The 2010 German Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland 2010) was a
Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
motor race held on 25 July at the
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...
in
Hockenheim
Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...
,
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, Germany. It was the eleventh round of the
2010 Formula One season
The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Se ...
and the seventy-first
German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
. The 67-lap race was won by
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
driver
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
after he started from second position. His teammate
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...
finished second, and
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
driver
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in Formula One ...
came in third.
Although Vettel and Alonso were on the grid's front row, both drivers were passed by Massa at the start of the race. Alonso and Massa traded the fastest times in the first twelve laps until a sequence of
pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit la ...
s. Massa struggled with tyre temperatures and Alonso challenged him on the 21st lap but fended off his efforts to take the lead. Massa pulled away slightly from Alonso until traffic slowed him and reduced the time deficit between the two drivers. Alonso took over the first position after Ferrari invoked
team orders
In motor racing, team orders is the practice of teams issuing instructions to drivers to deviate from the normal practice of racing against each other as they would against other teams' drivers. This can be accomplished either in advance, simply ...
on Massa to allow Alonso past. Massa resisted pressure from Vettel while Alonso maintained the lead for the rest of the race to take the 23rd victory of his career.
Ferrari's team orders resulted in a fine of $100,000 by the race stewards but avoided further punishment from the
FIA World Motor Sport Council
The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is a major organ within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's governance structure. Its primary role is amending current regulations and drafting new regulations for all of international motor spor ...
in September 2010. Alonso's victory put him within 13 points of Vettel in the
Drivers' Championship, while the leader
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
extended his advantage over teammate
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT ...
by two points. Red Bull slightly reduced the deficit to
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
in the
Constructors' Championship, while Ferrari moved further ahead of
Mercedes, with eight races left in the season.
Background
The 2010
German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in R ...
was the eleventh scheduled race of the
2010 Formula One season
The 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 64th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. Red Bull Racing won its maiden Constructors' Championship with a 1–2 finish in 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix, Brazil, while Red Bull Racing's Se ...
and was held on 25 July 2010 at the
Hockenheimring
The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg () is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route. Amongst other motor racing events, it has hos ...
,
Hockenheim
Hockenheim () is a town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the tourist theme routes "Baden Asparagus Route" () and Bertha Benz M ...
,
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
, Germany. The Grand Prix was contested by twelve teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known as
constructors) were:
McLaren
McLaren Racing Limited is a British motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. McLaren is best known as a Formula One constructor, the second oldest active team, and the second most successful Formul ...
,
Mercedes,
Red Bull
Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...
,
Ferrari
Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...
,
Williams,
Renault
Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufactured ...
,
Force India
Force India Formula One Team Limited, commonly known as Force India and later Sahara Force India, was a Formula One racing team and constructor based in Silverstone, United Kingdom, with an Indian licence. The team was formed in October 20 ...
,
Toro Rosso
Scuderia Toro Rosso (; literal translation of "Red Bull Racing Team"), commonly known as Toro Rosso or by its abbreviation STR, was an Italian Formula One racing team. It was one of two Formula One teams owned by Austrian beverage company Red ...
,
Lotus,
Hispania
Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...
,
Sauber
Sauber Motorsport AG is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who progressed through hillclimbing and the World Sportscar Championship to reach Formula One in . After operating it u ...
and
Virgin
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
.
Tyre supplier
Bridgestone
is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...
brought four types of tyre to the race; two dry compounds (super-soft "options" and hard "primes") and two
wet-weather compounds (intermediate and full wet).
Bridgestone selected those compounds in an attempt to improve the excitement of Formula One after a large amount of degradation and graining was observed during the
Canadian Grand Prix
The Canadian Grand Prix (french: Grand Prix du Canada) is an annual motor racing event held since 1961. It has been part of the Formula One World Championship since 1967. It was first staged at Mosport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, as a sports ...
. The soft compounds were denoted by a green stripe on their side-walls; the wet compound tyres were identified by a green line at the bottom of their central groove.
