2013 German Grand Prix

The 2013 German Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland 2013)[1] was a Formula One motor race that was held on 7 July 2013 at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany,[3] as the ninth round of the 2013 season.

2013 German Grand Prix
Race 9 of 19 in the 2013 Formula One World Championship
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Layout of the Nürburgring "GP-Strecke" circuit
Layout of the Nürburgring "GP-Strecke" circuit
Race details
Date 7 July 2013
Official name Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland 2013[1]
Location Nürburgring
Nürburg, Germany
Course Permanent racing facility
Course length 5.148 km (3.199 miles)
Distance 60 laps, 308.863 km (191.919 miles)
Weather Sunny
Attendance 44,000 (Race Day)[2]
Pole position
Driver Mercedes
Time 1:29.398
Fastest lap
Driver Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari
Time 1:33.468 on lap 51
Podium
First Red Bull-Renault
Second Lotus-Renault
Third Lotus-Renault
Lap leaders

It marked the 74th running of the German Grand Prix overall, and the 60th running of the German Grand Prix since 1950, when the racing series now known as the Formula One World Championship was created. This is the earliest a German Grand Prix has been held in a calendar year, followed by the 1926 and the 2009 editions of the race, though the 1996 European Grand Prix was held at the Nürburgring in late April.

The 60-lap race was won by local driver Sebastian Vettel, driving a Red Bull after starting from second position on the grid. This was the first and only home victory for the German driver. Kimi Räikkönen finished second for Lotus. Räikkönen's teammate Romain Grosjean finished third. A charging Fernando Alonso finished fourth and also set the fastest lap driving a Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton, who started from pole position driving a Mercedes, ended up finishing 5th, only a second ahead of his former teammate Jenson Button.[4]

As a result of the race, Sebastian Vettel increased his championship lead to 34 points from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen's second place moved him just 7 points behind Alonso in the standings. Lewis Hamilton remained fourth, while Mark Webber also remained in 5th spot. This was also Sergio Pérez's first points finish since Spain, and also for his teammate Jenson Button, since Monaco.[5] This was the last Formula One Grand Prix to be held at the Nürburgring until the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix.

Background

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Tyre changes

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In the aftermath of the British Grand Prix, in which four drivers experienced explosive punctures at some of the fastest points of the Silverstone Circuit, tyre supplier Pirelli announced plans to alter the structure of the tyres for the German Grand Prix, ahead of a more-permanent solution to be introduced at the next race in Hungary.[6] The new tyres replaced the steel belts used in the rear wheels with Kevlar in order to lower the operating temperature by up to 10 °C (18 °F) and reduce the likelihood of explosive punctures.[7] In addition to this, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) banned the practice of swapping the left- and right-side tyres around on the cars, which teams had discovered increased the life expectancy of each tyre.[8] Pirelli further lobbied to the FIA to make their recommendations for tyre pressure and camber settings to be made mandatory, after it was discovered that teams were deliberately using pressure and camber settings outside Pirelli's recommendations in order to maximise performance.[7] This followed a similar incident at the 2011 Belgian Grand Prix, where teams used camber settings outside Pirelli's recommendations, which created blistering on the inside edge of the tyres as they experienced higher-than-normal operating temperatures.[9]

Report

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Qualifying

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Felipe Massa was the fastest driver in Q1, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen's Lotus. The drivers eliminated in Q1, were Valtteri Bottas, Pastor Maldonado, Charles Pic, Jules Bianchi, Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton.

This session saw a rapid improvement in times in the closing stages which caught some teams out, such as Nico Rosberg being eliminated due to a mistake on the part of the Mercedes team and Mark Webber only barely making it into Q3 by five one-hundredths of a second Felipe Massa was fastest again ahead of Kimi Räikkönen again as well. Jean-Éric Vergne was eliminated, as well as Adrian Sutil, Esteban Gutiérrez, Sergio Pérez and Paul di Resta.

Lewis Hamilton took pole position with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in second and third, respectively. Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean qualified 4th and 5th. Alonso qualified 8th behind his teammate Felipe Massa and both opted to start the race on the medium tyre. Daniel Ricciardo managed to qualify on the 3rd row for the second race in succession. Jenson Button and Nico Hülkenberg elected not to set a time, saving their tyres for the race.

