
Alonso was lucky: he could have died on the track on Sunday. Christian Horner, Red Bull's team principal, doesn’t beat about the bush. Forty-eight hours after the British Grand Prix, the one with the suddenly bursting tires, he is still upset:
"Fernando was overtaking Perez when the Mexican's tire exploded. It was a miracle if a tire debris did not kill him. It is good that we realize this: I am surprised that the race was not suspended, the tire issue is a safety issue, and on safety we cannot make mistakes".
And instead, many mistakes were made. A great many. At least judging by the disturbing content, to say the least, of the statement in which Pirelli announced the steps it was forced to take after the FIA's (belated) intervention on Monday, July 1st, 2013. The point, according to Pirelli, is that teams misuse the tires supplied to them. Three, in particular, are the abuses: in order to get more performance, teams systematically invert the rear tires (they mount the right instead of the left); they underinflate them, that is, they inflate them less than necessary; they choose an extreme camber (the inclination of the wheel) setup. The point, however, is that all teams have, detached in their pit, a Pirelli engineer with whom they work side to side; and to whom, for example, in all this time it has never occurred to them to say a simple sentence, such as:
"Watch out gentlemen, if you reverse the rear tires then these will burst like balloons".
And, in fact, in the same statement, Pirelli itself is forced to admit that it underestimated this in the first place. All, curiously enough, without announcing the resignation of the author of that underestimation. At this, dramatic, point, the Italian company's strategy is to react in three stages. In the short term, that is, for the German Grand Prix, the tires that were designed for Silverstone will be brought in, with the Kevlar structure instead of steel.
"We tested them in Canada".
They affirm at Pirelli, omitting, however, to say that in Canada the teams fitted them for just six laps, and even in the rain. In short, another leap in the dark (evidently, however, less dangerous than the current situation). For the medium term, that is, from the Hungarian Grand Prix until the end of the season, hybrid tires will always be used: 2012 structure and 2013 compounds. With that configuration there will be maximum safety and minimum performance. An extreme measure, due to the fact, and Pirelli is right about this, that apart from the issue of tire reversal, for the rest the Italian technicians do not have control over many key data of tire use, and so after all that has happened. Pirelli does not feel like guaranteeing for the teams. And here we come to the third part of the strategy, the one that aims at a structural reform of the regulations for 2014. With the doubt that even this program may fail, all that remains is a bitter realization and a few questions. After running the first six races of the season with the lives of drivers in constant danger now the sporting sense of the rest of the season is going to be permanently compromised. What credibility does a championship have if tires - the most important technical aspect - change in bulk? And above all: since the seriousness of the situation was already clear after the first Grand Prix, couldn't something be done about it now?
"If the situation was the one seen at Silverstone, it would not be possible to race".
Fernando Alonso doesn't beat around the bush: what happened in Britain should make the FIA and Pirelli think.
"Some accidents could have had worse consequences, we are drivers and we have to race for our teams, our sponsors and fans. We go to the Nürburgring confident, hoping for an improvement in the situation".

Ferrari's Spaniard, also complicit in the problems caused by the tires, does not get more out of line ahead of the next Grand Prix.
"I know that some modifications have been studied and we hope that these will allow all of us drivers to race in safe conditions. Right now, we can't make predictions because no one has tried them and we don't know what and how many benefits they will offer, just trust that racing is not dangerous".
Finally, at the conclusion of a promotional event in Hamburg on Wednesday, July 3rd, 2013, Alonso extends his birthday wishes to Sebastian Vettel:
"Happy birthday but only for today, not for Sunday".
The German driver chooses a special way to celebrate his 26th birthday: interviewed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Sebastian Vettel makes an appeal to his team.
"I am not a dictator, but I expect to be asked about the choice of Mark Webber's replacement, just as I get involved in matters concerning the development of the car. It's not my decision, it's not my job, but I think I can have some influence on the motivation of the team and the atmosphere in the paddock. Everyone knows what I want, I'm demanding, and I expect everyone to be disciplined and do their job well. Relations with rivals for the World Championship? Whoever thinks to take advantage of some statement is wrong, I answer on the track".
Nico Rosberg, fresh winner of the controversial British Grand Prix, places optimism in the choice of Pirelli and hopes that Mercedes' golden moment can continue at the Nürburgring.
"I am sure and confident that the right decisions will be made. I think they will have everything under control at the Nürburgring and that everything will go well. I'm excited about getting right back on track after last Sunday's win, our car is going really well right now".