Before the race, McLaren driver
Lewis Hamilton
Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver currently competing in Formula One for Mercedes. In Formula One, Hamilton has won a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Mich ...
led the
Drivers' Championship with 145
points
Point or points may refer to:
Places
* Point, Lewis, a peninsula in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland
* Point, Texas, a city in Rains County, Texas, United States
* Point, the NE tip and a ferry terminal of Lismore, Inner Hebrides, Scotland
* Point ...
, twelve points ahead of teammate
Jenson Button
Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super GT ...
in second who was five points in front of
Mark Webber in third. Webber's teammate
Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel (; born 3 July 1987) is a German racing driver who competed in Formula One from 2007 to 2022 for BMW Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing, Red Bull, Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari, and Aston Martin in Formula One ...
was fourth on 121 points and
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz (; born 29 July 1981) is a Spanish racing driver currently competing for Alpine in Formula One. He won the series' World Drivers' Championship in and with Renault, and has also driven for McLaren, Ferrari, and Mi ...
was fifth on 98 points.
McLaren were leading the
Constructors' Championship with 278 points; Red Bull and Ferrari were second and third with 249 and 165 points, while Mercedes (126 points) and Renault (89) contended for fourth place.
[ McLaren and Red Bull had dominated the championship, while Alonso won the season-opening ]Bahrain Grand Prix
The Bahrain Grand Prix ( ar, جائزة البحرين الكبرى), officially known as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, is a Formula One motor racing event in Bahrain. The first race took place at the Bahrain Internat ...
. His teammate Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa (, born 25 April 1981) is a Brazilian racing driver. He competed in 15 seasons of Formula One between 2002 and 2017, where he scored 11 Grand Prix victories, 41 podiums and finished as championship runner-up in 2008 by one poin ...
and Robert Kubica
Robert Józef Kubica (; born 7 December 1984) is a Poles, Polish racing driver, racing and rally driver, rally driver. He was the first and, , the only Polish racing driver to compete in Formula One. Between 2006 and 2009 he drove for the BMW in ...
had finished in second place, and Nico Rosberg
Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
(three times) Massa and Kubica (once) had taken third-place finishes.[
After the previous German Grand Prix (at the ]Nürburgring
The is a 150,000 person capacity motorsports complex located in the town of Nürburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It features a Formula One, Grand Prix race track built in 1984, and a long "North loop" track, built in the 1920s, around t ...
) in July 2009, the future of the race was in doubt after the government of Baden-Württemberg and the town of Hockenheim withdrew their funding for the event. Planned discussions between the owner of Formula One's commercial rights Bernie Ecclestone
Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is an English business magnate. He is the former chief executive of the Formula One Group, which manages Formula One motor racing and controls the commercial rights to the sport, and part-owns ...
and the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg Günther Oettinger
Günther Hermann Oettinger (born 15 October 1953) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources from 2017 to 2019, as European Commissioner for Digita ...
to renegotiate the expenses for hosting the event had ended after Ecclestone made controversial comments regarding Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
, and the organisers of the Nürburgring circuit announced that they would not hold the race in 2010 because of a commitment to hold the event in 2011. An agreement was reached in September which would see the event run until 2018 with both circuit's management and Formula One Management
The Formula One Group is a group of companies responsible for the promotion of the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the exercising of the sport's commercial rights.
The Group was previously owned by Delta Topco, a Jersey-based company ow ...
agreeing to cover any losses incurred.
Despite taking victory in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Alonso faced pressure heading into the second half of the season; he was forty-seven points behind Hamilton in the Drivers' Championship after scoring four points in the last two races. Alonso had been largely affected by safety car periods in Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
and Silverstone
Silverstone is a village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Towcester on the former A43 main road, from the M1 motorway junction 15A and about from the M40 motorway junction 10, Northampton, Milton Keynes and B ...
despite his team having narrowed the performance gap on their championship rivals. However, Alonso remained upbeat about his title chances and said his team had more motivation to succeed despite his recent results. Hamilton, the defending race winner at the Hockenheimring, spoke of his feeling the race would provide an indication on form for the second half of the year and believed McLaren should have a successful car balance to be competitive at the track.
