For all of the amazing things Sebastian Vettel has achieved in his Formula 1 career, a win at his home grand prix had eluded him. But not any more. Victory at the Nürburgring for his first German Grand Prix trophy is Vettel’s 30th career win, becoming only the sixth driver in F1 history to reach that mark.
Close behind the Red Bull ace was Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) who finished strongly, just one second adrift of Vettel. The final podium position was taken by Romain Grosjean (Lotus).
For Vettel it was a controlled race, but behind him there were two bizarre incidents that helped to shape the result. Mercifully, neither included the exploding tyres we saw in Silverstone last week. The first incident ruined Mark Webber’s race. The Aussie made a great start from P3 and challenged for the lead into the first corner. Pole sitter Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes AMG) was swamped by the two Red Bulls and Vettel took the lead.
At the first round of pit stops Webber’s left rear wheel was not put back on correctly, yet he was still waved out and metres later the wheel came loose. Unfortunately the wheel bounced down the pit lane and hit a cameraman. Reports suggest the cameraman suffered minor injuries and is expected to make a full recovery. Mark was able to rejoin the race, after being pushed back into his pit box, albeit a lap down.
The second incident started on lap 22, when Jules Bianchi (Marussia) pulled to the side of the circuit after his car caught fire. The flames were extinguished and the car was abandoned awaiting collection from the marshals. Two laps after the car came to rest, it began to roll down the hill, across the track before coming to rest thanks to an advertising hoarding. Cue the Benny Hill theme, but thankfully no harm was done.
What Bianchi’s runaway car did do was bring out a Safety Car. This not only allowed the field to bunch up, but also allowed Mark Webber to unlap himself. Racing resumed on Lap 30, half race distance.
Vettel maintained his lead, despite a late charge from Kimi Raikkonen. Webber was able to put in a commendable recovery drive to finish in P7, which included a pass on Sergio Perez on the second half of the final lap. Not a bad effort after being dead last after the Safety Car came in.
Speaking after the race Webber expressed his disappointment, knowing he had the package to fight for the win. “Today was a bit of a nightmare and you want to wake up tomorrow and have another go at it,” he said. “We had an excellent start and were in a great position leading up to the first stop with Seb, but we lost all of that. We lost a lot of points today and a chance to challenge for the win, but there’s no rewind button now.â€
Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) was unhappy with his day, which saw him start from P6 only to finish in P12. “A frustrating and rather dull race for me,” Daniel said. “After the start, I was able to hold position on the Option, but once we pitted for the Prime tyre, I really struggled for pace and couldn’t push as hard as I wanted to in order to get more out of the car.
“I can’t explain why for now, so we will need to look at the data to see why we were just too slow for much of the weekend.â€
On the positive side for Ricciardo, his teammate, Jean-Eric Verge, was forced to retire with a hydraulics problem.
[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]