks the opposite:
"Stop, stop. There are still 250 at steak. If Sebastian got stranded for 3 times, everything would be different. Things can change quickly".
Anyway, the lively race held at Silverstone risks having a heavy impact on Webber's future. The contract that ties the Australian to Red Bull Racing ends at the end of the season, but for his team principal the negotiations for the extension are not a priority".
"We'll take a decision together at the end of August. There is still time".
These statements have stimulated the German newspaper's fantasy, Bild, that is supposed to have revealed a juicy backstage. According to the reconstruction made by the newspaper Bild would exist a secret plan, that in Horner's mind would consist of Webber's farewell and the following hiring of Raikkonen.
"Kimi drives the trucks of Nascar and does rally. It seems to me that his mind now is somewhere else, not in Formula 1. It's difficult to return and until now I haven't received any signal from him about a return".
However, some signals make the hypothesis credible. The Finland, World Champion with Ferrari in 2007, is already in Red Bull's galaxy, his main sponsor in Rally but also in Nascar: Webber's seat starts to heat.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso enjoys the great win of Silverstone, the first of the season for him and Ferrari.
"What a satisfaction to be back winning! I'm enjoying it more and more, now that I'm back home in Oviedo. I didn't invest much of my time thinking about the technical reasons that led us to win the Great Britain Grand Prix. Every race makes history and we well know how much things can change from a track to another. Surely there have been some big improvements on the car: now it is easier to drive and I find it more attached to the ground, especially in fast turns. It means that there is more aerodynamic load, the aspect on which we were more behind compared to our rivals. Instead I don't think that the changes on the engine maps had an impact: we went better on the parts where there was no breaking, this means that it was the car that went strong".
The Spanish continues:
"What happened will not change our approach to the next races. We are realist: 92 points behind in the rank are a lot. We will face race after race trying to win the most we can. This will turn into taking more risks, and maybe it will occur to pay a higher cost but we can't to much more. We stay on the ball but we don't have to think about the championship: like Montezemolo said, we have to keep it real".
And by talking about the next German Grand Prix, scheduled on the Nurburgring track, the Spanish says:
"The fans there are always a lot and there is a great attendance. For us there was something different, that I can not explain: maybe it was the desire to do well on the same day of such a special anniversary for our history. Since I have been with Ferrari, some curious coincidences have occurred between my victories and special moments: I think about my debut in red in Bahrain last year or maybe the first time with the Scuderia in Monza. Now this victory came, 60 years after Gonzalez's one. Let's hope for a lot of moments like this".
Instead talking of the lap done with the 375 F1, Fernando Alonso says:
"I had so much fun driving the 375 F1 that won the Gran Prix for Ferrari in 1951 for a few laps. I have already driven a similar car, the 375 Indy, in Valencia on the occasion of the Ferrari Days: sure is that you need time to adapt to a completely different pedal board, with the accelerator pedal on the left and the break on the right. The relation between the engine's power and the adherence offered by the tires is completely opposite to the cars we drive now. There is the need to change your driving style to go faster but they were really beautiful sensations. Sure is that back in time the drivers had to have not only an incredible talent but also a dose of madness".
Ferrari took the first seasonal win in Silverstone with Fernando Alonso, almost as a surprise. Now, after a week of break, it is ready to look for confirmations in Germany, where also a good performance from Felipe Massa is expected:
"My result in Silverstone wasn't the best, but I'm back from England a lot encouraged by the performance the 150 Italy has showed for all weekend".
Felipe Massa goes back talking about the fifth place conquered in Silverstone:
"Our pace was better than the expectations and this is because of the excellent work done by the team, on track and back in the factory. Now I think that we can carry on improving this way during the second part of the season".
And adds:
"We'll be back for what concerns the rule on the management of the exhaust gas, but the idea that our improvement is because of the change in England is wrong. Our development is because of all the news we made in England and not because of the new rules".
Next race is scheduled at Nurburgring in a week:
"It's an event that I really like. Since I have been at Ferrari I have always finished on the podium, even though on three occasions the race was held at Hockenheim. Furthermore, I have two other podiums under my belt at the Nürburgring: in 2006 I came third, the first time in my career among the top three, behind Michael and Fernando, while in 2007 I finished second after a very heated duel again with Fernando, then at McLaren. The Nürburgring is a very interesting track, with some quite unusual corners, ups and downs and some rather slow corners in the first sector. From what we could see at Silverstone, I think we will also be competitive in Germany. The championship? We always hope so. I've said it very often but it's a certain fact: at Ferrari we never give up, we keep fighting: the best thing to do is take one race at a time. Now we must continue this trend both next weekend and the one immediately following in Hungary".