Several teams made alterations to their cars in preparation for the event. Mercedes introduced a new version of their car's rear wing which was designed to work more efficiently with their F-duct system. Ferrari brought a refinement to their exhaust system and modified their diffuser's side channels. Red Bull introduced minor improvements to their car's F-duct system and both of their drivers used a front wing specification which courted controversy at the preceding British Grand Prix. McLaren used a blown diffuser
Diffuser may refer to:
Aerodynamics
* Diffuser (automotive), a shaped section of a car's underbody which improves the car's aerodynamic properties
* Part of a jet engine air intake, especially when operated at supersonic speeds
* The channel betw ...
which was discarded after the Friday practice sessions at the previous Grand Prix and was changed for the German Grand Prix. The diffuser been moved outwards but had a longer inner section, the pipe was cut off at an angle, and the carbon materials for its side channel were changed. Sauber came to the circuit with their car carrying several aerodynamic upgrades which included a modified diffuser.
There was one driver change heading into the race. Karun Chandhok
Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in the ...
was dropped from the Hispania Racing team and was replaced by Sakon Yamamoto
is a Japanese racing driver turned politician. He competed in 21 Formula One Grands Prix during the , 2007 and 2010 seasons.
Before Formula One
Yamamoto was born in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture. He began his racing career in 1994 at the Suzuka ...
while Bruno Senna
Bruno Senna Lalli (, born 15 October 1983) is a Brazilian professional racing driver. He is the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna, three-time Formula One world champion. He is also the first man to win a race in every WEC class, and was the 2017 W ...
reclaimed his race seat after sitting out the British Grand Prix. Hispania released a statement which said Yamamoto was given another opportunity to race after impressing at the previous race and that Chandhok remained part of the team.
Practice
There were three practice sessions—two 90-minute sessions on Friday and a 60-minute session on Saturday—preceding Sunday's race.[ The first session was initially held in wet-weather conditions before less rain fell and drivers were required to adapt to changing levels of grip. Full wet tyres were used in the session's opening period before the field utilised intermediate tyres in its closing minutes.] The conditions prevented the teams from collecting data on how the dry-compound tyres would perform. Adrian Sutil
Adrian Sutil (; born 11 January 1983) is a German-Uruguayan racing driver who raced in Formula One for seven seasons: from 2007–2011, then 2013–2014. He drove for the Spyker F1 Team, Force India F1 Team and the Sauber F1 Team. He was also t ...
was the fastest driver with a time of 1:25.701 seconds, ahead of Massa who spun several times and had the fastest time until Sutil's lap. Jenson Button was third-fastest despite reporting an handling imbalance, ahead of Rubens Barrichello
Rubens "Rubinho" Gonçalves Barrichello (, ; born 23 May 1972) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competed in Formula One between and . He currently competes full-time in the Brazilian Stock Car Pro Series, driving the No. 111 Toy ...
(who spun at high-speed at turn three after driving into a large amount of standing water) Vitaly Petrov
Vitaly Aleksandrovich Petrov ( rus, Вита́лий Алекса́ндрович Петро́в, p=vʲɪˈtalʲɪj ɐlʲɪkˈsandrəvʲɪtɕ pʲɪˈtrof; born 8 September 1984) is a Russian racing driver who drove in Formula One for Renault F1 ...
, Rosberg and Sébastien Buemi
Sébastien Olivier Buemi (born 31 October 1988) is a Swiss professional racing driver, who competes in the FIA Formula E Championship for Envision Racing. He competed for Scuderia Toro Rosso in Formula One from 2009 to 2011. After leaving Formula ...
. Nico Hülkenberg
Nicolas Hülkenberg (, born 19 August 1987) is a German professional racing driver who is scheduled to make a full-time racing return to Formula 1 with Haas F1 Team in 2023, after serving as a reserve driver for Aston Martin F1 Team for the yea ...
, Vitantonio Liuzzi
Vitantonio "Tonio" Liuzzi (born 6 August 1980) is an Italian professional racing driver who formerly raced in Formula One for the Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Force India and HRT teams.
