Germany – Racing: Strategy Summary

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) converted his pole position into a third victory of the season in Germany, increasing his lead in the world championship. It is also the 22nd consecutive finish in the points for the Spaniard. Alonso opted for a two-stop strategy to take command of the race, only relinquishing the lead during his pit stops. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) crossed the finish line in second position ahead of Jenson Button, but received a 20-second penalty for his overtaking maneuver on Button. The German thus finished fifth in the Grand Prix.

After a rainy qualifying session, the drivers had the choice to start with either the medium P Zero White or the soft P Zero Yellow compounds. The top 10, led by Alonso, decided to start the Grand Prix on softs, with only five cars opting for the medium: Kobayashi’s Sauber, Jean-Eric Vergne’s Toro Rosso, Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes (starting 21st on the grid due to a gearbox penalty), and the two Marussia cars driven by Timo Glock and Charles Pic.

The race took place with an ambient temperature of 21°C, with teams having limited information about the slick tires on the Hockenheim track after two days of intermittent rain. Most drivers thus had almost their entire allocation of soft tires, having only run during the final free practice on Saturday morning and in Q1 for some teams.

Alonso led the race from the start, while pit strategy allowed Jenson Button to gain a position during his last stop on lap 40, by coming in a lap earlier than Alonso and Vettel to fit his last set of medium tires. The two leaders reacted a lap later by fitting the same compound, but Button’s earlier stop allowed him to overtake Vettel and move into second place. However, Vettel managed to overtake Button in a way that was ultimately deemed incorrect by the race direction.

Lewis Hamilton was less fortunate than his teammate: following a puncture caused by debris, Hamilton made an unexpected pit stop and returned to the track at the back of the pack, putting him out of reach of the leaders. However, the benefit of the Briton’s fresh tires was such that he managed to un-lap himself from the leaders, on a different strategy, just after his first stop. A demonstration, if there ever was one, of the importance of having the right tires at the right time.

The top 6 adopted a two-stop strategy, with Michael Schumacher achieving the best performance of the drivers who opted for three stops, finishing in seventh place and setting the fastest lap. His teammate Nico Rosberg used a three-stop strategy to move up 11 positions and finish 10th, earning the last available point.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: « The teams adopted a fairly flexible approach to strategies, with very little running in dry conditions before today. As a result, we saw a wide variety of ideas and tactics at play. The strategies adopted allowed us to witness a very balanced race, with the leaders rarely losing contact by more than a few seconds. With 20 laps to go, the top three were within less than three seconds and remained in formation until the finish. The majority of the teams opted for a two-stop strategy, completing the last two stints on medium tires. The final stint was particularly crucial, with drivers having to manage their tires to ensure consistent performance until the finish. The top three all showed great determination in maximizing the potential of the medium tires until the end ».

[From the official statement released by Pirelli]

To better understand this graph, you can use the lap-by-lap summary from the FIA by clicking here.

Summary of Pit Stops at the 2012 German Grand Prix: