Fernando Alonso wins German Grand Prix

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has managed to win his third race of the season after dominating the German Grand Prix which this year was organized at Hockenheim. With this victory, the Spaniard now has a comfortable lead in the drivers’ championship ahead of Red Bull’s drivers Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Alonso led the race from lap 1 until the end of lap 67 of the Hockenheim race. It was a very intense battle for the second place between McLaren’s Button and Red Bull’s Vettel. After the second stop at the pit stops, Button grabbed the second spot but the situation reversed before the final lap when Vettel managed to overtake Button. However, that move was not legal as all of the four wheels of the Red Bull were off the track, which is why just two hours after the race Sebastian Vettel was penalized with 20 seconds and as a result he dropped from second to fifth place. As a consequence, Button was granted the second place, followed by Kimi Raikkonen from Lotus and Kamui Kobayashi from Sauber.

There was no controversy regarding Alonso 30^th win of his career as the Spaniard had a great race. Even though he never escaped the close proximity of Button and Vettel, Ferrari’s driver managed to hold on to the first place, staying far enough ahead so that the ones behind him couldn’t make a move.

It was a terrible race for McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton when at the first corner he ran over some debris that came from Massa’s front-wing after the Ferrari driver had an incident at the start of the race. When Hamilton returned to the track with a new wheel, Alonso was one minute ahead of him so the race was compromised. It was nice to see that Hamilton unlapped himself after his second visit at the pit stops, managing to surpass Vettel who criticized Hamilton’s move during the post-race press conference. Lewis eventually retired from the race in lap 58 for tactical reasons.

These are the final results of the 2012 German Grand Prix, organized this year at Hockenheim:

1. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1hr 31m 05.862s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +0m 06.9s
3. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Lotus-Renault +0m 16.4s
4. Kamui Kobayashi Japan Sauber-Ferrari +0m 21.9s
5. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +0m 23.7s #
6. Sergio Perez Mexico Sauber-Ferrari +0m 27.8s
7. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +0m 28.9s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +0m 46.9s
9. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Force India-Mercedes +0m 48.1s
10. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +0m 48.8s

11. Paul di Resta Britain Force India-Mercedes +0m 59.2s
12. Daniel Ricciardo Australia Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m 11.4s
13. Jean-Eric Vergne France Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m 16.8s
14. Pastor Maldonado Venezuela Williams-Renault +1m 16.9s
15. Vitaly Petrov Russia Caterham-Renault +1 lap
16. Bruno Senna Brazil Williams-Renault +1 lap
17. Romain Grosjean France Lotus-Renault +1 lap
18. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Caterham-Renault +2 laps
19 Charles Pic France Marussia -Cosworth +2 laps
20. Pedro de la Rosa Spain HRT-Cosworth +3 laps
21. Timo Glock Germany Marussia -Cosworth +3 laps
23. Narain Karthikeyan India HRT-Cosworth +3 laps

Rtd Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 56 laps completed

And here’s how things look in the drivers’ standings so far:

In the constructors’ championship Red Bull leads the pack with 230 points, followed by Ferrari (177 points) and McLaren (160 points):

The next race of the season is scheduled for this Sunday at Hungaroring, before F1 takes a 5-week summer break.