Race

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Both Webber and Vettel had strong starts applying immediate pressure to Hamilton. Hamilton responded by trying to push Vettel off the racing line on the inside of the track which then opened the door for Webber to try to make a move on the outside, but by the end of turn one Vettel had managed to shake off Hamilton and take the race lead, with Webber moving into second and Hamilton dropping down to third. Felipe Massa also had a good start, gaining a few places. Alonso fell back slightly as did Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo. Vettel kept the lead for the next few laps. Meanwhile, Massa, running in sixth place, went off the track at turn one on lap 3 after locking his rear brakes. The engine stalled and he retired from the race, caused by a gearbox failure. Nico Rosberg meanwhile, who had a disastrous qualifying, barely improved on his position in the first 5 laps.

From laps 5 to 9, drivers were pitting due to using worn softs from qualifying to switch to the medium compound tyres, with Grosjean and Räikkönen going longer than most drivers and also setting a very quick pace. Grosjean led the race before stopping on lap 13 and continued to show strong pace afterwards. Webber, on the other hand, pitted a lap later and had a serious incident with his rear-right wheel. The mechanics did not attach the wheel properly and as Webber left his pitbox, the wheel fell off and rolled down the pit lane. It hit and knocked over a cameraman, who was transported to a hospital in Koblenz where he was reported to have suffered broken bones and a concussion. Webber's Red Bull was pushed back to his pitbox where a new wheel was fitted and he rejoined the race, a lap behind Vettel. The two Lotuses had never lost touch with Vettel during the first half of the race and were keeping pace with him, with both Grosjean and Räikkönen setting fastest laps of the race.

On lap 23, Jules Bianchi's Marussia suffered an engine failure which resulted in a fire. He pulled to the left-hand side of the track but, unusually, his car rolled back across the track to the other side where it was stopped by an advertising board. This caused an instant safety car, which allowed Webber to get back on to the lead lap. Most of the drivers pitted for fresh tyres. Jean-Éric Vergne's Toro Rosso suffered a hydraulics failure less than two laps after Bianchi's engine failure, during the safety car period. He was able to return to the pits. His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was struggling. He had qualified sixth but was slowly falling back into the field. Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil of Force India also struggled during the first half of the race.

After the safety car period, Webber began to make his way through the field before becoming stuck behind the Sauber of Esteban Gutiérrez. He was unable to pass the Mexican for more than ten laps and pitted to try to get an advantage with fresh tyres and clean air. Meanwhile, the McLaren drivers were once again having a tussle, with Jenson Button getting past Sergio Pérez at turn one. Pastor Maldonado, driving in the 600th grand prix race for the Williams F1 Team, was in the points in eighth, along with his team-mate and rookie Valtteri Bottas in tenth. Räikkönen was leading on lap 41 after Vettel and Grosjean had pitted for the third time. Lotus waited until lap 49 to pit Räikkönen, switching him to the soft tyre, which left Vettel and Grosjean in first and second, with Alonso a threat from behind in fourth place. Grosjean was then told on the radio to not hold Räikkönen up, for championship title points reasons. It took a few laps for Räikkönen to pass Grosjean and afterwards he attempted to chase down Vettel. Alonso set the fastest lap of the race, almost a second faster than the first three drivers, and was rapidly catching Grosjean. Meanwhile, Hamilton made a move on his former team-mate Button at turn two, moving into fifth. Webber then made a move on Pérez to go into seventh.

Räikkönen was unable to catch Vettel, who took the victory. It was his first victory at his home race and the first victory he gained in his birthday month, July. It was also his 30th career victory, becoming the 6th driver to achieve such a feat and in just his 110th start. Räikkönen finished just one second behind, with Grosjean only just holding off Alonso for third place, the latter having used too much of his soft tyres while closing down the gap to Grosjean. The podium placings were the same as at the 2012 and the 2013 Bahrain Grand Prix. Hamilton, Button, Webber and Pérez remained fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. Rosberg, struggling to keep his Mercedes on the pace, finished ninth at his home race while Nico Hülkenberg took the final point for Sauber. di Resta finished eleventh, the first time he had finished outside the points during the season, with Ricciardo in twelfth, Adrian Sutil in thirteenth and Gutiérrez in fourteenth. Williams had a poor ending to their milestone race, with Maldonado and Bottas finishing fifteenth and sixteenth respectively after wheel gun problems in their pitstops. Charles Pic, his team-mate Giedo van der Garde and Max Chilton were the final finishers.

Post race

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After the race Red Bull and Force India were given fines for incidents in the pits.

Red Bull were fined €30,000 after the right-rear tyre from Mark Webber's car became detached as the Australian left his pit box. The errant tyre subsequently bounced down the pit lane before striking FOM cameraman Paul Allen. Allen, who remained conscious after the incident, was treated at the circuit's medical centre before being helicoptered to Koblenz Hospital for observation.

