The German Grand Prix held at Hockenheim is a favourite among drivers and fans especially the German home crowd who came out in force to see Sebastian Vettel continue his 2012 Championship Crusade along with the Mercedes line-up of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher.
However, it was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who took an unpredicted win, he was in a class of his own and held off Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Vettel and Red Bull started the weekend fighting with the stewards and ended the weekend much the same way. It was extremely controversial for Milton Keynes-based team as they firstly had to dismiss technical irregularities that threatened to have both cars removed from the race and later Vettel was given a 20-second time penalty post-race. This was for overtaking Jenson Button on the penultimate lap while off the track. The young German went from second to fifth, which cost him eight championship points.
Vettel was outspoken about McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who he labeled “stupid” and “lacking in common sense” for un-lapping himself while being a lap behind due to a puncture. Hamilton, later said that the Vettel had “showed his maturity” with his outburst shortly after the stewards gave him his post-race penalty.
Hamilton’s 100th grand prix was over almost before it started as he picked up a puncture caused by debris on the track which was a massive shame as he was running a new upgrade package. Button took second place after Vettel was demoted showing the new pace of the car.
Kimi Räikkönen inherited the final podium position in the German Grand Prix, “Let’s see what we can do in the second half of the season. Now I am fourth in the Driver’s Championship with only a small gap to the drivers directly in front.”
Alonso is now thirty years old and has 30 grand prix victories under his belt. It will be interesting when we get to season’s end to see what effect this loss of eight points has on Vettel’s title position.
