08-07-2013, 22:17
Romain Grosjean was robbed of a German GP victory by the most stupid deployment of the Health and Safety Car yet seen.
Star of the Race
Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 3rd
Grosjean should and could have won today, if only there hadn't been a Safety Car. Having stopped six laps later than Sebastian Vettel, and clearly making his tyres work better, he was on course for an easy two-stop race. He made a set of Softs last till the end of Lap 13 - and he was still lapping at the same speed or slightly faster than the cars behind when he did come in.
After the first round of pit-stops on Lap 17 he was 2.8 behind Vettel (and closing), 5.2 in front of Button, who was 3.9 in front of Hamilton, who was 0.6 in front of Raikkonen. He was already nine seconds up on Raikkonen and lapping faster than him.
When the Safety Car came out he was forced to pit, and so his set of Mediums were used for just 10 laps before he had to take on another set. The gap from Grosjean to Vettel had come down to 1.9 seconds on Lap 22 and he would have inherited the lead when Vettel came in for a second time. Vettel had to stop three times, Grosjean could easily have made it on two, as could Kimi Raikkonen. Before the runaway Marussia spooked out Charlie Whiting, Lotus were on course for a 1-2.
Through no fault of Romain's he was demoted to P2 - which he had to hand over to the disappointed one. He may have been a bit sluggish at the re-start but his final few laps defence of P3 from a storming Alonso was impressive.
Overtaking Move of the Race
Lap 60, Lewis Hamilton on Jenson Button
There were some epic Raikkonen moves around the outside of cars in the DRS zone up to the Schumi chicane, but by and large they relied on the overtaking car not fighting too hard as Raikkonen sliced across the apex. Had he tried that with an unwilling Perez then we might have got some interesting post-race quotes.
Hamilton's last lap pass on Button around the outside of Turn 3 as the two cars battled it out for a precious fifth place looked like it might not come off, he'd tried it on Maldonado and had to back off. This time the stakes were higher, so Hamilton kept his foot in and persisted. Jenson's fading Softs couldn't hold on and the Mercedes was through.
Winners
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1st
It's pretty clear that god is a Ferrari fan, who likes to meddle with other teams too, especially when it comes to the "good lord giveth and the good lord taketh away" bit. Last weekend he took Sebastian Vettel's win away, this weekend he chucked in a Safety Car which helped him stave off Grosjean and Raikkonen.
Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus, 2nd
We didn't think we'd see the day when Kimi Raikkonen lamented the lack of contact with his team over race radio, but there you go. Raikkonen re-invigorated his Championship campaign with a P2 which could have shaken out as a P1 or even a P3 had the cards fallen a different way. It was another great drive with some decisive overtaking moves.
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 4th
Alonso is reprising his 2012 campaign by making the most out of any situation and pushing the car to its absolute limit. His start wasn't the best and the Ferrari tactic of using scrubbed Mediums from Saturday didn't work because they were gone by Lap 12. Fernando must have been grateful that Lewis Hamilton opted for more tyres on Lap 22 when he hadn't been able to find a way past for three consecutive laps and then the Safety Car allowed him to jump the leading Mercedes driver comfortably.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 5th
On sheer pace, 5th is probably the best Lewis could have hoped for - both Red Bulls and both Lotuses were quicker than him and more kindly to their tyres. He put in an epic defence of 5th place against Alonso from Lap 18 onwards and was gloomy about his result after the race. Presumably this was heightened by the assumption that Kevlar-belted rear tyres were going to be far more manageable than steel-belted ones.
Sigue
http://www.planetf1.com/race-features/88...and-Losers
Star of the Race
Romain Grosjean, Lotus, 3rd
Grosjean should and could have won today, if only there hadn't been a Safety Car. Having stopped six laps later than Sebastian Vettel, and clearly making his tyres work better, he was on course for an easy two-stop race. He made a set of Softs last till the end of Lap 13 - and he was still lapping at the same speed or slightly faster than the cars behind when he did come in.
After the first round of pit-stops on Lap 17 he was 2.8 behind Vettel (and closing), 5.2 in front of Button, who was 3.9 in front of Hamilton, who was 0.6 in front of Raikkonen. He was already nine seconds up on Raikkonen and lapping faster than him.
When the Safety Car came out he was forced to pit, and so his set of Mediums were used for just 10 laps before he had to take on another set. The gap from Grosjean to Vettel had come down to 1.9 seconds on Lap 22 and he would have inherited the lead when Vettel came in for a second time. Vettel had to stop three times, Grosjean could easily have made it on two, as could Kimi Raikkonen. Before the runaway Marussia spooked out Charlie Whiting, Lotus were on course for a 1-2.
Through no fault of Romain's he was demoted to P2 - which he had to hand over to the disappointed one. He may have been a bit sluggish at the re-start but his final few laps defence of P3 from a storming Alonso was impressive.
Overtaking Move of the Race
Lap 60, Lewis Hamilton on Jenson Button
There were some epic Raikkonen moves around the outside of cars in the DRS zone up to the Schumi chicane, but by and large they relied on the overtaking car not fighting too hard as Raikkonen sliced across the apex. Had he tried that with an unwilling Perez then we might have got some interesting post-race quotes.
Hamilton's last lap pass on Button around the outside of Turn 3 as the two cars battled it out for a precious fifth place looked like it might not come off, he'd tried it on Maldonado and had to back off. This time the stakes were higher, so Hamilton kept his foot in and persisted. Jenson's fading Softs couldn't hold on and the Mercedes was through.
Winners
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1st
It's pretty clear that god is a Ferrari fan, who likes to meddle with other teams too, especially when it comes to the "good lord giveth and the good lord taketh away" bit. Last weekend he took Sebastian Vettel's win away, this weekend he chucked in a Safety Car which helped him stave off Grosjean and Raikkonen.
Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus, 2nd
We didn't think we'd see the day when Kimi Raikkonen lamented the lack of contact with his team over race radio, but there you go. Raikkonen re-invigorated his Championship campaign with a P2 which could have shaken out as a P1 or even a P3 had the cards fallen a different way. It was another great drive with some decisive overtaking moves.
Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 4th
Alonso is reprising his 2012 campaign by making the most out of any situation and pushing the car to its absolute limit. His start wasn't the best and the Ferrari tactic of using scrubbed Mediums from Saturday didn't work because they were gone by Lap 12. Fernando must have been grateful that Lewis Hamilton opted for more tyres on Lap 22 when he hadn't been able to find a way past for three consecutive laps and then the Safety Car allowed him to jump the leading Mercedes driver comfortably.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 5th
On sheer pace, 5th is probably the best Lewis could have hoped for - both Red Bulls and both Lotuses were quicker than him and more kindly to their tyres. He put in an epic defence of 5th place against Alonso from Lap 18 onwards and was gloomy about his result after the race. Presumably this was heightened by the assumption that Kevlar-belted rear tyres were going to be far more manageable than steel-belted ones.
Sigue
http://www.planetf1.com/race-features/88...and-Losers
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