Force India, meanwhile, were given a €5,000 fine after releasing Paul di Resta into the path of Toro Rosso's Jean-Éric Vergne.[10]

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Q3 Grid
1 10   Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.131 1:30.152 1:29.398 1
2 1   Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:31.269 1:29.992 1:29.501 2
3 2   Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:31.428 1:30.217 1:29.608 3
4 7   Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 1:30.676 1:29.852 1:29.892 4
5 8   Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 1:31.242 1:30.005 1:29.959 5
6 19   Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.081 1:30.223 1:30.528 6
7 4   Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:30.547 1:29.825 1:31.126 7
8 3   Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:30.709 1:29.962 1:31.209 8
9 5   Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.181 1:30.269 no time 9
10 11   Nico Hülkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.132 1:30.231 no time 10
11 9   Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:31.322 1:30.326 11
12 14   Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:31.322 1:30.697 12
13 6   Sergio Pérez McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.498 1:30.933 13
14 12   Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 1:31.681 1:31.010 14
15 15   Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:31.320 1:31.010 15
16 18   Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:31.629 1:31.104 16
17 17   Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 1:31.693 17
18 16   Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 1:31.707 18
19 20   Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 1:32.937 221
20 22   Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 1:33.063 19
21 21   Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 1:33.734 20
22 23   Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 1:34.098 21
107% time:1:36.885
Source:[11]
  • ^1Charles Pic was given a five-place grid penalty for an unscheduled gearbox change.[12]

Race

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Pos. No. Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1   Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 60 1:41:14.711 2 25
2 7   Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault 60 +1.008 4 18
3 8   Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 60 +5.830 5 15
4 3   Fernando Alonso Ferrari 60 +7.721 8 12
5 10   Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 60 +26.927 1 10
6 5   Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 60 +27.996 9 8
7 2   Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 60 +37.562 3 6
8 6   Sergio Pérez McLaren-Mercedes 60 +38.306 13 4
9 9   Nico Rosberg Mercedes 60 +46.821 11 2
10 11   Nico Hülkenberg Sauber-Ferrari 60 +49.892 10 1
11 14   Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 60 +53.771 12
12 19   Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 60 +56.975 6
13 15   Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 60 +57.738 15
14 12   Esteban Gutiérrez Sauber-Ferrari 60 +1:00.160 14
15 16   Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 60 +1:01.929 18
16 17   Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault 59 +1 lap 17
17 20   Charles Pic Caterham-Renault 59 +1 lap 22
18 21   Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault 59 +1 lap 20
19 23   Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth 59 +1 lap 21
Ret 18   Jean-Éric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari 22 Hydraulics 16
Ret 22   Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth 21 Engine 19
Ret 4   Felipe Massa Ferrari 3 Gearbox/Spun Off 7
Source:[13]

Championship standings after the race

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Formula 1 Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Archived from the original on 4 June 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  2. ^ Steil, Daniel (22 January 2015). "Nürburgring verhandelt weiter mit Ecclestone - Ende offen" [Nürburgring continues negotiations with Ecclestone - End open]. Focus Online (in German). FOCUS Magazin Verlag GmbH. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  3. ^ "FIA Formula One calendar". FIA.com. Fedération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  4. ^ "Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull finishes incident-packed race on top of podium". The Daily Telegraph. 7 July 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Sebastian Vettel wins German GP, with Lewis Hamilton fifth". BBC Sport. 7 July 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Drivers threaten to boycott German Grand Prix after dangerous tyre explosions". The Daily Telegraph. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 5 July 2013.
  7. ^ a b Noble, Jonathan (2 July 2013). "Pirelli plans new tyres and change to Formula 1 rules to prevent more failures". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  8. ^ Beer, Matt (3 July 2013). "Mercedes welcomes Pirelli's greater clarity over F1 tyre set-up". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  9. ^ Noble, Jonathan (6 September 2011). "Formula 1 teams get reduced camber limit for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  10. ^ "Red Bull and Force India handed pit-stop fines". Formula One Official Website. 7 July 2013. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  11. ^ "Formula 1 Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland 2013 - Provisional Results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 6 July 2013. Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2013.
  12. ^ "Caterham's Charles Pic gets gearbox penalty". Autosport.com. Haymarket Publications. 7 July 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  13. ^ "FORMULA 1 Grosser Preis SANTANDER von Deutschland 2013". Formula One Official Website. 2003-2013 Formula One World Championship Limited. 7 July 2013. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  14. ^ a b "Germany 2013 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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2013 British Grand Prix
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2014 German Grand Prix