Strike averted: on the eve of the German Grand Prix, all drivers, including the most infuriated Rosberg, Alonso, Hamilton, Perez and Vettel, agree that with the new Kevlar-belted rear tires brought by Pirelli to the German track, driver safety will not be at risk. They hope. Because these tires have only been tested in Canada, thanks to F1's crazy no-testing rule. In fact, Nico Rosberg, acting as spokesman for his colleagues in the FIA conference preceding the race weekend at the Nurburgring, explains:
"FIA and Pirelli have made the right decisions, and I think we will see progress during the weekend. We don't know if we raced on these tires in Barcelona. You have to ask Pirelli, and I don't think there will be any advantages for us. It is possible, however, that there will be a reshuffling of the cards".
The reference goes to the fact that someone will benefit from these new tires, a fairly clear fact, although for now mysterious because only the response of the track will give the final verdict. Fernando Alonso adds:
"I think it's the first time in the history of Formula 1 that a safety modification will be good for some and bad for others. I hope we will be among the beneficiaries...".

In fact, Alonso does not forget - and how could he - the near tragedy:
"It is unacceptable what happened last weekend at Silverstone, when you go at 300 km/h and you have a car in front of you, if pieces fly in the air that can hit you on your helmet, they are like bullets and can kill you".
Rosberg, fresh winner at Silverstone, and Fernando Alonso, fresh survivor, are echoed by the host, the German Sebastian Vettel:
"I think it's good to have new tires, I'm confident that there will be a step forward. Here in Germany is a special race for us Germans, we know the circuit well and I am looking forward to this weekend, I hope to see more and more Red Bull flags on the circuit".
So, after a storm that lasted just a couple of days, F1 is right back to the old-fashioned way, namely racing and leadership wing. It's Nico Rosberg himself, in fact, who can magically forget what he saw at Silverstone and start talking about the World Championship:
"The car continues to improve, but -says the Mercedes driver- it is too early to say whether we can compete for the title, we will see what happens in a few races".
The run-up to Vettel?
"I hope to get closer to him race after race, we always want to get to the front and then we'll see".
But it is in Ferrari that there are the biggest question marks:
"In Germany I expect many answers. The first is about what our real performance is. This season we did very well until Silverstone".
Ferrari's Spanish driver Fernando Alonso hopes the German Grand Prix will provide many answers to the open unknowns in his Formula 1 season. We shall see. Meanwhile, however, Fernando Alonso boycotts Formula 1 testing and launches a (final?) attack on Pirelli.
"They didn't make tires suitable for F1 this year. Now we have to try to get back within the safety limits for the drivers, so the performance of the tires doesn't matter anymore, the important thing is to go home on Sunday night".
As for testing -the new tests introduced by the FIA as an exception to the regulations to try to help Pirelli at least for the 2014 tires- he is peremptory:
"I will not go. I have no intention of doing it. I'm not their test driver. I honestly think that going to test prototypes for 2014 on a circuit like Silverstone where what you all saw happened, it doesn't make sense for me. So, I'm not going. Then if Ferrari forces me, I will go, since they decide. Otherwise, no".
In fact, some teams have proposed to the FIA to replace the tests reserved for young drivers, scheduled just at the English circuit in mid-July, with tests, with cars from the current season, aimed at improving tire safety. This position was also supported by Bernie Ecclestone, who advocated its solution with Jean Todt, FIA president.

The FIA later agreed to the teams' proposal, given the dangerous situation created in England. The tests will take place July 17-19, 2013, although they may also extend for one day. The FIA added that Mercedes, decided not to participate in the test, following the ruling by the International Tribunal last month on the case of tests the German team had carried out on the Barcelona Circuit, without permission. On July 3rd, 2013, the FIA's Sporting Group abolished the paragraph in the regulations that prohibits testing, during the season, with cars from that season. It was also decided that in the July tests at the Silverstone Circuit, only one day will be dedicated to the starting drivers. But there is not only Alonso. All drivers will withdraw from the German Grand Prix if there are new problems as at Silverstone. This is assured by the F1 drivers' union (Grand Prix Drivers Association).
"New tire problems would once again endanger the lives of drivers, race directors and spectators".
Nearly four days have passed since the ridiculous figure remedied in front of the whole world at Silverstone, and still no one at Pirelli has resigned or been kicked out, in deference to an attachment to the armchair more like a local municipalized company than a multinational. This would be the news of Thursday, July 4th, 2013, if it were not that from the paddock at the historic Nurburgring, suddenly and with unexpected ferocity, Fernando Alonso lashed out at the Italian company. In full press conference, first in Spanish then in Italian, the driver was crystal clear:
"Pirelli's tires are not suitable for F1. We hope they will solve the safety issues. Since performance is now a secondary issue anyway, our goal is to go home on Sunday night".