For Sebastian what is important is that people surrounding him are also honest and loyal. He has already said that and he is repeating it. If the German driver were to find his teammate alone, he would publish more or less this ad:
"Correct driver wanted, it doesn't matter if man or woman".
The German driver of Red Bull Racing, World Championship, has the Australian Mark Webber as a a teammate. He is tied to the team thanks to a deal lasting until the end of the year, but he doesn't seem sure of his seat.
"I don't care who my teammate is. It's important that him or her is loyal. There has to be mutual respect".
The internal challenges almost always create more sensation than the ones on track.
"Surely the harmony in the team is crucial. But there is also the need that the two drivers push each other, so to find new limits".
A year ago, Vettel and his teammate made a disaster in the Turkish Grand Prix: they were protagonists, on the tarmac of Instanbul, of a horrible incident that didn't allow Red Bull to gain a one-two. Vettel had to withdraw and Webber, leader of the race until the moment of the disaster, had to settle for the third position. The misstep didn't ruin the German's 2010, who became World Champion.
"Last year a lot of people didn't really understand what the relationship between me and Mark was. Even if we aren't best friends, we mutually respect in a deep way".
It wasn't the case to create dramas in Instanbul in 2010 and it is not the case to make a fuss after the sparks of Silverstone:
"I had to defend the second position from Mark's attack. In the end this was positive".
The diplomacy is enough even when we talk about an already hypothecated title. Vettel could afford missing the next 3 races with the certainty of being first in the rank.
"I need to be ahead in Brazil. Now let's not think about the title and the strategies. Alonso? We can't afford underestimating the McLaren and Mercedes' drivers".
Caution is never enough. The McLaren pair, formed by Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, has 109 points, 95 points from the lead. Mercedes drivers are more detached in the rank: Nico Rosberg has 40 points, Michael Schumacher only 28. Meanwhile Luca Montezemolo dreams: the Ferrari seen at Silverstone glorified him and at this point it is legitimate to hope for a great rebirth.
"It was obviously a win happened in the right moment, after a lot of work. I asked for a reaction and I thank our men for the effort and abilities showed".
Ferrari's president sees a signal in the success in England.
"We won in the same track and in the same month in which Ferrari won its first Grand Prix in 1951: this shows the power of a team that is always present and that has been presenting a red car for 60 years at the start of every Grand Prix".
Montezemolo highlights the duo Alonso-Massa.
"The drivers always bring something more. In the seventies, when I was a young sports director, they used to say that the car and the driver counted 50 and 50. Now the car counts a little more but in that 30 percent the driver can make the difference. Alonso is very strong, Massa is recovering, I think the drivers are not a problem. Are the rumours that want Felipe to leave false? Absolutely, this is the period of the rumours but the drivers of next year will be the same".
Is the comeback to the title possible?
"Fernando has to hope, hope is the last to die. We are all disappointed of not being where we wanted at the beginning of the season and I enjoy Silverstone's win because of this. It was well deserved, with a proof of superiority that makes us hope. The counts has to be done in the end, meanwhile we work on next year".
In the end, a joke on Valentino Rossi.
"He is a champion, he always gave his own way. But he can not do the engineer. What was for Alonso with his car is the same for Rossi and I hope he can have a more competitive motorbike. With a motorbike strong on average he is capable of winning, I'm sorry for the moment he is living but the champions like him know how to react".
Ferrari's team principal, Stefano Domenicali, adds:
"Silverstone's success has arrived in an important moment of the season and it counts even more because it happened on the same day of the sixtieth anniversary of our first win, obtained by Gonzalez on that same track. We know we can't be happy for having won only a race in this season but it was important for everyone in the team to taste the victory. I have never taken into account the hypothesis of a season without success. We don't have to forget that, in the last 18 years, Ferrari has won at least a race per year. They are a lot and I don't think that there are other teams that can say to have done the same".
Sebastian Vettel is dominating the World Championship behind the wheel of his Red Bull Racing. But the German driver doesn't take for granted a bis. Instead, at the eve of the German Grand Prix, he raises the red alarm. At Nurburgring there will be the need to pay particular attention to Ferrari.
"Ferrari made huge steps forward in the last two races. At Silverstone it was on par with us, even faster. We need to analyse the situation in a realistic way. For us it's important to recognize the things and accept them".
The next Nurburgring race has a special value for the champion:
"Coming home defeated will be a pity".
Vettel admits that on Wednesday 20 of July, 2011, he is going to take part into a promotional event for a sponsor. That's why the Red Bull Racing driver hopes to count on an extra push:
"I hope to also gain a tenth, that can be crucial on track".
However, Red Bull's driver won't feel particular pressure in front of his public.