Karting
Born in Locorotondo, BA, Apulia, Liuzzi, like many au ...
and Pedro de la Rosa
Pedro Martínez de la Rosa (; born 24 February 1971) is a Spanish former Formula One driver who has participated in 107 Grands Prix for the Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT teams. He made his Formula One debut on 7 March 1999, becoming ...
rounded out the session's top-ten drivers. Hamilton drove over standing water at the exit of the turn three left-hander twenty minutes before the session ended and slid sideways into the turn four tyre barrier, heavily damaging his car.[
Most of the track dried up despite a light rain shower before the second practice session and drivers recorded more lap times to make up for the lack of running in the first session. Some drivers also went off the circuit. Alonso set the fastest lap of the day with a time of 1:16.265; Massa finished with the third-fastest time. The two Red Bull drivers were second and fourth (with Vettel ahead of Webber). All of the top four quickest drivers set their fastest lap times on the super-soft dry compound tyre. Rosberg was fifth-fastest (despite damaging his front wing after he collided with a kerb bollard), ahead of his Mercedes teammate ]Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher (; ; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver who competed in Formula One for Jordan, Benetton, Ferrari, and Mercedes. Schumacher has a joint-record seven World Drivers' Championship titles (tied with Lewis ...
in sixth. Hamilton, Kubica, Barrichello and Hülkenberg followed in the top ten. A heavy rain shower hit the circuit on Saturday morning which stopped before the final practice session started. Drivers were initially forced to use intermediate tyres before switching later to dry-weather conditions and the teams worked on car set-up for qualifying. Vettel set the fastest lap, a 1:15.503; Webber finished with the third-fastest time. They were separated by the Ferrari drivers in second and fourth (with Alonso ahead of Massa). Rosberg duplicated his second-session result in fifth. Hamilton, Schumacher, Barrichello, Kubica and Hülkenberg completed the top ten ahead of qualifying. Sutil was unable to record a lap time when his Force India's driveshaft broke though he managed to return to his garage and lost 45 minutes of running.
Qualifying
Saturday afternoon's qualifying session was divided into three parts. The first part ran for twenty minutes and eliminated the cars that finished eighteenth or lower. The second part of qualifying lasted fifteen minutes and eliminated cars that finished in positions eleven to seventeen. The final session ran for ten minutes and determined pole position
In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...
to tenth. Cars which competed in the final session were not allowed to change tyres before the race. They started the race fitted with the tyres used when they set their quickest lap times.[ The session was held in dry weather conditions but dark clouds brought a risk of further rain showers. With limited dry running in the final practice session grip levels rose as qualifying progressed.
Vettel set the fastest time in the final session which clinched him the sixth pole position of his season (and his third consecutive) with a lap of 1:13.791 which was recorded on his final timed lap. Although he was happy to start on the pole he said his lap was not "100% perfect" as he drove off the circuit after he pushed hard. Vettel was joined on the ]grid
Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to:
Common usage
* Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road
* Grid reference, used to define a location on a map
Arts, entertainment, and media
* News g ...
's front row by Alonso who was 0.002 seconds after Alonso had recorded the fastest times in the first and second sessions. Massa took third despite running wide on his final timed lap but was optimistic on a track where he felt comfortable. Webber, fourth, ran wide at the Nordkurve right-hand corner on his final lap when he turned in late and cut the kerb which cost him three seconds and he opted to abandon his lap. The two McLaren cars lined up on the grid's third row (with Button ahead of Hamilton). Button was happy with his lap whilst Hamilton said his qualifying pace was poor despite the McLaren drivers recording the fastest speeds on the circuit's main straight. Kubica qualified seventh and felt he could have set a faster lap time as he was held up in the track's final sector. Barrichello in eighth experienced understeer
Understeer and oversteer are vehicle dynamics terms used to describe the sensitivity of a vehicle to steering. Oversteer is what occurs when a car turns (steers) by more than the amount commanded by the driver. Conversely, understeer is what occu ...
in the final session and lost his car's balance.[ Rosberg and Hülkenberg rounded out the top ten qualifiers.]
