Vettel Wins At Home

For for the first time in his career, Sebastian Vettel has won a race in July and, more importantly, has won his home grand prix. Vettel virtually led from the first corner and had to stave off a late attack by Kimi Raikkonen who had passed team-mate Romain Grosjean via team orders, giving Lotus a two-three finish. Lewis Hamilton was mugged by both Red Bulls from the first corner and had to settle for fifth. Mark Webber would have been contender today one feels, but a horrific pit stop meant he had to come from the back and claim seventh.

Hamilton was perhaps too defensive from the start as he tried to cut across and stop Vettel. It didn't work as Vettel managed to around the outside of the Mercedes with Webber coming from the inside and Vettel took the lead after just one corner. Felipe Massa had a decent enough start, moving up to sixth. But the Ferrari's race was over after just four laps when the Brazilian seemed to just spin out from nothing and couldn't restart the car.

With the tyres under so much scrutiny this weekend, no-one was really sure what they could on them and luckily there were no incidents to speak of. For a three stop race, the window seemed to open between laps five and six as seven cars performed a stop. Paul Di Resta was lucky to have not been penalised for an unsafe release that caused Jean-Eric Vergne to slam the brakes. The incident is due to be looked at.

Hamilton was the first of the front runners to pit on lap seven and came back out in to tenth. Vettel followed a lap later and remained ahead of Hamilton, giving Webber the temporary lead. The second Red Bull pitted on lap nine and was guilty of a dramatic unsafe release, again an incident to be looked at; one of the wheels wasn't on the car properly and it quickly flew off. The runaway wheel then rolled and jumped down the pit lane before unfortunately hitting a cameraman from behind. Fortunately, the cameraman has only suffered some cuts and bruises after being taken to hospital. Webber did somehow make it back to the pits and came out at the back of the grid albeit a lap behind.

At this point, Grosjean led the race. Fernando Alonso pitted on lap-13 from second and came out ninth, behind the front runners. Grosjean would pit a lap later and it worked a treat as he managed to claim third, behind Vettel but ahead of Hamilton who had just overtook Nico Rosberg to claim fifth.

Lap-15 saw Raikkonen overtake Rosberg for sixth and Grosjean had overtaken Jenson Button to claim second. Three laps later, Raikkonen had overtook Hamilton to move in to fourth after Button had come in for his pit stop. By lap-21, Alonso was right up Hamilton's gearbox before they traded overtakes, Hamilton finally buckled and pitted on lap-23 to allow the Ferrari to pass.

The race was disrupted on the same lap as Jules Bianchi was forced to retire. A huge amount of smoke came out of the back of the Marussia before a fire started. It was an easily distinguishable fire but the drama continued as the empty Marussia began rolling back down the hill and across the track. Luckily no-one was near enough to get caught up in and the rolling chassis was stopped when it rolled over one of the advertising boards next to the track. Inevitably the Safety Car was called and it gave everyone a chance to dive in to the pits. Away from the drama, it emerged that Vergne was also forced to retire after suffering a hydraulics problem, similar to last week.

In compliance with the Safety Car rules, Webber was now able to unlap himself and now had a great chance of getting something out of the race. The Safety Car came in on lap-30 and Vettel got away perfectly. Within three laps, Webber had managed to move up to 15th before getting stuck behind a stubborn Esteban Gutierrez.

Vettel pitted for a third time on lap-42 and remained just ahead of Grosjean who had pitted a lap before. Three laps later and Vettel had overtaken Hamilton to claim fourth. Grosjean did the same on lap-46 which was a sure sign that the Mercedes should probably come in for its third stop.

Raikkonen and Alonso pitted on lap-50 to come out third and fourth with Raikkonen on the soft tyres. At this point, Webber had moved up to tenth. Button and Sergio Perez met once again on track on lap-51 with Button claiming fifth from his Mexican counterpart.

Grosjean was told a couple of times on the radio that Raikkonen is on the the softer tyres and that he shouldn't hold him up. By lap-55, Grosjean had heeded to the instructions and Raikkonen was now second and able to track the Red Bull down, but ultimately fell a second short. The final lap saw Hamilton overtake Button to claim fifth and Webber had overtaken Perez to steal seventh. Result:

1. Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Raikkonen (Lotus), 3. Grosjean (Lotus), 4. Alonso (Ferrari), 5. Hamilton (Mercedes), 6. Button (McLaren), 7. Webber (Red Bull), 8. Perez (McLaren), 9. Rosberg (Mercedes), 10. Hulkenberg (Sauber), 11. Di Resta (Force India), 12. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), 13. Sutil (Force India), 14. Gutierrez (Sauber), 15. Maldonado (Williams), 16. Bottas (Williams), 17. Pic (Caterham), 18. van der Garde (Caterham), 19. Chilton (Marussia) DNF: Massa (Ferrari), Bianchi (Marussia), Vergne (Toro Ross)