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#868 2012 German Grand Prix

2023-01-11 00:00

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#2012, Fulvio Conti,

#868 2012 German Grand Prix

On Thursday 10th of July, 2012, Red Bull Racing decides to speed things up and to immediately remove Mark Webber from the market. Like this, during th

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On Thursday 10th of July, 2012, Red Bull Racing decides to speed things up and to immediately remove Mark Webber from the market. Like this, during the morning, the team of Milton Keynes announces that it has already had the Australian driver signed the renewal for next season. And there could not have been a better moment, seeing that at the moment he occupies second place in the rank, with a gap of 13 points on Fernando Alonso, and who comes from his second seasonal affirmation.

 

"Now I have been racing for Red Bull Racing since 2007 and in this period of time I managed to win 9 Gp. I know my team and I really find at ease with everyone. We grew up together a lot during the years and because of this I think that staying with Red Bull another year is the right thing to do. The teams works hard with great perseverance to develop in all the areas and this year we already showed to have potential to win. So I'm happy to announce this statement a few days after Silverstone's win and I'm ready to keep giving my best until the end of next season".

 

Also Red Bull Racing' team principal, Christian Horner, is satisfied with the result of the deal:

 

"Mark drove really well in the first 9 races of this season and his performances are always of great respect. The most important satisfactions of his career in F1 were obtained with Red Bull and together we obtained 10 pole positions, 9 victories and 31 podiums. Having both sides a strong desire  of continuing our partnership, the renewal was the more logical decision to take and we are happy to confirm Mark also for 2013".

 

Red Bull Racing becomes the first top team that completely defines the line up for 2013, seeing that Sebastian Vettel already has a contract until the end of 2014 season. But let's not forget that Mark Webber was considered the most valid alternative to Felipe Massa for Ferrari. Faded this opportunity, the possibility to extend the contract of the Brazilian for another season becomes even more concrete.

 

"I have nothing red in my wardrobe, I didn't signed anything for Ferrari. But all the drivers dream of driving for Ferrari".

 

If the Sebastian Vettel's one is not an open door, it surely is a declaration of love: Red Bull Racing's driver answers to the voices that would like to see him close to a deal with the Maranello team.

 

"Ask to the 24 protagonists of the World Championship if they would race for Ferrari: everyone would answer yes".

 

The World Champion is keen to specify he has never dealt with the heads of Ferrari.

 

"I like that Stefano Domenicali o Luca di Montezemolo consider me a driver up to Ferrari. The reality is always the same: there is no signal on my side, I didn't sign anything, I didn't sign a contract with a handshake. Contacts have happened because in the paddock we meet each other, but this doesn't mean I will soon drive for Stefano. Voices don't destabilise us, my boss knows exactly what I think and our relationship is clear".

 

Sebastian Vettel is focused on the ongoing World Championship.

"It's an extremely balanced championship, I want to defend the title and that's the only thing I think about. I can't distract myself thinking about what maybe will happen in a few years, now it's too early. Who knows, maybe things will change and I'll go and drive somewhere else. Or I won't move for my entire career, because there is no better package than what Red Bull offers: I grew up here and I like the environment in the group. Mark and I we can aim for the title, the team supports us in a balanced way. He is achieving excellent results, but I think he is open for the World Championship: a victory at Hockenheim and history will seem different".

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Meanwhile, Felipe Massa first takes it out on his country's press ("Does it seem right to you that everyone goes against a driver who represents Brazil? No, yet that's what 99% of the press does") then confesses to being ended up in therapy after the accident at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.

 

"The bad results had an impact from a psychological point of view. I looked for a psychologist, I did therapy. I have to try everything until the end because I believe that things will change".

Massa, however, excludes that the accident affected his performance.

"I'm tired of this story, I'm not stupid. Not only have I thought about it but I've done 45,000 tests and all the doctors say I have nothing even though I can't find a reason".

And he adds:

"The only thing that matters to him is to continue racing like I did at Silverstone; it's the best way to not worry about the future".

Felipe Massa is calm after the fourth place obtained in Great Britain and is looking forward with optimism to the German Grand Prix, scheduled for Sunday 22 July 2012.

"In Germany I have already achieved two podiums, I hope to be able to be competitive thanks to the continuous improvements of the F2012. This championship has been so unpredictable that we cannot know exactly what to expect".

The Brazilian wants to put the horrible first part of the season behind him: he is currently thirteenth in the world championship standings.

 

"We are only halfway there, I can still bring home good results. The drivers' championship is still very important for me. If I look at where I was just before Silverstone I know that I can still bring home many points in the next eleven races and I will fight to get back into the top five or six. In Montreal and Valencia I could have finished in the top five but it didn't happen for various reasons. I'm sure that riding the way I'm doing now is the only thing I need to guarantee my future What happens in the driver market does not have a significant effect on my position".