Says the Spanish driver, startling all the present journalists who know full well that the line decided by Ferrari was definitely softer. Instead, Alonso is only at the beginning of a much more aggressive speech. Which, in fact, preludes to the Spaniard's boycott of the tire tests that the FIA derogating from the current regulations, for safety reasons, has put on the calendar for July.
"I have no intention of going there. I'm not going to go test prototype tires for 2014 on the same circuit where this year's tires blew up like that (actually, the tires should be the ones that will go on the track in the next Hungarian Grand Prix, ed.). There are no minimum safety requirements to do those tests and I'm not a Pirelli test driver, I don't feel like it. Of course, if my team, Ferrari, forces me then I go, they have the power, but I don't 'agree".
With his attack concluded, the Spaniard waved goodbye to everyone and left, leaving the stunned audience with the thankless task of figuring out the reasons for his intemperate tirade. The 2013 Pirelli tires are a bad product, and of that there is no doubt, and the explosions seen at Silverstone were disturbing, but the exit still seemed too disjointed and out of time. So much so, in fact, that some went so far as to suggest that it was actually more of a message to the inside of Ferrari than to Pirelli. A kind of small showdown, whose motives, however, would be really obscure. Counterevidence of this internal meaning of the message would be drawn from Felipe Massa's more orderly reaction:
"I'm going to test without any problems".
According to others, however, Alonso would merely be trying to put his hands out: he has realized that Ferrari has lost the pace, he feels that the news coming from Milan may not improve the situation, and he is beginning to set the stage for motivating yet another disappointing season.

From this point of view, statements of a completely different sign that came earlier in the day from both Vettel and Rosberg, who, along with their other colleagues, would be significant:
"Us drivers have confidence, but we are ready to stop in case of new problems".
Finally, there are the conspiracists (a distinct minority, albeit a fast-growing one). These are the passionate ones who have always harbored suspicions about the real impartiality of the mechanism for assigning tire trains to the various cars. According to the conspiracists from time to time the various teams would be facilitated by the allocation of a better set than the others, depending on political convenience. Thus, according to them, Alonso would be doing what Vettel had done at the beginning of the season when things for Red Bull Racing were not at their best. In fact, all of a sudden, the blue car started running. All that remains is to see what will happen this weekend. On Friday, July 5th, 2013, before the start of free practice, the FIA forbids the teams to reverse the rear tires, sets the tire pressure at 16 psi, and establishes in negative 4° the maximum camber allowed for the front tires and 2.5° for the rear, as requested by Pirelli. Due to a flu, the Marussia driver, Jules Bianchi, is replaced by the test driver, Rodolfo González, in Friday's first session and completes only ten laps in the second. In case the French driver is unable to take part in the race, Marussia contacts Ferrari's test driver, Pedro de la Rosa. At the end of the first day, Sebastian Vettel is ahead of everyone in the second free practice of the German Grand Prix. The German Red Bull Racing driver laps in 1'30"416, ahead of the Mercedes of compatriot Nico Rosberg. The Australian Mark Webber, with the other Red Bull Racing car, set the third best time, followed by the Lotuses of Frenchman Romain Grosjean and Finn Kimi Raikkonen. Sixth time for the Ferrari of Spaniard Fernando Alonso. Red Bull Racing gives the impression of being far superior to the other cars on the long runs, while Mercedes could be competitive in qualifying. After the electrical problems in the morning that had prevented him from completing even a single lap, Fernando Alonso goes on track regularly with his Ferrari. The Spaniard, however, does not go beyond the sixth time, 0.6 seconds behind Vettel. Seventh time for Felipe Massa's other Ferrari, 0.643 seconds behind Vettel. Ferrari shows a good race pace on soft tires, which bodes well at least for Sunday's race. Lewis Hamilton, author of the best time in the morning (1'31"754), ends free practice with the eighth best time, probably having done more work in view of the race.
"We are not at the top like Mercedes and Red Bull, but we are a little bit closer here comparing to Silverstone".
After Friday's free practice, Fernando Alonso is confident in the improvements planned for his Ferrari F138.
"Today we are the third or fourth team on the grid, which we don't want. We want to improve with changes we have in mind and we will put them into practice tonight".
Meanwhile, the FIA decides to ban tire reversing and sets strict limits on tire pressure and camber angles. The federation sends a communication to the teams. The directives, outlined by technical delegate Charlie Whiting, aim to avoid new tire problems after what happened at Silverstone. But fear is the figure of this Friday of unseasonal clouds and engines pushed to the max. You can breathe it everywhere after what happened at Silverstone, but above all you can breathe it, almost touch it, in Pirelli and Ferrari, that is, in the two last bastions of Italianness in a sport increasingly dominated by the British. Pirelli's face is the somewhat lost and somewhat aggressive one of its director, Paul Hembery. After deserting for weeks the FIA's constant and pressing invitations to appear at a press conference to answer for his team's increasingly controversial work, he has finally relented, and shows up. His version, however, is somewhat disappointing, since it reiterates without altering it one bit the apology offered in the aftermath of the British Grand Prix.