"Maybe someone feels under pressure when he is racing in his home town. I don't see it that way".
Also because the rank guarantees a almost absolute calm.
"But in soke races the things won't go as planned".
Sebastian Vettel hope to not find obstacles on the Nurburgring's tarmac.
"It's a historic track, with a huge tradition. And driving here is extremely funny".
The win in England has risen up his spirits. Now Fernando Alonso is preparing to face, with new ambitions, the German Grand Prix after having reached third place in the general rank, 92 points form the leader Sebastian Vettel:
"We have nothing to lose. Now we should reconfirm here. In England we were a tenth from Red Bull in the official tests. But we could do just a lap on a track where it was also raining. We don't know if our rivals had margin, maybe the gap could have increased if everyone had a second attempt. Qualifying is important, but the points are assigned in the race".
On Thursday 21 of July, 2011, during the meeting with the press also Felipe Massa talks:
"We test many things on Friday, all the new elements are tested for the first time during free practice of a Grand Prix, also because now there are no tests during the season. Many times we divided the work, adapting a few parts to my car and others to Fernando's one to see the differences. It means that Friday is more important today, because when we were able to do the tests during the season, you understood at which point you were with the new elements. Often all this depends on the time and I don't think that we'll have an easy Friday this weekend looking at the weather".
The bad weather keeps following the races, and after Silverstone it moved also to Nurburgring. The Brazilian driver is satisfied of the developments made by the Maranello team:
"We brought a great quantity of used elements in Silverstone, it was the first track where we managed to used the hard tires. We made a great work, by being competitive in all the situations. Here we have another small update and I hope to be on the same pace with the best also this weekend".
In Germany Ferrari has always been fast:
"Two years ago, the last time we were here in Burburgring, I finished third. I conquered many podiums with Ferrari at the German Grand Prix and I like this track, so, even if the win is always our aim, another podium would be a great result for Sunday, seeing the power of our rivals".
In the end, the Brazilian answers to the one who asked if in the following race he would still be a part of Maranello team:
"Next year of course, I have a contract that lasts at the end of 2012. After that, we'll see, there is still time before thinking about what will happen after 2012. I have been here for 6 years, next year will be seven, and is beautiful to drive for Ferrari".
Meanwhile, FIA confirms that from 2014 maximum regime of engines will be to 15.000 RPM. The engines, as it is known, should go from the V8 2.4 liters to the new V6 of 1.6 turbo in that season. And some worries were presented, with a maximum of 12.000 RPM F1 could lose part of its appeal. Other news are scheduled by the technical commission of FIA, like the possibility for the drivers to make the engine function again in every moment, without external help, and the necessity that in the pit-lane the car should work only thanks to electric energy. The gearbox will gain a gear and it will be at eight gears.
After Friday's two practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton bleakly summed up his chances of challenging Red Bull and Ferrari saying:
"We won't find an answer tomorrow. We definitely can't challenge them for pole".
Yet, he ended up marginally behind the pole position time, and on the front row. In the first free practice session, Fernando Alonso set the fastest time followed by Mark Webber and then Sebastian Vettel. This started speculation that Ferrari would be matching Red Bull Racing's pace in Qualifying. It seemed likely at this point that Alonso would be on the front row of the grid - however, this was eventually not the case. Lewis Hamilton was fifth, and his teammate Button down in 11th after having no Kers for both Friday Practice sessions.
With only half a minute left in the session, Sébastien Buemi made a mistake and was flung sideways across the gravel; he later missed the second Friday session because of a fuel pressure problem. Webber led Alonso in Free Practice 2. This session also featured an extraordinary number of lock-ups and off track excursions. It was in this session Michael Schumacher left the track at Turn 7 whilst exploring the track's limits and waved to his home crowd. Another home driver, Timo Glock, also left the track, spun on the wet grass at the bottom of a hill, and luckily escaped being beached on the high curb. It was no coincidence, and now it has been definitively understood. The Ferrari that won at Silverstone is not the result of a miracle, but the result of work that led the Maranello team to close the gap on Red Bull Racing to zero. Whether this happened too late, as Alonso insists on repeating, defining the comeback as impossible, time will tell. The present, however, suggests that the Spaniard, at least in the single race, can compete on equal terms with Vettel, and that in the Germanic temple of speed has a good chance of spoiling the party for the Red Bull Racing-bound German. People filled the racetrack - 100.000 spectators are expected on Sunday - convinced that Sebastian Vettel, dominator everywhere, could easily be a prophet even in his homeland, where he has never won in his career. The public had no doubts, as hot in passion as the cold that is felt in the air and which is complicating the performance of the cars, with the tires struggling to reach temperature, and yet from the first kilometers they realized that Ferrari is once again the real one, which Alonso can finish in front, as happened in the first free practice session, a full 0.3 seconds better than the two Red Bull Racing teams, with the Australian Webber quicker than the home idol. Vettel, more nervous than usual, took the blow badly, also because history repeated itself in the second round, with Alonso no longer first, but still ahead of him by 0.2 seconds, and, what is worse for the world champion, with the first of the second session who indeed has the Red Bull brand, but is called Mark Webber, the teammate who complains in front of the team orders, who is 80 points behind, but would still like to be able to fight for the title. Vettel finished the tests in third place again, and for him, who has never experienced a similar placing in the nine races held so far, this is starting to sound like an affront.