Felipe Massa wants to accumulate points to be able to help the Red team in the hunt for the Constructors' World Championship.

"It's very important for us, the more points I manage to score on a personal level, the more Ferrari will be able to benefit from it. I've been in the simulator preparing for the next races and I've had several meetings with my engineers to find out the plans for these two close races in Germany and Hungary. I've had some good races lately and the car is getting better and better, in a situation like that you just want to keep racing, because you know that your performance can improve even more. In our case I'm sure that the improvements will continue until the final round of the championship".

 

He probably wouldn't have believed it either if, at the end of last season, they had told him that after nine races of the new World Championship he would be leading the drivers' standings with a 29-point advantage over the reigning World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, and well 37 on Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso enjoys the big step forward made by the new Ferrari, but he preaches caution.

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"It's more or less the same as the last four or five races, whoever is leading the championship is not a big factor at the moment, because everything is changing so quickly, the positions on race weekends are never the same and there 'It's always a bit confusing. So I'm approaching this Grand Prix in the same way, trying to maximize what we have in our hands and trying to test the new updates we have on the car, which we hope will work. It's true that the Red Bulls have perhaps been the fastest of all, not only in the last two or three races, but already since Bahrain. They missed pole positions in Barcelona and Silverstone, but they took all the remaining ones. So I'm definitely a little bit ahead in terms of performance and we have to catch up".

For some, from a driving point of view, Alonso is having his best season.

 

"In Formula 1 you are probably a better driver every year, because you improve and learn from mistakes, so I'm sure that next year will be even better, but it's also true that this championship has been positive for us so far. I remember the mistake I made in Q2 in Australia where I grazed the grass at the first corner and spun. But apart from that mistake I probably wouldn't change many things about what I did. And that's good news, because there are always mistakes here and there I can therefore consider myself satisfied with my performances".

In terms of fitness, Fernando Alonso also reveals that he has never been in better shape throughout his Formula 1 career.

"Physically, so far, it's my best year. In previous seasons it happened that I had to run accompanied by pain, perhaps in my leg or shoulder, but this year I was at 100% in every race. Let's hope it stays that way. Obviously the The life of a driver is not normal, since we don't go to the office for eight hours. We wake up and do four or five hours of training. Something I like, and I can say I have never been so fit in my career".

 

Fernando Alonso is so charged up that he even appears sincere in a press conference, which - as we know - is very rare for him. But the moment is positive and the Spaniard realizes it: up to now he has driven perfectly, straightening out a season that seemed like it would never even begin and, now that he has arrived as leader halfway through the championship, he can afford a smile and even a few little truth. The first is a number, and that is the distance between his F2012 (version 1.2) and the Red Bull: 0.3-0.4 seconds. Thinking back to the British Grand Prix, the one in which he lost first place with five laps to go, do you have any regrets?

"No. They were stronger. Maybe we could have stayed out a couple more laps at the start. But it wouldn't have changed much. We would have come back with Webber less than a second away and we would have fought harder. All just to resist a few more laps: he would have passed me three laps from the finish instead of five. The truth is that we lacked 0.3-0.4 seconds of performance per lap. Which is the margin we still have to recover".

Here in Germany, there are five German drivers who have ambitions to win. It's funny that a Spanish driver in an Italian car (in times of crisis) plays the role of antagonist:

"It would be nice. Certainly from a probabilistic point of view five against one. But if there is a chance to win I won't let it slip away".

 

Have you already drawn up the table? What is the ideal points average?

"Fourteen points per game and we're calm".

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According to a survey among riders, the Spaniard is the strongest this year.

"In my entire career I have never been in these conditions. In part it is also a normal thing because we all learn from our mistakes and therefore it is inevitable to improve. Chances are I'll be even better in 2013. But this year was also my best season from a physical point of view. In the past maybe it wasn't known but I had problems with my legs or back. Maybe I had done the wrong preparation. This year, so far, I have always been 100%. Furthermore, the external factors were all favorable. I have only one regret, the mistake in Q2 in qualifying in Australia".

McLaren seems to have lost the logic of the season and its drivers don't seem too fit. Why do you continue to look mainly at Hamilton as a rival?

"I also fear the two Red Bulls a lot. I know Hamilton well and I know that he is a driver who can make a difference, he is talented. And what's more, he works for a very aggressive, very innovative team. McLaren can take a step back but also take two steps forward. I expect their return".

Felipe Massa, however, once again reiterates that to keep his place at Ferrari he must play his part:

 

"For me it's not a problem. All I have to do is think about my work, the direction I'm going and the results I get. Ferrari is a great team and it would be nice to stay, but whatever the situation it's always important to do good results on the track. Once you race for Ferrari, you never want to change. If I didn't feel good here, I would look at other teams, but here I feel good and I feel I can do a lot for this team".

On Friday 20 July 2012, the first day of testing was characterized by the presence of intermittent rain during the two test sessions. Jenson Button sets the fastest time in the first session, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. There are many mistakes made by the riders, with Valtteri Bottas hitting the guards on the escape route at the Motodrom. In the first test session the Spaniard Dani Clos takes the place of Narain Karthikeyan at HRT, Valtteri Bottas takes over from Bruno Senna at Williams and Jules Bianchi takes over from Paul di Resta at Force India. Lotus experiments with a device on the front wing on Kimi Räikkönen's car which proposes the concept of the F-duct. The system takes inspiration from what was used by the Mercedes F1 W03. However, the solution will not be used in the race. The second session was penalized by heavy rain which initially made the track very wet, while as the minutes passed the weather conditions improved. In the central part of the session the riders use intermediate tyres: in this situation Pastor Maldonado sets the best time of the session. Pedro de la Rosa misses much of the session due to technical problems. Subsequently, due to his going off the track, the stewards were forced to display the red flags.

 

"At this stage no one can win the world championship, but someone can lose it".

This is how Fernando Alonso presented the Hockenheim race. Just to emphasize the delicacy of the moment. And looking at how busy the work is in the paddock and in the garages, you understand how right the Spaniard was. During the two test sessions, the teams tried many solutions, presenting machines that included colored paints on new parts (a technique used to track aerodynamic flows), pitot tubes (an instrument for detecting the speed of fluids) and spokes lasers (which measure height above the ground) looked nothing like the ones usually seen on race days. An incessant job that wasn't even slowed down by the rain. But the passage of the championship is so important that the engineers of the various teams pretended nothing happened and took to the track with their innovations. 

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Ferrari re-tested the front wing that Alonso destroyed at Silverstone, and fitted the crests to the deflector for the first time; Lotus presented itself with a system that amplifies the aerodynamic effect of the DRS; the McLaren showed off two new new bellies, modified at the rear; less visible - and therefore more mysterious - are the innovations introduced by Red Bull Racing. In the end - as on every self-respecting Friday - no one is unbalanced about their own results, and everyone tries to understand the results of others. The maximum that can be obtained is:

"I'm worried about McLaren's pace".

 

Hissed by Sebastian Vettel, and a tweet by Fernando Alonso who says he's happy for the car, good in all conditions, complete with an exclamation point and the required smile. A tweet that goes hand in hand with his statements on Thursday, when, in the throes of an attack of optimism, he said he was in top form, and in the middle of a season in which he performed as never before in his career. Atypical declarations which are confirmed in the words of Edoardo Bendinelli, the Spaniard's personal athletic trainer who, in a long interview, goes into detail.
 

"I have been following Fernando since 2003, i.e. since his first year at Renault. At the time he was a potential champion, now he is from every point of view. He has matured a lot, he is more present to himself and consequently more capable of working on his own limits".

The Spaniard explains that he has done excellent preparation, and Bendinelli confirms:

"He is not a cyclist, a footballer or a tennis player. He is a driver, so all the physical activities we carry out are aimed at his true sport, which in the end is nothing more than sitting inside a cockpit and driving like crazy for over 90 minutes, without a moment's break, including pit stops: about 400 kilometers a week on a bicycle, then swimming, tennis, running, gym, reflex tests".

 

Exhausting workouts, spread over four weekly sessions, and obsessive attention to nutrition:

"Since he joined Ferrari he is even more attentive to food, he has increased his consumption of fruit and vegetables, little red meat, lots of fish, controlled pasta. His only indulgence is pizza, which he goes crazy for".

On Saturday 21 July 2012, during FP3 the track was dry, with the rain hitting the track only in the last minutes of testing. Fernando Alonso sets the best time, followed by Lewis Hamilton. The other McLaren driver, Jenson Button, however, as he focuses on a wet set-up, sets the last time. Charles Pic misses the first part of the shift to replace the engine. A few hours later, qualifying begins on a dry track, although the possibility of rain arriving on the track is very high. Therefore, all the drivers decide to immediately go down the runway. Initially all the top teams opt to use the Medium tyres, before switching to the Softs. Kimi Räikkönen scores the best time, while the two Caterham drivers, Heikki Kovalainen and Vitalij Petrov, the two Marussia drivers, Charles Pic and Timo Glock, the two HRT drivers, Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Kartikeyan, and Jean-Éric Vergne, passed in the standings by Michael Schumacher only at the last attempt. Rain began to fall on the track shortly before the start of Q2, so the FIA decided not to allow the use of DRS. The rain makes the choice of tires and when to tackle the flying lap problematic. Lewis Hamilton sets the best time, while the two Sauber drivers, Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, Bruno Senna and Nico Rosberg are eliminated. Q3 is also characterized by the presence of rain. Fernando Alonso sets the best time, and none of his opponents manages to beat the Spaniard, who even manages to improve on the second attempt. For the Spanish driver it is the second consecutive pole, the twenty-second in his career. 