An apology by the way that included a good deal of admission of guilt, very serious stuff, for which in a normal world Hembery himself would have been immediately fired. He, however, is still there, at his place, responding, with resistance to resignation and, when asked if he can really sleep at night, he says:
"No, I don't have nightmares".
In the same tone with which, shortly afterwards, he stops the reporter who asks him why, according to him, Felipe Massa had taken the trouble to refute Pirelli's official version of the explosions:
"We make the tires and they’re the drivers".
The point, unfortunately, is just that. And in fact, the drivers threatened a strike (with the exception of the usually extraordinary Raikkonen). To minimize the damage, the FIA had to intervene, handing the teams a kind of instruction manual for the tires. Something unheard of in such a technical sport, a few points to adhere to in order to prevent the tires from blowing up: inflate them just right, fit them on straight, don't overdo the camber. Handle them with care. Stuff like that. Ferrari's face, on the other hand, is that of Fernando Alonso, whose goatee, the same one he debuted at Silverstone, fails to mask concern. Going on the track after Thursday night's shootout, the Spaniard in fact had to stop on the first lap of free practice: undiagnosed electronic failure. Which, as such, was repeated shortly thereafter. When, in the afternoon he lapped more consistently, his Ferrari appeared more or less the usual, slow on the single lap, far more competitive in the long run. That is to say, a hellish Saturday and a comeback Sunday lay ahead for Ferrari fans.
"Better than Friday at Silverstone, but still not good enough: Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus are still ahead".
On Saturday, July 6th, 2013, during the third and final practice session, Sebastian Vettel confirmed his lead, with 0.6 seconds ahead of Nico Rosberg. The Red Bull Racing driver commands the standings both in the first part of the session, when the cars have fitted on medium tires, and at the end, after the drivers test soft tires. Pastor Maldonado regularly takes part in the session, after the smoke given off by his car's Kers in the morning. However, it will be Lewis Hamilton who will start on pole position in the German Grand Prix. The British Mercedes driver, despite driving an Anglo-German car, dumbfounded the spectators present around the Nurburgring circuit by preceding right at the end of the qualifying session, with a time of 1'29"398, Sebastian Vettel, distanced by just over 0.1 seconds. Behind the Ferraris, with Felipe Massa (seventh) starting ahead of Fernando Alonso (eighth), 1.7 seconds and 1.8 seconds behind Lewis Hamilton, respectively. From the second row will start Mark Webber in the other Red Bull Racing car, and Kimi Raikkonen in the Lotus. Also, ahead of the Ferraris on the third row there are Romain Grosjean (Lotus) and Daniel Ricciardo (Scuderia Toro Rosso). The elimination in Q2 of Nico Rosberg is sensational: the German of Mercedes, winner at Silverstone, did not go beyond 11th place, thus being excluded from the fight for the pole. Out with him there were Paul di Resta (Force India), Sergio Perez (McLaren), Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Jean-Éric Vergne (Scuderia Toro Rosso). In Q1, however, the Williams of Maldonado and Bottas, the Caterhams of Pic and Van der Garde and the Marussia of Bianchi and Chilton had been eliminated.
"We only thought about the race".
Stefano Domenicali, team principal of Ferrari, comments on the seventh and eighth positions that Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso achieved in qualifying. The Ferraris were the only cars to fit on medium tires in the last phase of official practice.

The top six drivers on the grid were on soft tires.
"Our choice is related to the evaluations made ahead of the race with the tire degradation forecast. We are where we thought we would be and in the first two heats we were competitive on soft tires".
Fernando Alonso adds:
"I think the choice was between starting fifth-sixth on Soft or sixth-seventh on Medium. Fighting for pole was out of our reach, so we had to think about the best choice. We will see tomorrow what the answers will be".
The Spaniard thus comments on the decision to use medium tires in the third and decisive qualifying heat.
"It's a bit of a false qualification, in the first heat only us among the top teams used the softs, in Q2 we used our second set and did 29.9. The others did it in Q3 and did 29.3, they kept the 0.6 second gap from these days. It was not the case to fight for the pole".
Felipe Massa's seventh place and Fernando Alonso's eighth on the grid do not scare Ferrari. Despite the non-positive outcome of qualifying, optimism prevails in the Maranello team ahead of the German Grand Prix.