"I'm not happy".
He says before leaving the track, letting people know that they had to be afraid of Ferrari, you created a lot of chaos on the changed rules:
"But I knew that Alonso didn't improve for that, but because his car is growing".
And by not considering McLaren defeated at the start, even if the timing is a shame and Lewis Hamilton says:
"We take a second per lap, we could never fight for pole".
Vettel's irritability, in contrast with Webber's happiness, can be a help for Ferrari's wishes, but the signals arriving from the car are good, seeing that also Massa seems fast (fourth in both sessions), and that Alonso makes clear he is thinking about winning.
"In qualifying we are still a couple of tenths behind, but it is a gap that we can eliminate in the race. We're playing it on equal terms and considering where we were three months ago it seems like a feat to me. The first sensations given by the car are good, which confirms that we are working in the right direction. I've said it several times: it's not like a miracle happened at Silverstone due to the exhaust rules. That result is the result of the many improvements introduced race after race, so much so that it was from Monaco that we found good competitiveness and also here, where we have returned to the Valencia rules, we are in the top positions".
A great thing, but not a miracle, a concept that Ferrari doesn't like, because it downplays its recent efforts. Alonso, on the other hand, as we know, doesn't like Schumacher very much on the track: the German cut him off on a bend, almost causing an accident.
Afterwards the Spaniard avoided controversy:
"He says he didn't see me, maybe. Fridays are always so boring, maybe he wanted to give the public some emotion".
However, on Saturday 23 July 2011 the two Red Bull Racing cars became uncatchable in the third and final free practice session of the German Grand Prix. The fastest is the reigning World Champion and current leader of the World Championship, Sebastian Vettel, who laps in 1'30"916, 0.133 seconds behind his teammate, Mark Webber. Fernando Alonso remains close, third and just over 0.2 seconds behind Vettel. Following, a little further behind, the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton (+0.662s) and Jenson Button (+0.778s). Sixth time for Nico Rosberg's Mercedes, seventh Felipe Massa, over 1.2 seconds from Vettel. A few hours later, Kamui Kobayashi was the most surprising driver to drop out in the first part of qualifying, where he only set a time fast enough for his Sauber to be in 18th place. Heikki Kovalainen out-qualified new, temporary, Lotus teammate Karun Chandhok by eight tenths of a second. The Indian said he was happy with his lap as he had never driven the circuit as an F1 driver, run the car with low fuel and slicks, used brakes not suited to his style, or used much Kers or Drs before. Chandhok was 21st fastest (which became 20th later), he and Kovalainen separated by Timo Glock's Virgin. The other Virgin of Jérôme d'Ambrosio was ahead of the two very closely matched times of the HRTs; Vitantonio Liuzzi was just ahead of new driver Daniel Ricciardo although he would start 24th (later 23rd) due to a gearbox change. Out of the fastest four teams, Felipe Massa was the only driver feeling the need to use a set of soft tyres in Q1. After qualifying was over, Sébastien Buemi was excluded due to a fuel irregularity demoting him to 24th place, therefore every driver below 16th gained a place. After Q1, on the way back to the pit lane, Timo Glock commented to his engineers on the car-to-pit radio that they were making it "difficult for him". Glock later tried to cover up his comments by saying they were meant in a joking way. Glock announced the following day he would be staying with the team until 2014. The remaining 17 drivers all participated in the second qualifying session, and all drivers decided to use the option tyres. The two Toro Rosso cars were slowest in Q2, Buemi ahead of teammate Jaime Alguersuari. Although, Alguersuari moved up to 16th and Kobayashi into 17th once Buemi was excluded form qualifying due to a fuel irregularity demoting him to 24th position.
