German Grand Prix 2011 Review

It appeared to be all smiles for Mark Webber as he was sat on pole, with Hamilton in 2nd leaving Vettel unsure where he was starting, as it was the first time this season that he hasnt started on the front row. Someone probably had to show Vettel where position 3 on the grid actually was. The race started with a slight chance of rain, teams trying to call whether to start on wet or dry tyres. The rain wasn't heavy enough for any panic and all the teams starting on soft dry tyres. So all 24 drivers raring to go on the softest & quickest tyres, which left everyone to predict that Hamilton would overtake Mark Webber before turn 1, Hamilton didnt disapoint coming up the outside of the Australian. It was a mighty fight on turn 1 with Alonso & Massa overtaking Vettel too.

I do belive that the races are more exciting when Vettel is not in the lead as he just forges ahead when he is in the lead & nothing interfers him. Seeing Hamilton was in front with Alonso & Webber behind we knew we were going to be treated to plenty of hustling & bustling. Alonso was the first to make a mistake by sliding too wide on a corner & going onto the wet grass, luckily it didnt cost him a place. Paul Di Resta clashed into Heidfeld which was deemed as a fault from the German & then decided to try and come up the outside of Buemi, with Buemi not seeing him and edging him off the road to crash into a advertising board. Heidfeld doing an impressive jump through the air, so impressive I think his team-mate Petrov would have been proud. Heidfeld later got given a penalty which he couldnt accept as he was out of the race.

It was a race full of errors with Vettel next to spin off the track leaving him sat there looking dismayed. It didnt end his race due to the wide run off areas around the track. It was another mechanical error for Jenson Button, the hydraulics broke down as he went over the apex of a corner, with his mechanics notifiying him to pull up in the pit lane. That was Jenson Button's first non-finish in Germany in 14 races. The real disapointment was Chandhock who finished last even behind Riccardo by more than 1 minute, he said before the race that this would be his first race using DRS, I think his credibility went considerabily down after todays showing. Nice guy but doesnt have enough to make it in the big time. Along with Chandhok the Germans had a nightmare too out there at their home track. Sutil did well to claim 6th place from a starting position of 8th, a very good race from the usually careless German.

With track temperature being so cold that the tyres didnt perform to their usual capabilities & the drivers couldnt get them warm enough to fully function at their potential. This meant that the strategies simply didn't come off by pitting early. Vettel was stuck down in 5th position & showed again he really struggled to overtake anybody who isnt a back-lapper. Massa & Vettel came into the pits on the penultimate lap together, with Red Bull giving Vettel a quick stop in order to leap frog Massa, who's Ferrari mechanics took a bit too long to get the Brazilian out of the pit lane. That effectively sealed Vettel fourth place. (Maybe Red Bull should pit Vettel whenever the driver in front pits giving him a chance to overtake as he cannot overtake at his own accord). Whilst Vettel came out of the pit lane Hamilton crossed the line to claim his second win of the season.

Alonso only just finished the race before his car broke down and had to hitch a lift with Webber to recreate Senna/Mansell moment with Alonso riding on Webber's car back to the pit lane!

Driver of the Day - Lewis Hamilton (Adrian Sutil was a close 2nd)

Bad day at the office - Sebastian Vettel (I suppose he's allowed to have one!)

Overtake of the day - Hamilton on Webber

Results

1 Lewis Hamilton

2 Fernando Alonso

3 Mark Webber

4 Sebastian Vettel

5 Felipe Massa

6 Adrian Sutil

7 Nico Rosberg

8 Michael Schumacher

9 Kamui Kobayashi

10 Vitaly Petrov

11 Sergio Perez

12 Jaime Alguersuari

13 Paul di Resta

14 Pastor Maldonado

15 Sebastien Buemi

16 Heikki Kovalainen

17 Timo Glock

18 Jerome d'Ambrosio

19 Daniel Ricciardo

20 Karun Chandhok

Ret Vitantonio Liuzzi

Ret Jenson Button

Ret Rubens Barrichello

Ret Nick Heidfeld