"Perhaps it is not too important here to start at the front, because the Softs have extremely high degradation, and when from lap 8 onward the waltz of stops begins and traffic forms, those will be the qualifying laps for us. Although all weekend we have been behind on average by six tenths, compared to Silverstone we can say that we are back to normal, able to fight with the leading group. Certainly, we still need to improve a lot, but in the race we think we can have our say without forgetting that, regardless of the tires and starting positions, it is always the fastest who wins".
And Felipe Massa is of the same opinion:
"In terms of performance it was a good qualifying, although we preferred to choose a completely different strategy than the teams ahead of us on the grid. The car worked very well and with the soft tires we were very competitive, more than at Silverstone, where we suffered with both types of compound. We still would not have been able to get more than fourth or fifth place. When I saw myself in first position at the end of Q1 and Q2 I felt the desire to try to fight until the end, but after the simulation done during free practice, we thought this was the right direction to go. It's hard to think about making up positions right away by starting on medium tires, but yesterday we saw that the softs degrade after a few laps and that could be an advantage. If the car performs well and we can have a good race we could have a really great result".
A strategy on which Pat Fry, Ferrari's technical director, also provides further details:
"The comparison made yesterday between the two soft and medium compounds had opened the door to different possibilities, both in terms of qualifying and the race, and today's result fully reflects what our expectations were. In fact, the decision to approach qualifying with race strategy only in mind was dictated by the difference noted between the tires in terms of degradation. Overall, the performance of our car was good, although affected by multiple factors, including the high temperatures recorded today".

And adds:
"We did not think the idea of fighting for the front rows was realistic, and we preferred to stay on our feet, trying a different strategy. It is clear that tomorrow, as always, everything will depend on the level of competitiveness and the pace of the two F138s. From a strategic point of view, we think that the high degradation of the soft compound will force the rivals ahead of us to make an early stop and that traffic can therefore limit their performance, while we will try to make a longer first stint that will allow us to catch up".
On Sunday, July 7th, 2013, at the start of the German Grand Prix both Webber and Vettel had strong starts applying immediate pressure to Hamilton. Hamilton responded by trying to push Vettel off the racing line on the inside of the track which then opened the door for Webber to try to make a move on the outside, but by the end of turn one Vettel had managed to shake off Hamilton and take the race lead, with Webber moving into second and Hamilton dropping down to third. Felipe Massa also had a good start, gaining a few places. Alonso fell back slightly as did Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo. Vettel kept the lead for the next few laps. Meanwhile, Massa, running in sixth place, went off the track at turn one on lap 3 after locking his rear brakes. The engine stalled and he retired from the race, caused by a gearbox failure. Nico Rosberg, meanwhile, who had a disastrous qualifying, barely improved on his position in the first 5 laps. From laps 5 to 9, drivers were pitting due to using worn softs from qualifying to switch to the medium compound tires, with Grosjean and Räikkönen going longer than most drivers and also setting a very quick pace. Grosjean led the race before stopping on lap 13 and continued to show strong pace afterwards. Webber, on the other hand, pitted a lap later and had a serious incident with his rear-right wheel. The mechanics did not attach the wheel properly and as Webber left his pit box, the wheel fell off and rolled down the pit lane. It hit and knocked over a cameraman, who was transported to a hospital in Koblenz where he was reported to have suffered broken bones and a concussion. Webber's Red Bull was pushed back to his pit box where a new wheel was fitted and he rejoined the race, a lap behind Vettel. The two Lotuses had never lost touch with Vettel during the first half of the race and were keeping pace with him, with both Grosjean and Räikkönen setting fastest laps of the race. On lap 23, Jules Bianchi's Marussia suffered an engine failure which resulted in a fire. He pulled to the left-hand side of the track but, unusually, his car rolled back across the track to the other side where it was stopped by an advertising board.
This caused an instant safety car, which allowed Webber to get back on to the lead lap. Most of the drivers pitted for fresh tires. Jean-Éric Vergne's Toro Rosso suffered a hydraulics failure less than two laps after Bianchi's engine failure, during the safety car period. He was able to return to the pits. His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was struggling. He had qualified sixth but was slowly falling back into the field. Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil of Force India also struggled during the first half of the race. After the Safety car period, Webber began to make his way through the field before becoming stuck behind the Sauber of Esteban Gutiérrez. He was unable to pass the Mexican for more than ten laps and pitted to try to get an advantage with new tires and clean air. Meanwhile, the McLaren drivers were once again having a tussle, with Jenson Button getting past Sergio Perez at turn one. Pastor Maldonado, driving in the 600th grand prix race for the Williams F1 Team, was in the points in eighth, along with his team-mate and rookie Valtteri Bottas in tenth. Räikkönen was leading on lap 41 after Vettel and Grosjean had pitted for the third time. Lotus waited until lap 49 to pit Räikkönen, switching him to the soft tyre, which left Vettel and Grosjean in first and second, with Alonso a threat from behind in fourth place. Grosjean was then told on the radio to not hold Räikkönen up, for championship title points reasons. It took a few laps for Räikkönen to pass Grosjean and afterwards he attempted to chase down Vettel. Alonso set the fastest lap of the race, almost a second faster than the first three drivers, and was rapidly catching Grosjean. Meanwhile, Hamilton made a move on his former team-mate Button at turn two, moving into fifth. Webber then made a move on Perez to go into seventh. Räikkönen was unable to catch Vettel, who took the victory. It was his first victory at his home race and the first victory he gained in his birthday month, July.

It was also his 30th career victory, becoming the 6th driver to achieve such a feat and in just his 110th start. Räikkönen finished just one second behind, with Grosjean only just holding off Alonso for third place, the latter having used too much of his soft tires while closing down the gap to Grosjean. The podium placings were the same as at the 2012 and the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. Hamilton, Button, Webber and Perez remained fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Rosberg, struggling to keep his Mercedes on the pace, finished ninth at his home race while Nico Hülkenberg took the final point for Sauber. di Resta finished eleventh, the first time he had finished outside the points during the season, with Ricciardo in twelfth, Adrian Sutil in thirteenth and Gutiérrez in fourteenth. Williams had a poor ending to their milestone race, with Maldonado and Bottas finishing fifteenth and sixteenth respectively after wheel gun problems in their pitstops. Charles Pic, his team-mate Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton were the final finishers. A rocket start and away we go: that's how Sebastian Vettel passed Lewis Hamilton, who was on pole and began his domination of the German Grand Prix. It was a race of his own, leading from start to finish, setting fast laps and record times. So much for all the race strategies that haunted the sleeps of the engineers in an attempt to make their drivers gain a few positions. But instead, nothing: Vettel used his strategy: head down, right foot down. Vettel mocked everyone, including the very fast Lotuses that tormented him to the end (second Raikkonen, then Grosjean) thanks precisely to cleverness in tire use and pit stop management. And Alonso?
What happened to the announced race strategy, on whose altar even practice was sacrificed? Little stuff: in the end Fernando finished only fourth, off the podium. But Ferrari honestly isn't to blame: the others were much faster, and when opponents grind out record lap after record lap - as if they were in qualifying - there is no strategy that holds up. But let's go back to what we were talking about earlier: to that Vettel who did nothing wrong, even though he ran under deadly pressure because apart from man-marking the Lotuses he was also harassed by the Safety car. In fact, the silver Mercedes SLS full of lights was forced to enter the track after Julea Bianchi parked his Marussia on the grass due to an engine explosion, forgetting to put on the brake: the car began to slide backwards putting his colleagues in great danger. It could have been a tragedy, just as it could have ended badly in the pits when a wheel came off Webber's Red Bull Racing car hitting a poor cameraman, injured but healthy. In short, all twists and turns that favored Lotus because the Safety car was obviously lengthening the stint spaces between pit stops, damaging Vettel. But instead nothing, Vettel in the end was stronger even than fate, that a couple of times cancelled his hard-won advantage on the track. Ferrari then had to surrender, orphaned even by the help of Massa who retired for a spin and nothing could against the supremacy of Red Bull Racing and Lotus. What's worse is that now with 157 points, Vettel increases his lead over Alonso, second at 133 points, and Raikkonen, third at 116 points. But from the way the balance on the track looks, it seems increasingly difficult to imagine the famous comeback that Fernando Alonso always talks about.
"It was not a super Sunday, but we finished 4 seconds behind Vettel starting eighth. Regarding the pace, no one scared us, we have to improve on Saturday. We are more or less on par with Red Bull between today and Silverstone, in Hungary we have to shorten the gap".
Fernando Alonso comments on his race at the German Grand Prix in this way:
"It was a difficult race, in some moments we were not competitive enough, especially at the beginning. We paid a bit, lost the advantage of our strategy with the overused tires. Fighting for the podium was a pretty high prize when you consider what we had done. Between 15 and 12 points is not too much difference, it's not a drama".
Ferrari chose a different strategy than the other top teams, fitting on mediums and not softs at the start.
"You never know how things can go. Maybe, the Safety car could have come on track on the first lap and the situation would have changed dramatically. From that point of view, we didn't have too much luck".

Stefano Domenicali, team principal of Ferrari, leaves no room for doubt:
"We didn't have the race pace to fight with whoever was in front, so we unfortunately had to defend ourselves. The result that is certainly not what we wanted, however, we have seen how each race makes its own story. This was definitely not a good weekend, but we have to look forward. Yes, now we need to understand why, but it is a fair consideration".
A few words about the retirement of Felipe Massa, who left the scene at the beginning of the fourth lap after a spin:
"I have no information yet, now we check to understand what happened".
Sebastian Vettel manages to win on his home track, a goal he still lacked in his splendid resume.
"It's incredible, thanks to the crowd for the support. Finally, I was lucky. Kimi was pushing a lot at the end, but we had a continuous and controlled race, I pushed all the time. Incredible to win here in Germany. I enjoyed it, I felt the pressure from Kimi and Romain, it was difficult because the Lotus was going very fast, but I managed to defend myself in the right way".
Kimi Raikkonen sees the bright side after finishing second in the German Grand Prix, only behind Sebastian Vettel.
"We wanted to win but we were not fast enough. We still got back to our positions. They couldn't hear me, unfortunately there was a lot to discuss today, it wasn't ideal but we managed quite well".
Red Bull team principal Chris Horner comments on the German's victory at his home circuit.
"Vettel had a perfect race today. He can handle the pressure, when you win your home race it's always a special event, he did a perfect race, fantastic, Red Bull showed today that they are in good shape and that they can win the championship".
Romain Grosjean is also pleased with his third place in the German Grand Prix, behind Vettel and teammate Raikkonen.
"We deserved it. It's a good result for the team, we had a very strong race with a very good first stint. I also thought I had a chance to overtake Sebastian, but he was very fast today. We adopted two different strategies, I think it was right to do that. We deserved this podium for a while".
A Saturday of rare sadness followed by a Sunday with sixty laps without an overtake. It is probably the grayest Ferrari in recent history that seen on the Nurburgring circuit, where the team handed back to rivals that handful of points won at Silverstone. The premises left little room for optimism. The car, though improved from the previous weekend, had seemed, since Friday, uncompetitive. Red Bull Racing, Lotus, and Mercedes were on another planet, and so Ferrari's engineers had boldly and imaginatively set their sights on a very tactical Grand Prix: agreeing to make a bad impression on international television, forgoing qualifying, and staking everything on the F138's now only presumed ability to be more effective than the others, in the race. But, to paraphrase Alonso's thinking, imagination and courage are useless in F1 if you don't have a good race pace.

The illusion lasted a handful of minutes, as many as it took to crumble the medium tires on which the Maranello team had staked everything, and, worse, to realize that the F138 is now no longer the car that disappointed on Saturday but was then competitive on Sunday. No, the F138, today after dozens of aborted developments and rehashed attempts, is an ordinary car, mediocre in qualifying and barely lively in the race. According to calculations made on the eve of the grand prix, those medium tires were supposed to held more than twenty laps, thus launching the redemption, to be completed at the end of the race with soft tires and an empty tank. Instead, they did not go beyond lap 13, turning the engineers' tactical vision into a charade. Solved only by the usual Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard, unplugged and on the wrong tires, was able to stop in the pits as soon as the Safety car entered the track, and he managed to rejoin the pack without paying a penalty. In theory, the race could have started again, but the problem was still the same: the car. And so Alonso's goal did not move an inch: to float, to survive, to limit the damage. While ahead of him, Sebastian Vettel, the master of the house, resisted the onslaught of a wild Raikkonen and went on to win his home Grand Prix amid shouts over the radio and various thanks. Just to reiterate that F1 is the stuff of dominance, and that victory in a sport like this is the product of competitive and technical superiority. Just as, symmetrically, defeat is the product of inferiority and mistakes, as the fate of Felipe Massa, now entangled in a chilling series of accidents, testifies perfectly. Series of which this latest one is probably the most mysterious and disturbing, with the driver reporting a double blockage, of the tires and the gearbox, where at Ferrari instead everything turns out to be normal. What is good is that things, this year, are changing very quickly. Because of the delirium caused by Pirelli, and the level of sophistication of these cars, all born on the basis of a design that has been essentially identical for two years now. Stefano Domenicali explains:
"Now we have a test and then a major technical revolution as early as Budapest, with the new tires. Let's try to work as best we can".
After all, as Domenicali thinks, last year at this point in the season, Red Bull Racing was about fifty points behind Ferrari. Then it ended up the way it did. In theory, time to catch up is there. Although it should not be forgotten that, last year at this point in the season, Red Bull Racing was about a second per lap faster than Ferrari.
"We are not giving up".
Fernando Alonso's watchword is this. And nothing, not even a depressive weekend like the one that is coming to an end, can change his mind.
"Let's win two or three races and get back in the fight for the World Championship".
Is that realistic?
