Vettel Wins His First German Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel won his first ever German Grand Prix and 30th grand prix in his career, but it was not as easy of a win as he has had in other races this season. Kimi Raikkonen was less than a second behind Vettel when they crossed the finish line and was putting him under a lot of pressure. LotusLotusUnited Kingdom, 1952 > present68 models
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still had a great race. Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean took second and third respectively to control the rest of the podium.

Fernando Alonso finished fourth but ran out of fuel immediately after crossing the finish line, which could mean a grid penalty.

At the start of the race, it didn't take long for Vettel and Mark Webber to get past Lewis Hamilton. By the end of the first corner, both Red BullsRed BullAustria, 2004 > present12 models
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had gotten around Hamilton.

Felipe Massa spun on lap four. His car did not take any damage but stalled, and it ended his race.

Webber had a major problem on lap nine. He was in the pits, and his team was having problems putting on the right rear wheel. The car was released before it was ready, and the wheel immediately came off and hit a cameraman while it was rolling. The incident put Webber at the very back of the grid. Medical staff treated the cameraman.

Vettel regained the lead after the pit stop cycle, but behind him were Raikkonen and Grosjean.

Jules Bianchi went out on lap 24 when his engine let go. However, the car was in neutral and on the hilly Nürburgring course, the car rolled back onto the track, which brought out the safety car. During the safety car, Jean-Eric Vergne had a hydraulic problem and retired.

The safety car finally came in on lap 30, but it had no effect on the position of the front-runners.

Raikkonen inherited the lead after Vettel pitted. Raikkonen had saved his tires and stayed out longer than expected. He finally came in on lap 50 and returned in third place. Vettel moved up to first place. Grosjean was in second.

Lotus told Grosjean to get out the way of his teammate, and he did, which put Raikkonen in second on lap 57. He was over a second behind Vettel with three laps to go, but it helped Raikkonen's championship hopes. At the same time, Alonso was beginning to pressure Grosjean.

In the World Drivers' Championship, Grosjean moves up one postion to eighth, and Sergio Perez moves one position to 12th. There are no changes in the standings of the World Constructors' Championship.