Mexican rookie Sergio Pérez out-qualified his teammate again with 15th spot, behind the two Williams cars; Pastor Maldonado not in Q3, yet ahead of F1 veteran Rubens Barrichello on the seventh row. Force India's Paul di Resta and Nick Heidfeld in the Renault were very close to making the cut, but were both beaten by their teammates and stayed 12th and 11th respectively. This was only the 3rd time in 10 races that Force India driver Adrian Sutil out-qualified his rookie teammate, and Vitaly Petrov's Renault entered the top 10 for the first time since Canada. Paul di Resta later said he suffered from grip problems in Qualifying. For the final part of qualifying, all the remaining drivers went out on the option tyres, and all except the two Mercedes cars and Sutil's Force India chose to do two runs - who chose to do only two flying laps at the end of the session. Lewis Hamilton started the session by initially setting provisional pole, although he was quickly beaten by Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Ferrari looked on very good form at the last race in Silverstone and continue that good form by matching Red Bull Racing in practice. Alonso's pole looked like a solid time until Red Bull came out of the pit lane, Mark Webber beating Alonso by four tenths and Sebastian Vettel fitting in between the two. On these four drivers last efforts, Alonso went faster but failed to improve his time and stayed third. Webber then went quicker by another tenth on a great lap, and then Hamilton posted a stunning lap - only five hundredths slower than Webber's and beating all the critics who said McLaren had easily fallen behind Ferrari. This pushed Alonso down to fourth. Vettel then improved his lap, but stayed third - the first time since Monza the previous year he had not qualified on the front row; but, he was only 0.137 seconds behind pole position. This was Webber's second successive pole, and his third of the season. Home favourites Mercedes qualified sixth and tenth with Nico Rosberg ahead of Michael Schumacher - who had won at this circuit five times - for the ninth time this season. Ferrari's Felipe Massa was sixth tenths behind his teammate, as Alonso continued to outclass him, in fifth place.
Jenson Button was disappointed after he qualified seventh, 1.2 seconds behind Hamilton, he stated it was due to lack of grip and understeer during his lap. Adrian Sutil (eighth), Vitaly Petrov (ninth) and Michael Schumacher rounded out the top ten. Four of the six Germans in the field qualified in the top ten at their home Grand Prix. At the end of qualifying one, Mark Webber, is so happy with the pole achieved that he hesitates in the memory of his last triumph in a Grand Prix, 1 August 2010, in Budapest.
"I'm certainly in good shape, I've improved in the last few races and this track suits me. I'm very happy. It went well with the exception of Q2, but otherwise good and the team worked optimally on the car which is strong and everything it worked. I really exceeded my limit and had a great lap and a great result".
Another, Lewis Hamilton, apologizes to his team, to the mechanics, who did a fantastic job, for having denigrated this McLaren that arrived in Germany full of innovations. A car that was undriveable on Friday and suddenly resurrected, transformed into a fast and reliable racing car, capable of throwing him to the front row:
"He seemed to fly and supported one of the best laps of my career well. I have to congratulate the team. There were two updates over the weekend and we tried to improve the car and these are the results. Perhaps we also underestimated how good the car was. It's one of the happiest moments and one of the most beautiful rides. We are not far from Red Bull and we can aim for victory tomorrow".
The third, Alonso, has fewer reasons to party:
"We expected a very close qualifying with the cars so close together. We are fourth, a bit like we thought yesterday. McLaren has shown that it is always strong. Let's see tomorrow, he better be strong, maybe we can take more points than Vettel".
Ultimately he wasted the great opportunity to finish ahead of Vettel, for the first time in 2011, restless and hesitant due to his Red Bull Racing, but not willing to give up, with aggressive proclamations that sound like a threat to the leader iridescent. Braking, Alonso is fourth, but very close to the German Red Bull Racing driver:
"I have nothing to lose, at the first corner I will be very aggressive, if I get a good start and pass him, after a few meters my mission is already accomplished".
A promise that could change his ambitions and make him think back to the triumph achieved at Silverstone, the first and only one colored red this season. Webber, Hamilton, Alonso, it's the strange company that is making Vettel, the home idol, more nervous than usual, but so far waited in vain for the appointment with glory by a grandstand that would like to go mad looking at the stopwatch and instead, on the occasions that count, he only manages, in his words, to give the pilot shivers. The young World Champion, after a fluctuating Friday, seemed to have re-established his rule early in the morning, first in the last free practice session and with a good margin over Webber and Alonso, but when it came to getting serious, here was the slip that you don't expect. Vettel is only third, a rarity for someone who had always won at least the front row for fourteen races, a defeat that he finds hard to accept.
"On the first day I didn't like the car, now it's improved, faster, but still not enough to beat Webber and Hamilton. Of course, anything can still happen, especially if you were to race on a dry track, but from my Red Bull I I expected more. This time something isn't working. It's the first time this year that I'm not on the front row but I'm not disappointed, but obviously I would like to be further ahead. The important thing is that I have a good feeling and if it is a dry race I will have a good chance of winning. We'll see tomorrow".
