German GP – Race: Hamilton wins, Red Bull stumbles

As the teams had predicted yesterday, the rain arrived just a few minutes before the start, creating total uncertainty regarding the choice of tires. Indeed, the GP2 race that took place earlier in the morning showed that the track does not dry uniformly across the sectors. However, the drivers are keeping the dry-weather tires, as the rain is not strong enough at the start.

At the start, it is Lewis Hamilton who takes the lead and Sebastian Vettel loses 4th place to Fernando Alonso. Nick Heidfeld and Paul di Resta fell victim to spins during the first lap, pushing them to the back of the field. Fernando Alonso makes a mistake later on, allowing Sebastian Vettel to reclaim his third place. Jenson Button is once again the victim of a poor start while Felipe Massa attacks Nico Rosberg, who passed him after the Brazilian driver was pushed off track at the start.

Lewis Hamilton is gradually caught up by Mark Webber, while Karun Chandhok is at the very back behind Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian manages to close the gap to less than a second behind the Briton and should be able to use his DRS if he continues to press the McLaren driver. Kamui Kobayashi makes a great comeback, finding himself on the verge of scoring points after 7 laps.

Fernando Alonso then manages to pass Sebastian Vettel on the straight, the German seems to be in trouble given the almost slow-motion times compared to his teammate. And it is Sergio Perez who opens the pit stop ballet, while the reigning world champion spun off at turn number 10, going through the water. Nico Rosberg finds himself within reach of the Red Bull driver.

Nick Heidfeld makes a mistake and destroys the front of his car, ending up in the gravel after colliding with Sebastien Buemi. The German is under investigation. Felipe Massa overtakes Nico Rosberg upon re-acceleration, while Mark Webber overtakes Lewis Hamilton near the yellow flag, before losing the position again at the first corner.

Great battle for the top positions, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, and Fernando Alonso are within the same second. Right after, the Australian switches to new tires, followed by Nico Rosberg. Pit stops have begun while Jenson Button aggressively challenges a very defensive Vitaly Petrov. The British driver’s teammate also heads to the pits while Felipe Massa, followed by Mark Webber, overtakes Sebastian Vettel who stops. The Red Bull Australian managed to get ahead of Lewis Hamilton after the first pit stops but remains behind Felipe Massa, who stops on the next lap.

And the Brazilian comes out ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who sets the fastest final sector. Rubens Barrichello retires following a pit stop due to a lack of oil, while rain appears on the onboard cameras. Felipe Massa overtakes Kamui Kobayashi before putting pressure on Vitaly Petrov, who has been overtaken by Jenson Button. After a lap, both drivers overtake easily, taking advantage of much fresher tires.

The Russian is also overtaken by the two Mercedes drivers, with Michael Schumacher even attempting an attack on Nico Rosberg afterwards. But the seven-time world champion spins and loses about 15 seconds to his teammate. The drivers on alternate strategies also make their stops, while Jenson Button loses two seconds per lap, a victim of his strategy that anticipated rain.

The top three drivers are within three seconds of each other, while Sebastian Vettel is warned of potential rear brake issues. On the thirtieth lap, Mark Webber starts losing time due to tire degradation and heads straight to the pits to switch to soft tires. Lewis Hamilton follows suit on the next lap, while Fernando Alonso decides to stay out one more lap and push hard. The Briton emerges just ahead of Mark Webber and manages to maintain the advantage, while the Ferrari driver exits the pits side by side with Lewis Hamilton, who subsequently takes the lead. The McLaren driver sets the fastest time to gain an edge over the Spaniard. Further down the field, Jenson Button pressures Nico Rosberg into making a mistake to secure sixth position.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso both created a gap with their direct opponents while Jenson Button retired due to a hydraulic problem. There was also a nice duel between Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Rosberg, with the Japanese driver climbing to seventh place before giving way to the German. Vitantonio Liuzzi also retired, while Sebastian Vettel went to the pits but maintained his position. Michael Schumacher, after a new stop, overtook Jaime Alguersuari with a very good maneuver, while Felipe Massa mimicked the Red Bull driver, coming out just ahead of him. Despite only 17 laps remaining, the drivers will have to stop again to switch to medium tires, as required by regulations. Unless the expected showers for the end of the race make this regulation point moot.

Michael Schumacher puts on a show and pushes Vitaly Petrov into making a mistake, then sets off to attack Kamui Kobayashi. The Russian then heads to the pits to put on medium tires, and all eyes are on him to see the difference in lap time.

Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, receives the information that he can attack and sets the fastest lap in the race, stringing together qualifying laps to attack Felipe Massa. The two drivers exchange the fastest times in each sector. The Brazilian locks his wheels under braking while setting laps much faster than those of his teammate, who is starting to be caught up by Mark Webber, who attacks by setting the best second sector.

Lewis Hamilton reacts to this by pitting for medium tires, being the first of the three top teams, and comes out in third position. The McLaren driver seems faster with the medium tires in the first sector, and the Briton appears to be in a good position for victory given the times he’s achieving compared to the competition. Fernando Alonso realizes this too late and comes out behind Lewis Hamilton after his pit stop. The battle for the fourth position is also very tough, with Felipe Massa fully resisting the pressure from Sebastian Vettel.

As a result, other drivers are changing their tires since the performance gain seems real.

Mark Webber returns to the pits with three laps to go, coming back out in third place, as the rain never came.

In the last two laps, Red Bull asked Sebastian Vettel to do the opposite of Felipe Massa to adjust their strategy. However, both drivers pitted at the same time, and the Ferrari team had a problem during their driver’s pit stop, allowing Sebastian Vettel to take fourth place.

Lewis Hamilton therefore wins a very eventful Grand Prix, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, with three teams in the top three positions. The championship leader finishes fourth, which is his worst result of the season but still maintains more than three victories’ lead over everyone else. A great race also from Kamui Kobayashi, who scores points after a fantastic comeback, and Adrian Sutil, who finishes ahead of the two Mercedes drivers.

See you next weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix, also to be followed on casinoenligne.uk.com.

Ranking of the 2001 German Grand Prix: