2010 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim
Another race which apparently could have been dominated by the Red Bull team in spite of the Ferrari new found speed and challenge, was completely thrown away in the first corner.
Vettel made a horrible start and in stead of concentrating on the road ahead, he used all sorts of trickery (aka blocking maneuvers) to stop Alonso from taking the lead in that first corner.
in fact he was so busy that allowed Massa to pass both Vettel (who was slow at the start and busy blocking Alonso, and teammate Alonso as he was being blocked, in turn Alonso still
manages to get ahead of Vettel,and it is a Ferrari 1-2 from the start. In the melee, Webber runs wide and is passed by Hamilton.
During the race, multiple times Alonso demonstrates he is the faster of the Ferraris, but having seen the experience of both Red Bull and McLaren, he thinks twice about going to battle with his own teammate. particularly when there is a history with Massa, when Alonso used to be a McLaren driver.
The weather never became a factor during the race, however tire wear has, and the leading drivers manage tire swapping well, and manage to keep the Ferraris ahead.
Force India has a terrible tire changing session, mixing the hard compound (3) with the option (soft) tire (1) on BOTH Sutil and Liuzi, so both drivers have to come in to correct the problem.
lots of battles amongst the second tier drivers makes it for less than a procession race. At the lead, Alonso complains about being faster than teammate Massa, and given the points
difference between Alonso and Massa, Rob Medley, (Massa's engineer at team Ferrari) politely points out to Massa the obvious, (a way to hide team orders in this hypocritical environment). a couple of corners later, Massa lets Alonso by who takes victory and narrows the difference with Hamilton in the championship.
Behind the Ferraris come Vettel, having messed up his start once again, followed by the McLaren duo, Hamilton and Button, both drivers leading the champsionship 1 - 2, then Webber, who makes the last driver on the same lap.
Kubica leads the best of the rest, ahead of Roseberg, who agains finishes ahead of Schumacher, then Petrov finishing in 10th just ahead of 2010 Japanese revelation Kamui Kpoayashi.
There are three drivers whose performance during 2010 has been very good, and one wonders if these three were driving for the likes of Ferrari, Red Bull, or McLaren what sort of performance they would have... these three being Kubica, Kobayashi, and Petrov. same goes for Roseberg. However in Roseberg's case, it is very possible that by next year Mercedes will be a contender.
The race stewards make it clear they are not happy with the situation and the team is refereed to the FIA committee, for now the result stands. this is a ridiculous situation. Team orders have been part of the sport since inception, so it is clear that another attempt by bureaucrats (from FIA and the organizing committees) want to stick their noses in what is a logical impulse by a team manager.
Ferrari has no desire to see both cars losing positions -or the entire race as we saw with Red Bukk in Istanbul.
It is worth mentioning that it was exactly a year ago at the Hungarian GP that Felipe Massa had the accident that almost finished his career. it is good to see Massa back and now once again fighting for the lead.
Next, the Hungarian GP
Pos Driver Team Laps Gap
1 Alonso Ferrari 67 1h 27:38.864
2 Massa Ferrari 67 + 0:04.193
3 Vettel Red Bull 67 + 0:05.121
4 Hamilton McLaren 67 + 0:26.896
5 Button McLaren 67 + 0:29.482
6 Webber Red Bull 67 + 0:43.606
7 Kubica Renault 66 + 1 Lap
8 Rosberg Mercedes 66 + 1 Lap
9 Schumacher Mercedes 66 + 1 Lap
10 Petrov Renault 66 + 1 Lap
11 Kobayashi Sauber 66 + 1 Lap
12 Barrichello Williams 66 + 1 Lap
13 Hulkenberg Williams 66 + 1 Lap
14 de la Rosa Sauber 66 + 1 Lap
15 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 66 + 1 Lap
16 Liuzzi Force India 65 + 2 Laps
17 Sutil Force India 65 + 2 Laps
18 Glock Virgin 64 + 3 Laps
19 Senna HRT 63 + 4 Laps
Ret Kovalainen Lotus 56 Accident Damage
Ret di Grassi Virgin 50 Broken Wishbone
Ret Yamamoto HRT 19 Retired
Ret Trulli Lotus 3 Gearbox
Ret Buemi Toro Rosso 1 Accident Damage
Fastest Lap: Vettel (Red Bull) 1:15.824 (Lap 67)
2010 F-1 World Championship standings
Pos Driver Team Pts Wins Poles F/Laps
1 Hamilton McLaren 157 2 1 2
2 Button McLaren 143 2 1
3 Webber Red Bull 136 3 4 2
4 Vettel Red Bull 136 2 6 2
5 Alonso Ferrari 123 2 2
6 Rosberg Mercedes 94
7 Kubica Renault 89 1
8 Massa Ferrari 85
9 Schumacher Mercedes 38
10 Sutil Force India 35
11 Barrichello Williams 29
12 Kobayashi Sauber 15
13 Liuzzi Force India 12
14 Petrov Renault 7 1
15 Buemi Toro Rosso 7
16 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 3
17 Hulkenberg Williams 2
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