German Grand Prix 2012

Whatever Pirelli did with the compound, abrupt tire degradation did not seem to pose much of an issue during the race. No one seemed to be having tires fall off a cliff. Whatever the changes were, for once all three of the top runners, Alonso, Vettel and Button, had almost identical tire strategies. They all used the same tires at the same time, pitted almost identically. Suddenly the race was on an even footing; now what mattered was who was the best driver with the best chassis and engine on that particular day.

Massa again struggled, having to replace the nose after a first lap collision. In the pits there were rumors that Vettel and Ferrari are talking as Vettel’s contract is up in 2014. Red Bull is not always one happy family. If there is to be a move, Ferrari would be a likely recipient. Can one imagine Alonso and Vettel on the same team?

To recap the grid, it was Alonso, Vettel, Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Maldonado, Button, Hamilton and Webber filling out the first four rows. Qualifying was in the wet with everyone on full wet tires. Newbie Grosjean had a bad weekend, qualifying 19th. Hamilton suffered a flat tire due to the Massa incident and was only a factor in the race as he tried to unlap himself. Alonso took to the lead like Vettel used to, followed by the German and a born-again Button.

By lap ten the tire games began. Most teams started on the softs, including the leaders. After Lap 17 Alonso, Vettel and Button all switched to the medium compounds as if they were reading each other’s minds. Position remained largely unchanged while Kobayashi and Di Resta had a good go for 6th. Schumacher was again doing well while teammate Rosberg was not. Here tell Shumi may be signing on for yet another year with Mercedes.

On lap 42 Alonso and Vettel pitted at the same time; Alonso retained the lead and Button stole second from Vettel, much to his pleasure we would imagine. The leaders were now on the harder compounds hoping to make them last for the remaining laps.

We watched as Alonso actually increased his lead over Button…but again, would his tires hold out? Ten laps to go…and still hanging in there. By lap 64 of 67, Alonso had a three-second lead over Button. Vettel then passed Button, but did so very clearly with all four tires off the track…and the pass was ruled illegal and he was dropped to fifth overall. Best run of the day as we see it was Kobayashi who worked himself up to fourth.

With a great sight of relief on our part, Alonso won his third race of the season and is now 34 points ahead of Webber in the chase for the title. Given almost perfectly similar tires and tire strategies, Ferrari and Alonso pulled off a remarkable and well-deserved victory. But we are only half way there.

Race Results

1	ALONSO	Ferrari	1h31m05.682s
2	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 6.9s
3	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	+ 16.4s
4	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 21.9s
5	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	+ 23.7s
6	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	+ 27.8s
7	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	+ 28.9s
8	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	+ 46.9s
9	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	+ 48.1s
10	ROSBERG	Mercedes	+ 48.8s
11	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	+ 59.2s
12	MASSA	Ferrari	+ 71.4s
13	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	+ 76.8s
14	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	+ 76.9s
15	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	+ 1 lap
16	PETROV	Caterham-Renault	+ 1 lap
17	SENNA	Williams-Renault	+ 1 lap
18	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	+ 1 lap
19	KOVALAINEN	Caterham-Renault	+ 2 laps
20	PIC	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 2 laps
21	DE LA ROSA	HRT-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
22	GLOCK	Marussia-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
23	KARTHIKEYAN	HRT-Cosworth	+ 3 laps
24	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	+ 11 laps, puncture damage
Fastest Lap	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	1m18.725s

Note – Vettel originally finished second, but had 20s added to race time for leaving track and gaining advantage. Grosjean, Rosberg, Webber were penalised five grid places for unscheduled gearbox changes; Perez was penalised five grid places for impeding.

Driver’s Championship Standings

1	ALONSO	Ferrari	154 Points
2	WEBBER	RBR-Renault	120 Points
3	VETTEL	RBR-Renault	110 Points
4	Räikkönen	Lotus-Renault	98 Points
5	HAMILTON	McLaren-Mercedes	92 Points
6	ROSBERG	Mercedes	76 Points
7	BUTTON	McLaren-Mercedes	68 Points
8	GROSJEAN	Lotus-Renault	61 Points
9	PEREZ	Sauber-Ferrari	47 Points
10	KOBAYASHI	Sauber-Ferrari	33 Points
11	MALDONADO	Williams-Renault	29 Points
12	SCHUMACHER	Mercedes	29 Points
13	DI RESTA	Force India-Mercedes	27 Points
14	MASSA	Ferrari	23 Points
15	HULKENBERG	Force India-Mercedes	19 Points
16	SENNA	Williams-Renault	18 Points
17	VERGNE	STR-Ferrari	4 Points
18	RICCIARDO	STR-Ferrari	2 Points

Constructor’s Championship Standings

1	RBR-RENAULT	230 Points
2	FERRARI	177 Points
3	McLaren-Mercedes	160 Points
4	Lotus-Renault	159 Points
5	MERCEDES	105 Points
6	SAUBER-FERRARI	80 Points
7	WILLIAMS-RENAULT	47 Points
8	FORCE INDIA-MERCEDES	46 Points
9	STR-FERRARI	6 Points