Schumacher was the fastest driver not to advance to the final session, qualifying eleventh; his best time of 1:15.026 was almost two seconds slower than Alonso's fastest time in the second session. He had been one tenth of a second quicker than his teammate Rosberg in the first session; Rosberg's lap caused Schumacher to be eliminated from qualifying and the latter stated he had brake problems.[ ]Kamui Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional racing driver who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Toyota Gazoo Racing (GR) and in the Super Formula Championship for KCMG . He previously competed in Formula One, Formula E, the GP2 Series, and the ...
qualified in 12th was slowed by traffic, and his tyre temperatures dropped which resulted in a loss of grip. He was followed by Petrov in the 13th position. Sutil was afflicted with a lack of grip in his Force India which caused him to slide sideways. Sutil was penalised five positions because this team changed his gearbox following his driveshaft failure in the final practice session. As a result, de la Rosa inherited 14th, and was ahead of the Toro Rosso drivers (Jaime Alguersuari
Jaime Víctor Alguersuari Escudero (; born 23 March 1990), also known as Jaume Alguersuari (), and Squire is a Spanish DJ and retired racing driver best known for competing in Formula One between and , and for being the 2008 British Formula 3 ...
in front of Buemi). Jarno Trulli
Jarno Trulli (; born 13 July 1974) is an Italian racing driver. He regularly competed in Formula One from 1997 to 2011, driving for Minardi, Prost, Jordan, Renault, Toyota, Lotus Racing and Team Lotus. His best result in the World Drivers' Cham ...
was the quickest driver who was unable to advance beyond the first session, and was followed by his Lotus teammate Heikki Kovalainen
Heikki Johannes Kovalainen (; born 19 October 1981) is a Finnish racing driver competing in the Japan Rally Championship for Rally Team AICELLO. He raced in Formula One between 2007 and 2013 for the Renault, McLaren, Team Lotus, Caterham and ...
. Timo Glock
Timo Glock (born 18 March 1982) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He raced in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers' Championship in both ...
was penalised five positions on the grid twice because his team changed his gearbox and fitted a seventh-gear ratio that was undeclared on Friday. Senna took over the 20th place. Liuzzi exited turn 15 to complete his second timed lap, ran over a wet patch of astroturf causing him to lose control of the back-end of his Force India, sending him across the track to make heavy contact with the front of his car. He veered back towards the track and some grass and narrowly avoided collecting Glock. Sakon Yamamoto had a shifting issue on his fastest lap time and took 23rd. Lucas di Grassi
Lucas Tucci di Grassi (born 11 August 1984) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who competes in the FIA Formula E World Championship for Mahindra Racing. He became the FIA Formula E Champion in 2016–2017, achieved three overall podium ...
had a gearbox problem in his car that was unable to be rectified and completed the field. He later incurred a five-place grid penalty for the gearbox change but it had no effect on his starting position.
Qualifying classification
The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold.
;Notes
* – Adrian Sutil and Lucas di Grassi were both given five-place grid penalties for gearbox changes.
* – Timo Glock was given two five-place grid penalties for a gearbox change, and for fitting a seventh-gear ratio that was not declared on Friday.
Race
The race took place in the afternoon from 14:00 Central European Summer Time
Central European Summer Time (CEST), sometimes referred to as Central European Daylight Time (CEDT), is the standard clock time observed during the period of summer daylight-saving in those European countries which observe Central European Time ...
(UTC+2
UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Cairo, Pretoria, Cape ...
). The conditions on the grid were cloudy before the start; there was an air temperature between with a track temperature ranging from and no rain was expected. The top ten qualifiers started on the super-soft compound tyre. As the five red lights went out to signal the start of the race, Vettel released his clutch pedal, found that he had poor acceleration driving off his starting position, but avoided stalling his engine. He drove right towards Alonso in an attempt to put the latter towards the pit lane wall heading into the first corner. Alonso was on the racing line
In motorsport, the racing line is the optimal path around a race course. In most cases, the line makes use of the entire width of the track to lengthen the radius of a turn: entering at the outside edge, touching the "apex"—a point on the inside ...
and overtook Vettel. However, neither driver took the lead as Massa had made a fast start and passed both drivers around the outside. Button avoided hitting the back of Vettel's car by swerving and braking early for the first corner. Further round, Alguersuari committed to the braking zone late at the turn six hairpin, drove into the rear of his teammate Buemi, which removed Buemi's rear wing and his own front wing, and debris was littered across the track. Hamilton passed Webber for fourth place on the same lap. At the end of the first lap, the order was: Massa, Alonso, Vettel, Hamilton, Webber, Button, Kubica, Schumacher, Rosberg and Kobayashi.
