Vettel Wins At The Nürburgring

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel held off a strong challenge from Kimi Räikkönen and Lotus to win his home grand prix in German Grand Prix for the first time.

The Red Bull driver grabbed the lead at the start after out-dragging the polesitter, Lewis Hamilton, and fending off fast-starting team mate Mark Webber into the Nurburgring’s first corner. The young German then controlled the pace as the first round of pit stops pushed Romain Grosjean into a challenging position as the Frenchman ran a long opening stint for Lotus.

Grosjean led laps nine to 13 but he lost his advantage over team mate Raikkonen after an almost funny moment on the 24th lap. 

Jules Bianchi’s Marussia ground to a halt on the rise to the NGK chicane on the 22nd lap, momentarily catching fire, and two laps after the Frenchman had abandoned it there (and before the marshals had recovered it) the red and black car began to roll slowly back down the hill, across the track. Thankfully, nobody was approaching at the time, but the safety car was deployed and did not go in until the end of the 29th lap, with racing resuming on the 30th tour.

Vettel's team-mate Mark Webber's race seemed to be ended at his first pit stop when an error from Red Bull saw him leave his pit box with a loose right rear wheel. The wheel detached and struck an FOM cameraman (who broke his collar bone and two ribs and was taken to Koblenz hospital to be kept under observation) leaving Webber a lap down when he rejoined.

Webber lost a lap before restarting, but was waved past the safety car to make up that lap before the race was allowed to restart.

The safety car came into pits at the end of lap 29, leaving just over half the race for the pair of Lotus' to attempt to pass Vettel. At this stage in the race, Vettel was struggling with a KERS issue. Grosjean was able to close within a second, but it became clear that if Lotus wanted to find a way past Red Bull they would have to employ strategy.

Romain Grosjean then became the pawn in a high-speed chess match. Grosjean was called into the pits for a new set of tyres (much earlier than he needed them). Which saw Vettel and Red Bull (who still had to make another stop) forced to react in attempts to avoid Grosjean undercutting him and a lap later the Red Bull entered the pits. 

Kimi Räikkönen was then let loose in the lead and had two options before him: First was to try to make it to  the end of the race on his current set (which would require a risky 36-lap stint) or second, make a late pit stop to take on fresh tyres and attack the leader. Lotus opted for the second option and Räikkönen pitted with ten laps remaining for a set of soft tyres.

The Finn rejoined 2.3 seconds behind Grosjean (who was 1.5secs behind Vettel) with Alonso a further 4.4secs behind.

Räikkönen managed to closed in on Grosjean (who was then ordered to let the Finn by with five laps to go) and had five laps to close the 2.5-second lead to Vettel. He managed to close to within a second at the start of the final lap but although that put him in the range that allowed him to use the DRS overtaking aid, he was too far back when he entered the zone leading up to the final chicane and Vettel held on to win by one second. 

Behind them, Fernando Alonso’s stealthy race for Ferrari brought him to Grosjean’s tail in the closing stages. He had stayed on medium tyres for most of the race until taking on the softs on the 53rd lap for the last stint. At one stage it seemed a likely that he would pass the second Lotus, but Grosjean held on for a much-needed podium finish.

The result increases Vettel’s points score to 157 with Alonso on 123 from Räikkönen's 116, Hamilton 99, Webber 93 and Rosberg 84. 

In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull have 250 to Mercedes’ 183, with Ferrari third on 180, Lotus on 157, Force India on 59 and McLaren on 49.

Sebastian Vettel	Winner
Kimi Räikkönen	Second
Romain Grosjean	Third
Fernando Alonso	P4
Lewis Hamilton	P5
Jenson Button	P6
Mark Webber	P7
Sergio Perez	P8
Nico Rosberg	P9
Nico Hülkenberg	P10
Paul di Resta	P11
Daniel Ricciardo	P12
Adrian Sutil	P13
Esteban Gutiérrez	P14
Pastor Maldonado	P15
Valtteri Bottas	P16
Charles Pic	P17
Giedo van der Garde	P18
Max Chilton	P19
Jean-Éric Vergne	Retired (Hydraulics)
Jules Bianchi	Retired (Engine)
Felipe Massa	Retired (Spun Off)