Alonso was looking for allies, to make a miraculous comeback possible (Vettel has 92 points more), and perhaps he found them, with a Webber who continues to talk about the world title and with a rediscovered Hamilton.
"However, the sensations are positive, our race pace is good, we can make the difference in the race, overtake everyone and win again. The important thing is that it doesn't rain, because the wet track could upset everything and ruin our plans more than those of our opponents".
Perhaps an illusion, given that the weather guarantees a deluge, but so far he has never got it right and this gives Alonso hope. However, the petrol used by Buemi's Toro Rosso was not authorised. Found by the FIA's chemical analyses, excluded from qualifying, he will start last. On Sunday, July 24, 2011, at the start of the German Grand Prix, Mark Webber made a slow start from pole position; he 'bogged down' with too low revs, allowing Hamilton to take the lead. The Ferraris were on the inside and outside of Vettel as they approached the first turn, and Alonso managed to get ahead of Vettel. Massa had made another good start but after being on the outside of Vettel at Turn 1, he eventually slipped behind Nico Rosberg into sixth place. Jenson Button had a poor start, slipping down from seventh to tenth in the first lap. Contrastly, Michael Schumacher had another good start moving from tenth to eighth on lap 1. Meanwhile, further back Nick Heidfeld and Paul di Resta made contact and dropped to the back of the field. After that, Hamilton was leading the race from Webber, Alonso, Vettel, Rosberg and Massa. Sutil was in seventh, after a good start, followed by Schumacher, Petrov and Button completing the top ten. On the fourth lap, Alonso ran wide at Turn 2 getting a wheel on the wet grass, forcing him onto the tarmac. This allowed Vettel to gain third place. Only a few laps later though, Alonso repassed Vettel into Turn 1. Later, on lap 16, Rubens Barrichello suffered an engine failure, however he was able to limp back to the pits. Heidfeld received a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable accident with di Resta, but did not have time to serve it. Whilst trying to make progress through the field, he was squeezed off the track by Sébastien Buemi at the chicane and crashed out. Buemi had to pit for new tyres, and was later given a five-place grid penalty at the next race, the Hungarian Grand Prix. Di Resta, fought his way through the field to finish in thirteenth by the end of the race.
Vitaly Petrov was defending very well against Button's McLaren for ninth place; whilst Felipe Massa overtook Rosberg's Mercedes for fifth place after Massa's Ferrari engineer, Rob Smedley, had told him it was necessary for his strategy to work. Button eventually passed Petrov and started closing on Schumacher. Before the first round of pit stops, Hamilton ran wide allowing Webber to come up the inside of him through the final corner. Hamilton instantly dived up the inside on the run down to Turn 1 and repassed Webber. Vettel spun at Turn 10 putting him eleven seconds behind third placed Fernando Alonso, the first three positions were covered by just three seconds and Vettel was lapping half a second slower than them. At the pit stops, Webber pitted first in an attempt to get the undercut and came out behind Sutil, but managed to work it out, passing Vettel and catching Massa when Hamilton and Alonso pitted at the same time, bringing them just out of the pits as soon as Webber and Massa were braking for turn 1. Massa took the lead ahead of Webber, Hamilton and Alonso with Vettel pitting to ninth place. When Massa pitted he dropped to eighth, just in front of Vettel starting a new battle. After these stops Webber had undercut Hamilton into the lead - leading a race for the first time in the season - with Alonso in third position. During the pit stop phase the two Mercedes cars were closing on Petrov's Renault in the Drs zone leading to the Veedol Chicane. Rosberg passed Petrov on the straight and Schumacher followed him through. Schumacher later spun at exactly the same place as Vettel, falling behind both Sutil and Petrov. It looked as if Sutil and Button's two-stop strategies were successful as Sutil got ahead of Rosberg in the later pit stops and finished the race in sixth place. Button was also going strong - catching and passing many drivers including Rosberg for sixth at Turn 1 when Rosberg outbroke himself and ran wide. Button, like Sutil, was only passed in the pit line and not on the track, although his bad luck continued from Silverstone and he suffered his second successive mechanical retirement, with a hydraulics failure. Only two laps later, Vitantonio Liuzzi became the fourth and final retirement of the race when his car had an electrical failure.
Towards the front, Massa and Vettel started to move through the field, passing Kobayashi and Petrov. In the second pit-stop phase Webber pitted first, but was lapping slowly after stop struggling to get the new tires up to temperature. The mechanical grip of Hamilton's McLaren in cold conditions helped him, and he got past Webber in the stops with the opposite effect of the undercut. Webber tried to overtake Hamilton on the outside of Turn 2, Hamilton kept him behind. Alonso was the last to pit, and came out in the lead, but due to his tyres not being at operating temperature, Hamilton made an easy pass at Turn 2 and got past Alonso to retake the lead. Hamilton was then first to pit for the medium compound tyres and got out in front of Alonso and Webber, he pulled away and took the race victory. All the drivers on three-stop strategies pitted for the primes in the last ten laps - not wanting to go on to the medium compound, which was 1.5 seconds slower per lap than the softer tyres, for too long. The battle between Massa and Vettel for fourth went to the pits on the penultimate lap, Massa had a slower pit stop than Vettel, and Vettel got out in front after he had not been able to pass on track. After the top three, Vettel, Massa and Sutil completed the top six with Rosberg ahead of Schumacher, Kobayashi, from 17th on the grid, finished in ninth and Petrov completed the points finishers in tenth, ahead of Kobayashi's teammate Sergio Pérez.
After the race, Fernando Alonso stopped his Ferrari on the circuit, and got a lift back to parc ferme on the sidepods of Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing. It's not a triumph, like at Silverstone, yet judging by the atmosphere in Ferrari, it looks like one. Alonso finished second, beating the two Red Bull Racing drivers, but had to bow to Lewis Hamilton, resurrected with his McLaren. Alonso doesn't climb to the top step of the podium, he stops a little further down. Maybe it was a few centimetres, how thin the line had been on the track which had not hurled him towards glory, but had relegated him to the place of honour, that overtaking immediately after exiting the second pit stop with tires still cold by Hamilton, when it would have been enough to resist a couple of corners to fly towards the second success, they may be trifles, but the new victory is not there and the Ferrari team could complain. Instead he rejoices, because this second place means technical continuity, after the second place achieved in Valencia and the triumph on the super-fast Silvestone track: the ability to go fast everywhere, on three completely different tracks and in absolutely dissimilar weather conditions, with the last chapter certainly considered the worst, given the chronic difficulty (although, perhaps, this shortcoming also now belongs to the past) of quickly heating the tires up to temperature. Alonso's second place shows that the real Ferrari is back, that it doesn't always win, but it always fights to do so: Ferrari is competitive and could remain competitive from now until the end of the season. The Maranello team clearly speaks of a closed gap with Red Bull Racing and the first to recognize it is Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari team principal.
"Here McLaren was better, but Alonso beat both Webber and Vettel, starting from behind and overtaking them either on the track (two overtaking the German, leader of the world championship ed.) or with strategy (Australian overtaken at the second pit stop, when The Spaniard almost mocked Hamilton too, ed.). At the beginning we were dramatically behind, but now we can compete on equal terms with everyone. This is why from now on I expect all attacking races, in which we will try to win or finish on the podium".
In sanctifying his thesis he proudly flaunts an indisputable fact, the fact that Alonso was the driver who in the last three races scored the most points of all (61), 6 more than Vettel, 12 more than Hamilton, 16 more than Webber. It's a shame that the World Championship didn't start in Valencia.
"In terms of race pace we are very strong, perhaps the strongest, and here everything went well, start, pit stops, strategy. Where we are still lacking is in qualifying, if you always start from behind, you risk not being able to win".
Just as you have to give up the world title if you let yourself get too far away in the first races. This will probably happen to him, his current gap is still 86 points.
"The only chance we have to hope for a comeback is to make this result a constant".
Something that Sebastian Vettel doesn't hope for, not very competitive for the first time in his native Germany, where he has never won. To those who ask him if he is afraid now, the Red Bull Racing driver responds by saying:
"With a 77 point lead over Webber?"
However, in one of the best races of the year we saw several of his mistakes, going off the track, two overtakings suffered by Alonso and one by Massa. At the end it was the team that helped him with a faster pit stop than Ferrari, taking fourth place from Felipe Massa. Because he had attacked in vain for forty laps. The poison is on the tail. And it is truly bitter gall for poor Felipe Massa, who for once was able to throw an exceptional performance in the faces of the critics, keeping Sebastian Vettel behind him for forty laps. Everything was perfect, until the last lap and the last (mandatory) pit stop, because by regulation they both have to put on Hard tyres. Vettel and Massa invade the pit lane simultaneously, Red Bull Racing is very fast, Ferrari takes 2 seconds more and goodbye to fourth place. Mechanics too slow? No, just unlucky. Stefano Domenicali explains:
"He lost a nut from the gun, he shot away, rolled who knows where, we had to get another one for the left front wheel. A fatal hesitation".
