Sunday: Vettel and Ricciardo have fun with Alonso at Hockenheim

Sebastian Vettel (No. 1) – 4th

For his home race, the four-time world champion had a lot of fun, especially in his battle with Fernando Alonso: « It was funny with Fernando today: we picked up where we left off at Silverstone! It was very fun in the first half of the race and, at one point, it was quite tight with the two Ferraris, but we managed to stay ahead. » So tight that the Red Bull driver touched Kimi Räikkönen, sandwiched with his Spanish teammate as the second slice.

The driver with number 1 was able to lean towards a more aggressive strategy, which made the difference: The second stop was a bit too close, and Fernando was able to pass me without too much difficulty, which set us back, but we decided to be a bit more aggressive until the end to ensure we did the undercut and then we were able to widen the gap, which was crucial for us as we were quite tight on fuel.

Daniel Ricciardo (No. 3) – 6th

For the Australian, the race was eventful even though the start, due to the Massa / Magnussen collision, cost him dearly: « It was an extremely fun race, one of the most enjoyable races I’ve participated in. I mean…not in the first lap, obviously, I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn’t worse than Massa, and I hope he’s okay. I was on the outside when the collision happened, I had to avoid it, and I went very far off the track. »

He reflects on his fierce battle with Fernando Alonso at the end of the Grand Prix: From there, I just said on the radio: Let’s make an exceptional comeback and make ourselves proud. And I think we did, we fought hard, and we gave it our all. These are moments and battles that I love. Fernando is known for being a tough driver, who better to have a battle with? I was on soft tires, and he was on fresher super-softs, and I fought as best as I could and… well… almost!