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On the Hockenheim circuit, Fernando Alonso precedes Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. However, the Australian will be relegated five positions on the grid due to the gearbox replacement. The second row will therefore be all German with Michael Schumacher's Mercedes starting from third position, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg. The Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado follows with the Williams and the British Jenson Button, sixth with the first McLaren. Lewis Hamilton, eighth in qualifying, will start from seventh position and from the fourth row in the other McLaren, together with Paul Di Resta. Kimi Raikkonen, who closes the top ten in qualifying, climbs to ninth position and precedes Daniel Ricciardo. However, Felipe Massa's Ferrari is far away and, thanks to a mistake on the first lap of Q2, was left out of the decisive qualifying heat: the Brazilian driver will start from fourteenth position.

 

"I had a very clean lap, the team's strategy was perfect".

Fernando Alonso enjoys his second consecutive pole of the season, and is looking with optimism at the race, which should be run in the dry.

"I am very satisfied with the weekend so far and I am optimistic for tomorrow's race. We have tested the car in all types of conditions and we have always been competitive. Due to the rain, qualifying was certainly at the limit in terms of conditions, even if they were the same for everyone. But sometimes it would be better to check the conditions of the circuit, because we started in Q3 in difficult conditions, there were sections where we were aquaplaning at 180/200 km/h".

While the Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali, says after qualifying:

"I feel sorry for Felipe Massa because we could have been up front with two cars. The performance of the car was certainly positive. Now we'll see tomorrow with completely different conditions. The weather forecast predicts a dry track, we'll have to see, given that we don't have too much data on the tire life in these conditions. There is work to be done but it is better to start from the front".

More rain, more Alonso. The Spaniard lowers his visor and closes the game. Wet by a vaguely tropical downpour that providentially interrupted a mostly dry afternoon, qualifying placed the Spaniard's Ferrari in pole position for the race, the tenth of the season, the one that marks the halfway point. And they give Fernando Alonso, who has never been as fit as he is in recent days, the opportunity to extend his lead in the general classification and, above all, to definitively sow panic among the chasing pack. Who, given the conditions of the season, would have expected anything except finding themselves frantically chasing a red car. The Maranello team rejoices, tweeting:

 

"Alonso walks on water".

And he writes in the press release

"The spread is falling in Germany".

Precisely this aspect, the psychological one, risks being decisive in the end. Perhaps even more than the points that will separate Fernando Alonso from the rest of the group. Just take a tour of the McLaren and Red Bull Racing motorhomes after yet another unexpected pole position for the Spanish driver to breathe deeply that air of controlled panic, a strictly British way of doing things, which afflicts managers and drivers. Just pass in front of the Red Bull Racing garage, for example. 

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Where you happen to see Sebastian Vettel nervously playing with the laces of his light blue Geox and then, between one thing and another, throwing out his dig - the first explicit one of the season - at his teammate:

"I lost a couple of laps behind Mark, I think he couldn't see me from the mirrors...".

Almost as if to confirm that cliché of the paddock that he is a little too spoiled; playful only on the podium but impatient in the fray. Or at McLaren, where the engineers have practically stopped eating and sleeping for weeks after unexpectedly losing their way, the meaning of the season: they showed up in Jerez for the last tests before the start of the World Championship with a car that seemed to another planet, and now they can't make it work anymore. The evil ones joke, saying:

"As if they had made an exchange with the Ferraris".

 

It goes without saying that the most delicate situation - as well as the most interesting for Ferrari - is precisely the one present in Red Bull Racing. Regardless of the ranking position and the last two pole positions snatched by the genius of Fernando Alonso with the collaboration of the rain, the two blue cars still remain the fastest of the pack, and no one is willing to overlook this. However, the antagonism between Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber - inexorably destined to take away points and positions from each other - could prove, in the medium term, to be one of the main weapons of the Maranello team which, however, does not even raise the problem of the double driver (and if anything it has it the other way around, with Felipe Massa so inefficient as to be completely useless). On the contrary. Everything in Maranello exists and lives according to Fernando Alonso's performance on Sunday. An ideal condition to achieve the necessary concentration, to give, supported also by the enthusiasm for an objectively deserved but unexpected situation, maximum commitment. As Fernando Alonso says:

"Which is exactly what we have to do on Sunday. Give your best. Also because it's true that the forecast predicts a dry race but the weather here is very variable and we have to be ready for anything, at any time".