"Well yes. It is. We have seen far stranger things in Formula 1 than this. After all, when the cars are so close to each other, when they are so sensitive to the smallest changes, to changes in temperature, to changes in details, then all it takes is a nothing, an invention, a solution, that seems like a touch of a magic wand, something that in a moment makes you find performance and become competitive again".
You have to hurry with this magic wand, though.
"But not too much either. Last year, at Monza, I had a 39-point lead over Vettel in the overall standings. After just four races, in Austin, I was behind Sebastian by 12 points: I would say we are in time, indeed: more than in time to catch up. Let's be clear, though, fate is in our hands. We have to work hard and take a step forward".

What kind of work will you do ahead of Budapest?
"There are some characteristics of the car that we have focused on in these last two grand prix. We have identified some points to work on to gain speed, especially on certain sections of the circuit, in certain parts of the corner. In short, we think we have understood what works and what doesn't work about this car, and what we can improve. In these weeks we will work on the wings more precisely".
The F138 had gotten off to a good start but now seems to be in a bit of a slump.
"Although it hasn't been strong in the last Grands Prix, we have to say that there is no one who has scored more points than us in the last three or four races. For goodness sake, we are not the fastest, but we are the most solid, we have great reliability, and the ability to always fight while making few mistakes. This year we made two mistakes in Malaysia and Bahrain, without those we would be the championship leaders today, even with this car. But now we have to find the strength to be perfect, and maybe a few tenths of a second in developments".
You sound optimistic.
"I am. The best year was 2010. The car was going strong and we took the lead in the world championship at the last Grand Prix. In 2011 we were fighting against a spaceship, and there was no history. In 2012 it was an outstanding year, with unique performances from me and the team. But this, after 2010, is the year I feel most confident, the car is good, it had an encouraging start. And even on a weekend that was not as good as this one, it allowed us to get within 34 seconds of first. The gap to reduce is not like last years that it was a second. It is much smaller".
Tell the truth, when you signed for Ferrari, you expected more than just chasing the always struggling rivals.
"When I signed for Ferrari, I knew I was signing for the best team in the world. Many drivers have gone through here without winning, Berger and Alesi and others, but they have all equally made history, thanks to Ferrari. In three years, I have fought for the world championship at the last race twice, and this year I am still in contention for the title. I would say that any driver in the lineup would sign to be in my place".
At the Nurburgring, Ferrari had to settle for fourth place for Alonso, but President Luca Montezemolo is optimistic.
"I have enormous confidence in the team and I expect concrete answers from everyone, because only through great will and hard work it will be possible to achieve the results we all want to achieve. Now I ask everyone for more determination and a strong focus on every detail: less announcements and more facts".
In the championship standings, Alonso retains second position but has slipped 34 points from the top, occupied by German Sebastian Vettel. The men of the Maranello team are already back to work. On the agenda of the usual summit after the Grand Prix between Luca Montezemolo, the team principal, Stefano Domenicali, and the technicians is the F138 development program and the planning of the next two, very important, appointments: the Young Driver Test scheduled on the British Silverstone track from July 17th to 19th, 2013, and the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 28th, 2013, at the Hungaroring circuit just outside Budapest.
"Once again we had confirmation of the importance of tire behavior analysis and management. A rule that applies to everyone but that we must try to exploit better than others if we want to win, including in the development of the F138, a terrain on which we must do better than our opponents".

Archiving the German trip, Stefano Domenicali says:
"Now we have decisive weeks ahead of us before Hungary. There is a very important test that we will have to try to make the most of, both in terms of tire performance and the technical development of the car. Everything is still at stake, because we are only halfway through the championship and the goals of the beginning of the season are still within our reach".
What will pass through Silverstone between Wednesday, July 17th, and Friday, July 19th, 2013, has indeed the air of being the last train for the 2013 World Championship. It is sad to say this only halfway through the season, but unfortunately it is so. And it is therefore good that Ferrari realizes this and takes that train, without hesitation and without strange tricks. In those days, in the very week before the very delicate Hungarian Grand Prix, testing will take place, as is now well known: originally it was supposed to be an opportunity to test the younger drivers unused by the teams, then after the Mercedes testing scandal and the Pirelli tire explosions, the FIA decided to extend its range and allow top drivers to test cars and tires as well. Thus, turning a side event into a golden opportunity for everyone. But especially for Ferrari. The talk would even seem trivial if it weren’t that, incredibly, the Maranello team cannot say whether its top driver -who on Thursday, without consulting with anyone, had excused himself from those tests- will participate or not. It will depend on what he will be allowed to test, is the team's official answer to reporters' direct question. As if Alonso could really have anything better to do than test the stuttering F138 on a Formula 1 circuit. Especially since that will be the only chance to get some idea of the new tires (the third this year) that Pirelli will introduce starting from Budapest.