The German Grand Prix held on the Hockenheimring is steeped in tradition and history. The track was originally built in 1932 using roads in the forest, this later became the fastest F1 circuit until the track was redesigned in 2001.
Ferrari’s overdue win was a convincing 1-2 finish but before the team could enjoy the champagne, Ferrari became engulfed in controversy. The stewards have imposed a £60,000 fine on the team for allegedly ordering Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso over take.
The almost perfect qualifying performance of Red Bull this season continued as the home fans were delighted to see home boy Sebastian Vettel on poll position. His team mate Mark Webber made a mistake on his final qualifying lap and ended up 6th on the grid.
The start saw a clean break and a massive fight from Vettel to defend his place from both the Ferrari’s after a poor start. Vettel lost the lead to Massa and another position to Alonso, and was never really able to match their pace after. Lewis Hamilton was able to pass Webber’s Red Bull on the opening lap to ensure total disarray in the Red Bull garage.
The all German team Mercedes had a torrid weekend. Schumacher ran ahead of Rosberg until his pit stop, but a long run by the younger German saw him take over eighth place to finish just ahead of the veteran. Schumacher & Rosberg were lapped on Mercedes home ground as their cars lacked raw pace.
“That’s quite shocking, isn’t it?” Rosberg said of the result compared to Silverstone. I think it’s just our upgrades haven’t brought what we’d hoped for. It’s just so difficult because you have different conditions when you're building it in the factory to when it actually goes on the race track.”
Schumacher added that he was particularly surprised because the team had felt it had rectified its problems from qualifying in time to perform better in the race. “It’s certainly something our boss, and he’s very capable of this, will analyse and find solutions to in future,” Schumacher said.
After the race maintaining Ferrari’s innocence, team principal Stefano Domenicali stated: “As for the stewards’ decision, given after the race, in the interests of the sport, we have decided not to go through a procedure of appealing against it, confident that the World Council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly.”
When asked if he felt he had deserved to win, Massa replied: “I think so, I don't think I need to say anything about that,” said Massa.
“He passed me… The only thing I feel is that we’re working for the team and we’re doing a very good job for the team.”
Alonso’s win took him to within 34 points of Hamilton, who has 157 points, defending champion Button is second with 143 points, while Webber and Vettel are equal third with 136 points.
The next race which is the Formula 1 Eni Magyar Nagydij 2010 held in Hungary will see if the Ferrari prancing horse was a one trick pony or formidable enough to take on the Red Bulls once again.