From this point of view the machine gave only good responses:

"It's fast in all conditions. Up to now it hasn't been like this, sometimes we were strong on the intermediate tires and not on the extreme ones, other times we went well in the wet and poorly in the dry. Here, however, we are ok in all circumstances. But we have to be quick to understand how things change and end the weekend in the best possible way".

 

Considering above all that the race will have to be done by the others, those who remained behind. On Sunday 22 June 2012, before the race the regularity of the mapping of the Renault engine of Red Bull Racing is called into question: according to the opinion of the FIA the engine torque is very low compared to the average of the other Grands Prix. This could mean that torque is used to influence the aerodynamic effect via exhaust blowing. Jo Bauer, FIA technical delegate writes:

"From examining the torque maps in cars 1 and 2, it appears that the maximum torque of both engines in the mid-range is decidedly lower than what has been seen in other events. For me this corresponds to an infringement of article 5.5.3 of the technical regulations, because the engines can thus deliver more torque at a certain engine speed in the mid-range. Furthermore, this new torque mapping can significantly alter the aerodynamic characteristics of both cars, which constitutes a further violation of technical regulation 036-11".

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Initially the Federation canceled the times of the two Red Bull Racing drivers obtained in practice, so that they would have been forced to start from the pit lane. Subsequently, based on the clarifications brought by Adrian Newey, the FIA decided not to apply the sanction and reserves the right to carry out further investigations in the future. The German Grand Prix takes place with sunshine and a dry track. At the start Fernando Alonso maintains first position, followed by Sebastian Vettel, Michael Schumacher, Nico Hülkenberg and Jenson Button. In the center of the group Felipe Massa, who got off to a good start, lost his front wing in a contact with Daniel Ricciardo and was forced to stop in the pits. Like him, Bruno Senna and Romain Grosjean were forced to return to the pits to carry out repairs. Even though there was a lot of debris on the track, the Safety car was not allowed onto the track. On the third lap, Lewis Hamilton paid the price when he came into the pits to replace a punctured tyre. During the seventh lap Jenson Button passes Nico Hülkenberg and, four laps later, also Michael Schumacher. Subsequently, during lap 8, the first tire changes began, and Kimi Räikkönen managed to gain a couple of positions, climbing to sixth place. The Finn will then take advantage of the fight between Michael Schumacher and Nico Hülkenberg to gain a further place at the expense of the German Force India driver. At the end of the twentieth lap, Fernando Alonso maintains the lead of the race, followed by Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button. These first three are all fitted with Medium tyres. During lap 21 Kimi Räikkönen, on Soft tyres, passes Michael Schumacher and climbs to fourth position. 

 

Nico Hulkenberg begins to struggle towards the thirtieth lap and is passed first by Sergio Perez, in a great comeback, and then by Mark Webber. In the meantime, Jenson Button manages to reduce the gap on the first two, bringing it to around 4 seconds; Sebastian Vettel also manages to get close to Fernando Alonso, but during lap 35 the German is passed by Lewis Hamilton, eighteenth, who doubles up. Behind the leaders, Kamui Kobayashi climbs well, passing first Mark Webber, then Sergio Perez until he climbs to fourth place, when Kimi Räikkönen makes his second stop.During lap 40 Jenson Button makes his second tire change. And during lap 41 Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel also made a pit stop. Upon returning to the track, Fernando Alonso maintains the lead of the race, while Sebastian Vettel is passed by Jenson Button. At the end of the second round of tire changes, behind the top three were Kimi Räikkönen, Michael Schumacher and Nico Hülkenberg, with the latter two using a three-stop strategy. Kamui Kobayashi passes the Force India German on lap 45 and climbs to sixth position. During lap 53 Michael Schumacher makes his third stop and is passed by the two Saubers of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Pérez. At this stage, Jenson Button remains constantly under one second behind Fernando Alonso, without however worrying him. In the final laps the Spaniard maintained an excellent pace, while the Englishman slowed down, until he was overtaken at the hairpin by Sebastian Vettel, during the penultimate lap. The maneuver provokes protests from the Briton, as the German has placed all four wheels of the car beyond the edge of the track. Fernando Alonso wins the German Grand Prix, followed by Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button. However, McLaren CEO Martin Whitmarsh is calling for an appeal, and while he awaits the verdict, he tells the media:

 

"We'll see what the stewards decide on Vettel's last-lap overtaking to the detriment of Button. Of course, the drivers should keep the four wheels of their car on the track when overtaking. However, we wait with confidence. It was a good day for Alonso and for Ferrari: congratulations to them. For us, however, Button did very well. Hamilton, however, had problems with both the differential and a tire. We have a good pace: we hope to return to victory soon".

And even the team principal of Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner, is more or less of the same ideal as his colleague:

"We didn't miss much. It was a beautiful and intense race. Sebastian drove well, but congratulations to Fernando”.

Then, talking about the race, but above all focusing on Vettel's last overtaking move against Button, the English manager says:

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"It's one of those things that goes like this. In my opinion it is a racing accident. It is true that the space must be left, but Sebastian had no alternative. Jenson also left him space to come back, so it was definitely a racing accident".

However, Sebastian Vettel was penalized for his overtaking maneuver on the Englishman, judged incorrect by the stewards. Therefore, Jenson Button moves into second place, followed by Kimi Raikkonen, Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastian Vettel, Sergio Perez, Michael Schumacher, Mark Webber, Nico Hulkenberg and Nico Rosberg. At Hockenheim, Fernando Alonso and Ferrari surprised everyone, winning - or rather dominating - a race that seemed one of the most difficult. Sebastian Vettel and his Red Bull Racing were mercilessly beaten. A sign of the strength of the Maranello team, but also of the driver, if we consider that the other Ferrari, that of Felipe Massa, only finished in P12, with over a minute of separation. In fact, Alonso drove all 67 laps as if he were in practice, always pushing to the limit, first to try to get away from Vettel at the start and then to keep his pursuers at bay. With the last heart-pounding laps, because Fernando Alonso started setting record lap after record lap. And when Sebastian Vettel jumped onto the grass out of nervousness, Jenson Button flattened his tyres, Fernando Alonso did nothing wrong, he drove perfectly. Truly applause-worthy. The result of this class behind the wheel also shines through in the World Championship ranking, because with this victory the Spaniard extends his lead in the standings and rises to 154 points, ahead of Mark Webber's Red Bull Racing, with 120 points, and Sebastian Vettel with 110 points. Is there enough to celebrate? Of course. And in fact Fernando Alonso doesn't allow himself to be prayed for:
 

"Is it nice to win in Germany? I don't want to talk about politics but it's clear that the situation isn't great in Spain and a Spanish driver winning in an Italian car is a fantastic thing. We had a competitive car. Already yesterday, I started from pole position and this was a key factor. It was difficult to overtake, maybe we weren't the fastest but we maintained the position. The pole made it easier for me, and I'm happy for the championship, also for Hamilton's retirement, it was a perfect day".

But let's get back to the race. Second place went to Jenson Button who actually finished third but only because Sebastian Vettel overtook him and put his wheels off the track. So after the podium celebrations (but couldn't they have thought of it before?) Sebastian was relegated to fifth position. And to say that Button still seemed to be able to attack Alonso with ten laps to go. Third place therefore for Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus (without Vettel's disqualification he was fourth). And Massa? We have already explained what he did. Better not to rage. Fernando Alonso is very satisfied with the success achieved on the Hockenheim circuit, and confesses this from the stage of the awards ceremony interviewed by Niki Lauda.

"We already had a competitive car yesterday, I started from pole position and this was a key factor. It was difficult to overtake, maybe we weren't the fastest but we maintained the position. The pole made it easier for me, and I'm happy for the championship , also due to Hamilton's retirement, it was a perfect day".


Then, he adds:

 

"Everything went well, we managed to win a race in which perhaps we weren't the fastest. Qualifying was very important in this sense because even if the others were a little faster, we managed to maintain our position. Everything went well from the start, even some retirements later favored us. We won, but we must not forget that we didn't have the best car, there were others faster than us".

And how did you do it then?

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"Saturday's pole was the key. It allowed us to start from the front and defend ourselves on a circuit where overtaking is not easy. It was enough to defend ourselves well from the attacks on Turn 6 and then manage the car and tires on the rest of the track”.

Difficult?

"Well yes, a lot. Luckily I received excellent calls from the pits. Especially the second stop. When Jenson, who was putting monstrous pressure on us, anticipated the change. We had to react. There were 27 laps to go. And the wall was perfect".

 

You seemed more comfortable than usual with the tyres.

"We all started on equal terms on the tyres. We hadn't tried them enough on Friday. The conditions had not been met. And this was the first year for the Pirellis here. So no data could be used. In the end everything went as we had predicted in the simulations. We had thought of a two-stop race and so it was. And even the degradation of the mediums proved to be similar to what we had hoped for. And in fact we managed to resist until the end".

Now there is the first race of the second half of the season. Hungary. What do you expect?
 

"It will still be tough, just like the last three races. This year in two-three tenths there are eight or nine cars. A highly competitive situation that forces us to be perfect right from the preparation for the weekend. If you make a mistake you will quickly find yourself starting from P12. From an aerodynamic point of view we need to maximize what we have and try to bring some new parts that can help us on that specific circuit".

In your opinion, will Ferrari be comfortable on that track?

"I personally think so. I won my first race there in 2003. But I think the car can also adapt well. We have grown, we are ok in all areas, we don't have weak points like at the beginning of the season when we suffered from little traction and had top speed problems".

Don't you want to overbalance the title?

 

"We are halfway through the season, we have made a good recovery if we think about how we were doing at the Jerez tests. We are very happy with the points and how much we have grown. But all this doesn't mean much because there are still ten races and opponents stronger than us. We still have to improve the car and above all we have to pay attention to missteps. We can't afford them".

For Alonso, Vettel remains his number one rival:

"Even for the championship he is the direct competitor. Button was strong, but even if he had passed it wouldn't have been a drama for the championship. Hamilton, then, was lapped, it would have been stupid to lose the nose or something like that in a duel with a dubbed".

The Spaniard also takes a step back, thinking about the difficulties at the beginning of the season.

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"The team's recovery was incredible, especially if we think back to early February in Jerez where we didn't understand how the car worked and how it was designed. Then since then many changes and a lot of work. In Maranello we worked day and night, it's incredible that after ten races we are leading the world championship. Many congratulations to everyone".

However, there is no time to indulge in the celebrations, in seven days the circus will move to Hungary, and we need to stay focused.

"Everything will be fine, I don't see any reason to be pessimistic, even if we have to keep our feet on the ground because it's never easy. July is a decisive month? I've always said it. There are three races in four weekends with 75 points up for grabs, for now we have already achieved a second and a first place”.

Even the Ferrari team principal, Stefano Domenicali, already has his attention already turned towards the Hungarian Grand Prix:

 

"Now we have a fundamental race ahead of us next weekend, in Budapest, and then we will be able to take a breather for a moment. We know that we still have a lot of work to do because we are not the fastest yet. We've seen how things can change quickly this season so we need to keep our concentration very high, especially on reliability”.

Then Domenicali talks about Felipe Massa's unlucky race:

"It's a shame for Felipe, who certainly had the pace to get into the points: his race was ruined by the collision at the start, it's definitely not a lucky period for him”.

And the first to immediately want to raise his head again, starting from the Hungarian Grand Prix, is naturally the Brazilian driver himself.

"It's obvious that I'm not happy but the fact that I can count on a car that continually improves in performance gives me confidence for the rest of the season. We need to improve the situation in qualifying, trying to start further forward: it's the simplest way to avoid problems at the start, like the one I ran into. I believe that in Hungary we will be able to have our say, as happened in these last races".

First of all, the technical director of the Maranello team, Pat Fry, is aware that, despite Alonso's leadership, the Ferrari F2012 is not yet the fastest car in the circus.

"We still don't have the fastest car: we were aware of this and we also saw it at Hockenheim. We still have to work a lot to achieve this goal, but it is certainly gratifying to close the first half of the championship with one of our drivers at the top of the standings…".

 

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel shifts the discussion from the race to his overtaking against Jenson Button on the last lap:

"Jenson didn't say anything to me. It was a very difficult overtaking and I didn't know how much space there was, even though the last thing I wanted was to come into contact with him. We were all fighting with the tyres. That's why I'm I managed to get close to him and I managed to overtake him”.

While Jenson Button says:

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"First of all I have to thank the crowd, which was very large today. It was nice for me to be back fighting for the top places. However, I don't want to say anything about overtaking which is currently under the attention of the race commissioners".

And Fernando Alonso's track engineer, Andrea Stella, comments on the victory achieved in Germany by saying:

"We were actually quite calm because Alonso wasn't pushing 100% and we still had a margin to keep Hamilton behind, then for now the two have excellent relations in this period and I wasn't worried”.

Andrea Stella reveals the climate that was present inside the garage in relation to the danger that for certain moments the arrival of Lewis Hamilton near Fernando Alonso's car represented.

 

"After we changed the tires at the first stop between Soft and Medium, we saw that the others were faster, then the car started to work better, we picked up speed and maintained the gap. We saw that our degradation was better In some ways the fact that there was a fight behind Alonso was in our favor even if Button was very fast and risked becoming a concern. Alonso's final laps? We weren't sure that the tires were holding up well and that the car was holding up. The reality of the The facts were that the others had more difficulty, a nice surprise in some ways is the result of the work of many people on the track and in the factory”.

One last joke, Andrea Stella expresses regarding the radio dialogues with Fernando Alonso, in Italian.

"They are broadcast a lot, we give information and perhaps we have to resort to slightly more codified dialogues”.

 

Evening falls, and the German twilight slides over the Hockenheimring. Gray and sad for having had to bow down once again before the excessive Italian-Spanish power of a Ferrari that has once again become dominant on the track and in the standings, the paddock is already besieged by cranes: in three days the circus reopens in Hungary and there is no time to LOSE. At the edge of the scene, dominated by the men of the Maranello team, who laugh and compliment each other and pose for photos showing off their muscles, in a little corner, there is him, Sebastian Vettel. Alone and abandoned, he stares into space. There is something psychedelic in the transfiguration of the German pilot. When he won races without history, every opportunity was a good one to show the whole world his healthy, white teeth, to wave his first-in-class index finger under the cameras. Now, however, it is just a continuous hissing of suggestive messages, mostly addressed to his teammate, the Australian Mark Webber, and there is no longer a trace of that smile. For that you need to go a few meters further, to the Ferrari motorhome, the one with a single driver in command, Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard isn't here tonight. They just told him that Sebastian Vettel was penalized by twenty seconds, that he is fifth, and that his victory therefore had even more devastating effects on the standings, but he didn't bat an eyelid and went out to sign some autographs around. Leaving it to others to tell the details of his masterpiece. A perfect race, conducted in a way that was perhaps not even imaginable on the eve of the match. Starting fast, Fernando Alonso built on his afternoon of glory by building a lead of 3.389 seconds in 21 laps. Under normal circumstances, a gap of 3.389 seconds isn't that big, typically, this year, between Kers, DRS, and tires, a normal driver can squander it in a couple of laps. A normal driver. Fernando Alonso no. The Spaniard capitalized on those 3.389 seconds, changed the tires and built his dream on them. Just take a look at the time sheet to understand how difficult it must have been. Behind him he had the Red Bull Racing of Sebastian Vettel but above all the rediscovered McLaren of the rediscovered Jenson Button (the other McLaren, no, that one was lost in the rear, in the entirely private delirium of Lewis Hamilton). And they both went faster. 

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So much so that the pits - Stefano Domenicali now confesses - had already done the math on overtaking. But there never was. Alonso managed everything, tyres, car, nervous system, his own but above all that of his opponents. He did like fishermen who tire out their prey by leaving line and then catching it, in an exhausting fight. He brought Vettel and Button closer to within a second, and then went away again, always concluding the stints with small, deadly series of fast laps. Which ended up breaking the legs of their rivals. Especially to Vettel, who now watches him sign photos and t-shirts from afar, through the cranes, as if he were a ghost. There isn't even time to breathe. On the other hand, Fernando Alonso is not one to sit still, not in the car, or even outside. The Spaniard has his attention turned towards Budapest, after spending a Monday working in Maranello. Alonso is not reflected in the victory which could have marked a decisive turning point in the fight for the title, on the contrary:

 

"I have to work, physically and mentally, I can't allow someone to arrive in Budapest better prepared than me. I have to be the fittest, the best, the most motivated. In such a balanced world championship, details have enormous value and I must bring them all to my side. We said that July could be a decisive month, with three races in four weekends. Second in Great Britain, first in Germany, Hungary is still missing, the work needs to be completed".

Finishing the job for him means the podium as a minimum objective, perhaps another triumph, the fourth of the season, the success that could allow him to reach 31 career victories and catch up with Mansell. He usually invites you to keep your feet on the ground, this time he is not afraid to go unbalanced. Maybe because of his enormous talent or excellent condition, or a Ferrari that finally starts to work.

"I don't see why we should go badly on Sunday in Hungary, I'm leaving with great confidence. From the February tests in Jerez to today our progress has been enormous, incredible. We may not be the fastest yet, but if we find ourselves in front, overtaking us won't be easy".

Even less so in Budapest, a narrow and tortuous track where pole makes the difference, not even the new rules and the strange behavior of the tires should be able to work a miracle. In other periods, due to the lack of traction, Ferrari would have been afraid of Hungary, last year Red Bull Racing had an unbridgeable advantage, but now the Red is different, and the race has broken out to copy its devilry . McLaren took inspiration from the Italians for the new bellies, Red Bull Racing studies the front suspension adopted by the Maranello team. After being forced to do so due to technical inferiority, Ferrari does not abandon its low profile. Stefano Domenicali is at pains to repeat after the match:

"We are not the best yet, to win you have to be perfect".

In reality, suddenly the Maranello car became a point of reference. Just as Fernando Alonso is an example to follow, someone who has always won points in twenty-two races. All while the competition shows signs of slowing down: Sebastian Vettel makes mistakes, Mark Webber occasionally fades away, Lewis Hamilton always gets one. Okay, the World Championship is only halfway through, but if the four continue like this, when will they get that driver dressed in red back?


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