German Grand Prix result - 60 laps
1. WEBBER Red Bull
2. VETTEL Red Bull +9.2s
3. MASSA Ferrari +15.9s
4. ROSBERG Williams +21.0s
5. BUTTON Brawn +23.6s
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn +24.4s
7. ALONSO Renault +24.8s
8. KOVALAINEN McLaren +58.6s
This was one of the more exciting grand prix of the season, and resulted in the 3rd winner of the year. Mark Webber finally breaking his long overdue duck.
The Aussie was in a league of his own this weekend, being even more dominant than team-mate Vettel two weeks ago in Britain. Red Bull are on the charge right now and championship leader Jensen Button must be hoping for a heatwave in the next few races to get back on the podium and stop his ever decreasing title lead.
I typcial Mark Webber style, there were a few obstacles along the way, most of his own doing,the difference however, was that he was so fast, not one obstacle was going to stop him, everything was going to go his way sooner or later.
The start was certainly one of the most dramatic of 2009, Webber failed to make a great getaway and Barrichellio, starting 2nd, quickly pulled up alongside, many have felt the force of Webber's aggressive driving before, and today it was Rubens' turn, as they bumped tyre to sidepod heading down to turn one.
It was a very Schumacher-esque, bold move by Webber, but Rubens was not to be frightened and surged ahead. While keeping an eye on Barrichello, Webber had failed to spot the KERS supported Mclaren of Hamilton, rejuvenated after major improvements on the car. As the front trio entered the braking zone for turn one, Hamilton was inadvertantly squeezing Webber into Rubens, with the result being that the reigning champions right rear had the lightest of touches against the Red Bull front wing end plate, but it was enough to give the Mclaren a puncture and ruin the Britons race, he had been in the lead for all of 10 yards.
Behind Rubens and Webber, Vettel and Button both got swamped by the KERS boys of Kovalainen and Massa, and this would have a significant impact on the race result, as the Finnish Mclaren driver, without the new rear diffuser, was to hold up the men behind him at up to 2 seconds a lap.
As the front two pulled away at a rapid rate, the race was given a twist on lap 9, with the announcement from the stewards that the bumping between Webber and Barrichello was being investigated.
The eventual outcome was a drive through penalty for Webber,but by the time the announcement was made, and given the 3 laps allowed before the driver has to serve his penalty, the gap to Kovalainen was some 17seconds, more than enough to rejoin the race in the lead.
Webber made his drive through on the same lap as Rubens made his 1st of 3 stops at the end of lap 14.
Rubens resumed from his pitstop behind Kovalainen, but more crucially, behind Felipe Massa, again destroying his team mate in a race, and who would not be stopping for another 11 laps.
Webber's first stop was quick, and, switching from super softs to the harder compound for the long middle stint, rejoined the circuit some 12 seconds behind Barrichello who was being stuck behind Massa, and so he quickly cut the deficit to some 6s before the Ferrari pitted.
This did not help Barrichello at all, as the Brawn, struggling on the significant track temperature increase, was being eaten alive by the Aussie in the Red Bull, whose harder tyres were driving perfectly in the hotter weather.
The time Webber closed up to Rubens would win him the race, he had one stop less to make then the 9 time grand prix winner and was the fastest man in Europe this weekend.
Rubens needed to at least maintain the gap to Webber to have a chance of winning, if not increase it. But the Red Bull was in another race today and Rubens had to concede.
As Rubens made his second stop, Webber was gone, not to be seen again until the podium celebrations.
The Brawn's would eventually pay for having to go on a 3 stop strategy, being outraced by Massa and Nico Rosberg, who from 15th, was 9th by lap one and produced strong race pace.
Jensen Button had another tough race, being eaten by KERS cars at the start and never really being able to produce good lap times in a car that was struggling so much with its tyres. He and Barrichello can count themselves lucky that others hit trouble, otherwise 5th and 6th could have become much worse.
Raikkonen was not far behind Rosberg and Massa when he hit engine trouble, not before destroying Adrian Sutil's fantastic performance, having run as high as 2nd, he was on course for a top7 place before colliding with the 2007 champion after exciting the pits.
Another man who could have had a say in the Brawn's day was Fernando Alonso, who, showing some serious late race pace in the Renault, including setting the fastest lap by a large margin, was giving the former Honda team some serious pressure in the latter stages.
Hungary is next, in 2 weeks time, and Button will be keen to stop losing points to the Red Bull men, both of whom are one fine form, as is the car and the team. He will also be keen to stop being beaten by Massa and Rosberg, which could have a huge impact in the championship outcome.
Red Bull meantime will be gunning for a 3rd succesive 1-2, and now have 2 grand prix race winners who have never driven better, but will the hungaroring suit their fast-corner loving cars as much as in recent races?
Full German Grand Prix result - 60 laps
1. WEBBER Red Bull
2. VETTEL Red Bull +9.2s
3. MASSA Ferrari +15.9s
4. ROSBERG Williams +21.0s
5. BUTTON Brawn +23.6s
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn +24.4s
7. ALONSO Renault +24.8s
8. KOVALAINEN McLaren +58.6s
9. GLOCK Toyota +61.4s
10. HEIDFELD BMW +61.9s
11. FISICHELLA Force India +62.3s
12. NAKAJIMA Williams +62.8s
13. PIQUET Renault +68.3s
14. KUBICA BMW +69.5s
15. SUTIL Force India +71.9s
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso +90.2s
17. TRULLI Toyota +90.9s
18. HAMILTON McLaren +1 lap
R. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +25 laps
R. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +41 laps
Fastest lap: ALONSO 1m33.365s
Drivers Championship Table.
1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 68
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 47
3. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 45.5
4. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 44
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari 22
6. Jarno Trulli Toyota 21.5
7. Nico Rosberg Williams 20.5
Constructors Table
1. Brawn GP 112
2. Red Bull Racing 92.5
3. Toyota 34.5
4. Ferrari 32
5. Williams 20.5
6. McLaren Mercedes 14
7. Renault 13
8. BMW Sauber 8
9. Scuderia Toro Rosso 5