It cost precisely two seconds, the atrocious price that Felipe Massa, embittered but willing to forgive, has to pay:
"I understood that something had slipped away, things that can happen, there's no point in complaining. We made three pit stops, it can happen that one doesn't go well, a dice rolled. The race went well, at the beginning they pushed me out a bit at the first corner and then I was behind Rosberg for too long. Passing Vettel was a great satisfaction, but I wanted to finish ahead of the others too. I wasted too much time at the beginning. The important thing is that Ferrari is fast again and that I can do well in Hungary".
Returning to talking about the dice, Stefano Domenicali says:
"They are sophisticated pieces, not too threaded or rigid, built specifically to avoid wasting time installing a tyre. Then they run away and you're finished".
As had happened to Vettel at Silverstone. Antechamber for Alonso's triumph. The belief that they have finally taken the right path now reigns supreme in the Ferrari team. Two second places in the last three Grands Prix and the victory in Great Britain have boosted morale for the Maranello team and Fernando Alonso. It's a shame, however, that Sebastian Vettel, despite the difficulties he suffered in Germany, has a huge advantage over his pursuers. However, Stefano Domenicali says he is satisfied.
"Even with a cool head we can confirm that the outcome of the German Grand Prix is positive. We scored more points than our competitors and I think I can say that we had the potential to score even more. I'm especially sorry for Felipe, who lost a nice fourth place right on the edge due to a problem with the nut on the left front wheel. However, there is no doubt that we have also made progress on the track operations front".
The figures support the words of the Ferrari team principal.
In fact, it is no coincidence that yesterday, on average, the best pit stops were made by Alonso: 1'00"440 was the time Fernando lost in the pit lane in the three stops, three tenths better than Vettel, five better than Schumacher and one second and four better than Hamilton. True, Felipe has an overall time of 1'02"432 and the problem at the last pit stop cost him a position but if you look at other people's cars you can see that Webber wasn't very fast either (1'02"063), a further confirmation that perfection is always difficult to achieve, at any latitude. Stefano Domenicali continues:
"I want to congratulate Fernando again, who is putting together a series of excellent results, so much so that he is the driver who has scored the most points in the last three races. We confirmed that we are competitive even in unfavourable weather conditions and this is important. Of course, if we had had temperatures, I wouldn't say summer ones, but at least spring ones, I think we would have had an even better chance. What we can do instead is improve the way in which the car warms up the tires: this is an increasingly decisive aspect, as was clearly seen yesterday at the second pit stop. We managed to get Fernando back on track ahead of both Webber and Hamilton but he wasn't able to defend himself as he would have liked from the Englishman's attack only because the tires were too cold. The same thing had happened, in fact even more so because the track was also humid, at Silverstone. Traditionally our cars are kinder to the tyres, which offers an advantage over distance, as can also be seen this year, while we have a harder time getting them to the ideal operating temperature straight away. We need to find the meeting point between these two needs, a task that is certainly not simple".
Beaming, Lewis Hamilton screams into the radio like a man possessed, while the mechanics celebrating his triumph speak of an excellent race and extraordinary work. The British driver exudes energy and happiness, the same energy that he had shown on the track is thrown into the eyes of the world even after the race, when he does not use half words, abounds in hyperbole and talks about one of the most magical and intoxicating victories of his career of him. Lewis Hamilton regains glory, at least for one day:
"The perfect Sunday, in which the efforts of the team were highlighted, very good at bringing a completely new car here, and also my skills, given that I didn't do anything wrong. The car helped me, I can't deny it, I was surprised by my speed, I didn't expect it, the step forward we made was enormous".
So big that some people think that the wild Englishman could get back into the running for the world title.
"We have grown, we were the strongest here, maybe we will be the strongest on Sunday in Budapest, but perhaps it is too late to hope to win the title. This season is truly unpredictable. I arrived here not knowing what to expect, the first day it seemed to me that we were slow, then, on Saturday, suddenly, we started to fly like rockets. I was one of the most amazed, the team told me believe it, but I didn't understand how we could have improved so much. However, if I look back, I don't know how many more races we will be able to repeat. The question mark remains".
However, the technicians maintain (and Alonso also says so) that the McLaren has improved a lot aerodynamically in recent days and that it could be very comfortable on the slow curves of the twisty Budapest track. Hamilton can't wait to start again. In the meantime, he got excited talking about the overtakings he made on the Nürburgring circuit.
"The duel with Webber was exciting and he behaved very correctly. These are the races that I love, he overtakes me, I respond, honest but tough battles".
Challenges that rekindle his passion. Without losing caution.
"Vettel in crisis? I do not think so. I don't do any calculations anyway, I live day by day. I could say, I'm back in the running for the World Championship, but instead I'm keeping my mouth shut. And I make my car talk. If this is it, it will be fun from here to the end".
The appointment is now at the Hungaroring, where the Hungarian Grand Prix is scheduled for Sunday 31 July 2011.