German GP 2010: Alonso Takes Controversial Victory – Ferrari Fined For Team Orders

Fernando Alonso has won today’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in highly controversial circumstances following team orders which led to Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa yielding the lead to Alonso.

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was 3rd.

Race Review

Sebastian Vettel got a poor start off the line unlike Fernando Alonso but the German forced Alonso right into the wall of the pit straight. However the young German ignored Felipe Massa who took the lead, and some how Alonso managed to keep 2nd place.

Lewis Hamilton had a good start and jumped both Jenson Button and Mark Webber.

Immediately there was action and drama with overtaking and break downs. A proper classic race circuit in Hockenheim, albeit not the original track, was on for providing us with a classic.

Jarno Trulli had gearbox issues which really destroyed any chances of a good result for him and he made it back to the pits eventually. Down at the hairpin turn 6, Jaime Alguersuari back ended team mate Sebastian Buemi the Swiss driver lost his rear wing and was forced to retire immediately.

Adrian Sutil had a problem too and the German dived into the pits. Moments later Liuzzi pitted too, and it was only many laps later we learnt that the team had been expecting the cars in a different order hence why a front wing was ready for Sutil when he didn’t need one. This meant that Sutil had Liuzzi’s tyres and Liuzzi had Sutil’s. A bit of a blooper from Force India who had been proving themselves a point scoring team this season. The drivers pitted to swap as the rules stated.

Following the pit stops of the front runners, all except Jenson Button who went for a long run, Fernando Alonso was heavily hassling Felipe Massa who was clearly struggling with the hard tyre. The Spaniard was trying everything to pass, including an audacious move between Massa and back marker Sakon Yamamoto but couldn’t make it stick.

Further back, home hero Michael Schumacher was struggling to pass Robert Kubica but the German finally appeared to have some race spirit back.

Sauber’s Pedro de La Rosa had a crazy race full of overtakes and bumping with other cars, but he only managed 13th in the end. With Kobayashi 11th, neither Sauber managed points on Sauber’s 40th anniversary in motorsport.

It had been a mildly exciting race up until now but the best was yet to come. For the first time in a long time, clear team orders were asked of Felipe Massa. Massa himself now denies the team asked him to move aside, and that he told his engineer he wanted Alonso past. Massa appeared to have a slow get away from the hairpin and Alonso slipped passed. It was a bad moment for Ferrari according to many, most comparing it to 2002 in Austria.

Alonso went on to win the race, and Massa held on to second and Vettel made third. Hamilton was 4th and Button was 5th, points again for McLaren who now have 300 in the constructors title.

Webber was 6th, although he had an oil consumption problem. It will be interesting to see if that affects the engine next week.

With regard the Ferrari team order situation, the team have been fined $100,000 and will have to appear in front of the World Motorsport Council. The classification remains unchanged.

Race Result – POST FIA

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	F. Alonso	Ferrari	1.28.38.866
2	F. Massa	Ferrari	+4.196
3	S. Vettel	Red Bull Renault	+5.121
4	L. Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	+26.869
5	J. Button	McLaren Mercedes	+29.482
6	M. Webber	Red Bull Renault	+43.606
7	R. Kubica	Renault	+1 lap
8	N. Rosberg	Mercedes Benz	+1 lap
9	M. Schumacher	Mercedes Benz	+1 lap
10	V. Petrov	Renault	+1 lap
11	K. Kobayashi	Sauber Ferrari	+1 lap
12	R. Barrichello	Williams Cosworth	+1 lap
13	N. Hulkenberg	Williams Cosworth	+1 lap
14	P. De la Rosa	Sauber Ferrari	+1 lap
15	J. Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari	+1 lap
16	V. Liuzzi	Force India Mercedes	+2 laps
17	A Sutil	Force India Mercedes	+2 laps
18	T. Glock	Virgin Cosworth	+3 laps
19	B. Senna	Hispania Cosworth	+4 laps

Retirements

Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
H. Kovalainen	Lotus Cosworth	58	Unknown
L. di Grassi	Virgin Cosworth	51	Failure following spin
S. Yamamoto	Hispania Cosworth	20	Unknown
J. Trulli	Lotus Cosworth	4	Gearbox
S. Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari	1	Rear wing