VETTEL VICTORIOUS ON HOME SOIL Sebastian Vettel claimed a battling first home win at the Nürburgring, fending off a late charge from Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen. Romain Grosjean took third place in the second Lotus. Sebastian surged into the lead at the race start, muscling past a slow-starting pole winner Lewis Hamilton into Turn One. Mark Webber also shouldered past the Mercedes man to slot into second place. That set up the Infiniti Red Bull Racing pair for a strong race and the good work continued through the Seb’s first stop on lap seven. It was a different story for Mark, however, and a problem with the right rear wheel saw the Australian head out into pitlane with the wheel not correctly attached. It immediately came loose and bounced down pitlane, hitting a TV cameraman, who was later treated at the circuit medical centre and transferred to hospital in Koblenz where he was kept under observation. The incident ended Mark’s chances of challenging for a win and by the time he had been rolled back to the pit box and sent on his way with a new wheel in place he was last and a lap down. At the front the race was shaping up differently. By virtue of a long first stint on the soft tyre, Grosjean vaulted to second and began to put the pressure on Vettel. That pressure intensified when the safety car was called out following an engine failure on Jules Bianchi’s Marussia. The Frenchman got out of the car quickly as flames licked at the rear end and with no driver onboard the Marussia rolled across the track. The safety car was deployed and any gaps on track were erased. That helped Mark. The Aussie was allowed to unlap himself and closed up on the field. At the restart he raced past four backmarkers in a single lap and then powered through the order to eventually claim seventh place. Sebastian meanwhile was feeling the heat from Lotus. The safety car had allowed Kimi Raikkonen to close up a 12-second deficit and when the Finn took on soft tyres in the final laps Seb had a fight on his hands. Raikkonen closed to within a second at the end but Seb kept his head and raced hard to the chequered flag to take his first victory on home soil. “It was a tough race; it was one of the toughest for a long time,” he said afterwards. “I’m happy the race wasn’t two or three laps longer, as Kimi was a bit quicker towards the end. I’m very happy that it worked out and it’s very special. “The team worked really hard to give me the chance to win this weekend and we got it,” he added. “First of all you have to remember that it’s a privilege to have the opportunity to race in your home country; we have around 20 races, but there are obviously more than 20 countries, so it’s special to race at home and get so much support. “I had a good start and then just focused on every single lap during the race. You don’t really think about where you are while you are racing, you can’t allow your mind to drift, but when the flag came out and the race was over I really let myself enjoy the parade lap and saw a lot of people in the grandstands cheering and waving flags. These pictures will remain in my head for a long, long time.” Mark’s first thoughts, meanwhile, were with the injured cameraman. “I knew we had lost the tyre in the pit stop of course, but not that someone got hit by it,” he said. “That’s bad and I hope he is okay, that’s the main thing. Today was a bit of a nightmare and you want to wake up tomorrow and have another go at it. We had an excellent start and were in a great position leading up to the first stop with Seb, but we lost all of that. We lost a lot of points today and a chance to challenge for the win, but there’s no rewind button now.” Team Principal Christian echoed Mark’s thoughts, saying he was relieved to hear the cameraman had not been seriously hurt. "The most important thing today is that the cameraman who got struck by the tyre does not appear to have suffered any life threatening injuries,” he said. “It’s a timely reminder that working in the pit lane is dangerous. Everyone reacted incredibly quickly and the most important thing is to hear that he seems to be fundamentally okay.” Commenting on the race, Christian said the result was a major achievement for Sebastian. “Looking to the race, for any driver to win their home grand prix is something tremendously special and after the disappointment of missing out on the victory a week ago in Silverstone, Sebastian drove faultlessly today and can be very proud of what he’s achieved in his home grand prix in front of the home fans,” he said. “It’s a huge result for him and very positive for the Championship. For Mark, it was a strong recovery drive; he got back on to the lead lap through the pace car and then fought his way back into the points. It’s a great shame that we couldn’t have both cars right up there today, but all credit to Mark for his very determined drive. We need to understand what went wrong in that first pit stop for Mark, but as I said, our main concern today is knowing that the cameraman is okay.” With Fernando Alonso fourth for Ferrari, Hamilton took fifth place and McLaren’s Jenson Button finished sixth. With Mark seventh, the final points places went to Sergio Perez in the second McLaren, Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg. Seb’s win means he stretches his lead over Alonso at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings. The German now has 157 points to the Spaniard’s 123, with Raikkonen third on 116 points. In the Constructors’ Championship, Infiniti Red Bull Racing lead on 250 points, with Mercedes second with 183. Ferrari are third on 180 points and Lotus fourth with 157.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 02:21:30 +0000
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