Lewis Hamilton started in second place on the grid but made a great start and immediately passed Mark Webber. The race was an exciting one as Hamilton lost and regained the lead twice before winning his 16th F1 Grand Prix.

German Grand Prix
1. Lewis Hamilton (GB) McLaren-Mercedes 1:37:30.334 25
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari  1:37:34.314 18
3. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull-Renault  1:37:40.122 15

It was Lewis Hamilton’s first victory since the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai and was made all the sweeter as Sebastian Vettel failed to collect any points.  But with nine races to go in the F1 2011 season, even with the McLarens and Ferraris driving faster than the Red Bulls, it is difficult to see how anyone but Sebastian Vettel is going to be crowned champion come November.

FIA Formula 1 drivers’ world championship
1   Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 216
2   Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 139
3   Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) 134
4   Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 130
5   Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) 109
6   Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 62
7   Nico Rosberg (Mercedes GP) 46
8   Nick Heidfeld (Renault) 34
9   Vitaly Petrov (Renault) 32
10 Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP) 32

There’s an interesting article on the BBC website where Mark Hughes suggests McLaren’s return to winning ways is not just down to the individual brilliance of Lewis Hamilton but also has to do with the teams’ choice of tyres.

Fernando Alonso – Ferrari 2010

Fernando Alonso crossed the line to take the chequered flag at the F1 German Grand Prix yesterday after Felipe Massa was forced to follow orders from his team, and moved across to let him pass.

The Ferrari team have been fined $100,000 due to a breach in regulations with the case now being referred to the FIA World Motorsport Council for further consideration.

Massa shot past Sebastian Vettel at the outside of turn one while his team-mate took the inside line and was forced wide by the Red Bull as the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton slotted into fourth place.

At the end of the first lap Sebastian Buemi was back in the pits for a new rear wing while Adrian Sutil was also in for a new nose cone.  Jarno Trulli was forced to retire from the race after suffering a gearbox problem on the Lotus as the Force India cars were seen re-entering after it was discovered that the drivers had both been given each others tyres.

Lewis Hamilton had managed to get ahead of Mark Webber after passing him on the inside of the hairpin on the opening lap with Jenson Button sitting in sixth place.

As the race settled down and the front runners had made their first stops it was clear that Massa was struggling on his new harder compound tyres as he was put under pressure from Alonso who attempted a pass on lap 20.  Massa then put in a number of quick laps, creating a 3 second gap before the second Ferrari driver responded and was back on his tail.

It looked that Massa was going to take his first win since his horrific accident 12-months before until he was radioed by his race engineer Rob Smedley informing the Brazilian that “Fernando is faster than you, confirm that you understand”.

On lap 49, Massa was seen to slow down, allowing Alonso to pass him before his engineer once again came on the radio to apologise, making it obvious to all that this had been team orders.

Alonso crossed the line to take the flag, 4 seconds ahead of his unhappy team-mate followed by the Red Bull of Vettel in third.

The two McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button finished in fourth and fifth places respectively ahead of Webber who had suffered with an oil problem the entire race.

Robert Kubica was in seventh position followed by the two Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished in eighth and ninth place while Renault driver Vitaly Petrov completed the top ten drivers of the day.

Here are the results;

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 67laps 1hr 27m 38.864s
2. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 04.1s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 05.1s
4. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 26.8s
5. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 29.4s
6. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +00m 43.6s
7. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +1 lap
8. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
9. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault +1 lap

all results unofficial

Both drivers look forward to this weekend’s German Grand Prix where they expect to be in contention for further points to boost their respective positions at the top of the Drivers Championship.

They also talk about the healthy competition for the ultimate prize of becoming World Champion in 2010 and how they hope new parts on the McLaren will help them keep ahead of the pack.

Karun Chandhok – HRT F1 2010

The 2010 HRT F1 driver Karun Chandhok is to be replaced at the German Grand Prix by Sakon Yamamoto following his impressive performance at the Silverstone Grand Prix when he drove in place of  Bruno Senna.

The 28-year-old driver ended the British Grand Prix in 20th position for the Hispania Racing team and has been given a second opportunity to drive this time alongside Senna.

Chandhok is expected to race again later in the season with team test driver Christian Klein stating that from now onwards any of the four drivers may get a chance at the race seats.

The Japanese driver has completed 15 Grand Prix starts, initially with the Spyker team now Force India and then the Super Aguri team before joining the HRT F1 team as a test driver in April of this year.

Yamamoto said in an interview;

“The last race weekend was very exciting for me. Now, the team has given me another chance to race on Sunday and I will do my best to prove that it was the right decision.

“I have a lot of good memories of the circuit in Hockenheim. I like the track layout with the passing point at the end of the long straight and also the Stadium sector, which is very challenging. There is always a nice atmosphere with the spectators at the grandstands and I am always looking forward to come back to Hockenheim. Compared to Silverstone, I think we are more competitive and we can achieve a good result again.”

Australia has now been chosen as the second round, allowing the race to begin at 5pm to fit in with the television broadcasters who favour racing in ‘twilight’ rather than the dark.  However, the Singapore round will still be under full floodlights when it takes place in late September.

Although as yet no contract has been signed, the Canadian Grand Prix has been pencilled in for the 13 June, if the contract fails again this year the Turkey Grand Prix will be held later to compensate.

South Korea is a new circuit on the calendar, set to take place in mid-October with the final round being held in Brazil as usual but it will be held in November.

Here is the calendar;

Australia          March 28
Malaysia           April 4
China              April 18
Spain              May 9
Monaco             May 23
Turkey             May 30
Canada*            June 13
Europe (Valencia)  June 27
Great Britain      July 11
Germany            July 25
Hungary            August 1
Belgium            August 29
Italy              September 12
Singapore          September 26
Japan              October 3
Korea              October 17
Abu Dhabi          October 31
Brazil             November 14

*Subject to the completion of contract negotiations with Formula One Management. If these are not completed then the Turkish Grand Prix will be moved to 6 June.

Note: The race in Australia will start at 1700 local time, in Malaysia at 1600 local time, in Singapore at 2000 local time, and in Abu Dhabi at 1700 local time.

Red Bull Racing 2009

It has been confirmed that the Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel, currently running in third in the Championship with 47 points, has signed to race for the team until the end of the 2011 season.

Mark Webber confirmed his drive with the team at the end of July and is currently in second place in the standings with 51.5 points, behind championship leader Brawn GP driver Jenson Button on 70 points.

The 32-year-old Australian, joined the Red Bull Racing team in 2007 alongside David Coulthard after his two-year contract with the Williams team ended.  In 2009, the 22-year-old German driver replaced Coulthard to race alongside Webber after two-years with their sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Vettel has so far won the Chinese and the British Grand Prix while Webber took the victory at the German Grand Prix, both drivers have the option to sign for 2012.

Sebastien Bourdais

Sebastien Bourdais, who was ousted from the Toro Rosso team in July, will no longer be following legal proceedings against the team after reaching an out-of-court settlement.

Bourdais and Toro Rosso reached an amicable agreement the week after the German Grand Prix and it is now suggested that the Frenchman will be moving onto the Indy car series in America.

The 30-year-old, is one of the most successful drivers in the history of the Champ Car World Series, winning four championships between 2004-2007.

It is claimed that as well as being paid his salary for the early exit, he has also been paid $2.1million in damages.