Elsewhere, Force India committed an error when bringing their drivers in early. Liuzzi made contact with Sutil which damaged his front wing. The team had been expecting Liuzzi to pit before Sutil, but the latter was the first to arrive into the team's pit stall. It was only after both drivers had returned to the circuit that the team realised they had accidentally placed Liuzzi's tyres on Sutil's car and Sutil's tyres on Liuzzi's. Buemi was pushed back into his garage and became the race's first retirement with accident damage on the second lap. Hamilton was running close behind Vettel but despite his car's straight-line speed advantage, he was unable to affect an overtaking manoeuvre. Hamilton later dropped further away from Vettel. Trulli became afflicted with an gearbox issue which meant he was unable to select second gear, and his mechanics pushed his Lotus T127
The Lotus T127 is a Formula One motor racing car designed and built by Lotus Racing for the season. It was driven by Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen and was unveiled in London, on 12 February 2010. The car made its track début in the hands ...
back into his garage where they attempted to rectify the issue without success. Alonso recorded lap times faster than teammate Massa which reduced the gap to 1.1 seconds by the conclusion of lap six. Trulli was released from his garage by his team but drove slowly around the circuit and elected to retire on the next lap.
Massa responded to Alonso's quick pace with his fastest lap time to increase the gap by four-tenths of a second. Button ran wide at the first corner and fell further behind sixth-place driver Webber. Hamilton set a slow time which allowed Webber to close the gap to the former. Vettel became the first driver to make a scheduled pit stop
In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit la ...
for the hard-compound tyres on the 12th lap, and rejoined in sixth in front of Kubica. It was part of a strategy by Red Bull to place him into clear air in the hopes that he could make up some time on the leading Ferrari cars. Alguersuari drove alongside Yamamoto over the start/finish line and he made a pass for 19th entering the first corner on the same lap. Ferrari responded to Red Bull's decision by bringing Alonso and Massa in for their stops in quick succession, handing the lead to Button. Alonso rejoined ahead of Vettel, and was followed by Webber, but he exited the pit lane among a pack of slower cars and was immediately challenged by Kobayashi. Massa began to struggle with tyre temperatures and locked-up at turn two, and lost the balance of his car at the turn six hairpin.
Alguersuari overtook Glock for the 18th position on lap 17, and started to reduce the gap between himself and Senna. Button, who was still to make a pit stop, set faster lap times than other cars despite being on a worn set of soft-compound tyres. The battle between the two Ferrari drivers allowed Vettel to quickly close the gap. Alguersuari passed di Grassi to move into 16th place on the 21st lap. Alonso and Massa had caught up to slower cars by the same lap, which allowed the former to attempt a pass on the Brazilian by driving on the inside line heading into the turn six hairpin. But Massa held a quicker line leaving the corner which allowed him to defend his position. Alonso attempted to pass again heading into the following turn but backed out of the manoeuvre. He was angry and told his team "This is ridiculous" because he saw Massa placing him in danger of being challenged by both the Red Bull cars; it prompted intense discussion regarding the matter on the Ferrari pit wall. Yamamoto pulled over to the side of the track when his engine cut out on lap 19 while battling with both Force India drivers.
After passing slower cars, Vettel began to resume his battle with the Ferrari drivers. Button made a pit stop on lap 22 and reemerged in fifth position behind his teammate Hamilton. The Ferrari cars began to set faster lap times than the rest of the field as Massa started to pull away from Alonso and held a lead of three seconds over his teammate. Alonso responded to Massa's newfound pace by recording a new fastest lap
In motorsport, the fastest lap is the quickest lap run during a race. Some racing series, like Formula One, Formula 2 and Formula E award championship points for a driver or team that set the fastest lap.
In Grand Prix motorcycle racing no point i ...
of the race, a 1:18.075 on lap 28, having backed out to see how fast his car was in clean air
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
, before the two drivers began to trade fastest times over the next three laps. Webber attempted to place pressure on Button in a battle for fifth place, although Button was using a defensive strategy by using his McLaren's straight-line speed advantage. De La Rosa caught up to Hülkenberg and passed him at the turn six hairpin on lap 35. Three laps later, Hamilton was instructed by McLaren to conserve fuel usage in the event they could use an aggressive fuel saving mode towards the end of the race.
By lap 39, Alonso had reduced the time deficit between himself and Massa as the latter was lapping the two Virgin cars. At the start of lap 40, Massa held a 1.2 second lead over Alonso, who in turn, was 5.2 seconds in front of Vettel. Hamilton in fourth place was 18.1 seconds behind, but was maintaining a steady gap to teammate Button in fifth. Webber was told by Red Bull over the radio to increase the gap to Button, because his car was suffering from an issue with its oil consumption, and was told that braking harder into the track's turns would possibly assist in moving some oil around the inside of his car. Petrov made an error which allowed Kobayashi to take advantage but Petrov held off the challenge. A radio transmission from Massa's race engineer
A race engineer is a motorsport team member who analyses data to achieve the best performance from the vehicle and driver. The race engineer communicates with the team's data analyst, mechanics, and driver, both between and during races. Off the ...
Rob Smedley
Rob Smedley (born 28 November 1973) is a British automotive engineer who works for the organizers of Formula One motor racing after several years working within the Williams, Ferrari and Jordan Formula One teams.
Biography
Smedley was born and ...
was intercepted on lap 48, with Smedley telling Massa, "OK, so, Fernando (Alonso) is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?" Based on Smedley's tone, commentators surmised that it had been a coded message from engineer to driver telling Massa to move over and allow Alonso through.
Massa was slow to accelerate leaving the turn six hairpin on lap 49, giving Alonso the opening he needed to take the lead. Smedley was later heard apologising to Massa over the radio. De La Rosa made his solitary pit stop of the event for super-soft compound tyres on lap 51. Di Grassi, at turn one on the same lap, hit a kerb damaging his car's rear suspension, which rendered him unable to continue in the race. He was pushed into his garage by his team to retire. Vettel pressured Massa by setting consecutive fastest laps to reduce the time gap between them. Petrov was on course to score one point but was told by his team to shift early into seventh gear on lap 58 otherwise his maximum revolutions per minute
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
would be changed to a lower setting.
De La Rosa attempted to lap Kovalainen around the inside of the second corner on the 60th lap but the two cars made contact. De La Rosa sustained damage to a section of his front wing while Kovalainen drove to his garage and vacated his car to become the Grand Prix's final retirement on lap 61. Vettel continued to push hard in his effort to pass Massa for second place, while Hamilton was told he was no longer required to conserve fuel on the 63rd lap. Button ran wide at the first corner on the penultimate lap of the race but continued in fifth place. Alonso maintained the lead throughout the remainder of the event and crossed the start/finish line on lap 67 to secure the 23rd victory of his Formula One career. Massa finished second 4.1 seconds behind, and Vettel was third. Hamilton secured fourth, with teammate Button in fifth. Webber reduced his pace to finish in sixth place. Kubica, Rosberg, Schumacher and Petrov rounded out the points-scoring positions. Kobayashi, Barrichello, Hülkenberg, De La Rosa, Alguersuari, Liuzzi, Sutil, Glock and Senna were the final classified finishers.
Post-race
The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and spoke to the media at a later press conference. Alonso described his race weekend as "good overall" and felt the one-two finish for Ferrari was a deserving and strong result. He said he felt that the team's motivation would drop in the event of poor finishes and stated that Ferrari would get overexcited after finishing strongly and did not see a reason to be pessimistic for the next race of the season. Massa said it was a "very good" race for his team and that his tyres behaved better than he had expected. He felt he was not in the battle for the championship because he had lost a large number of valuable points and said every person recognised that he was able to win races and be competitive. Vettel said that despite losing two positions at the start of the race, he felt comfortable in his car and was happy to clinch a podium position at his home Grand Prix. Although he said he would have preferred to have scored more points, he felt third place was the best result his team could secure, a finish that Red Bull could be proud of.
Fourth-place finisher Hamilton said it had been a tough race for him because his car did not feel as good as he hoped. He had also hoped the gap would be closer than it was in qualifying. Webber stated that he enjoyed the first part of the event and was looking forward to the next race of the season. Kovalainen was issued with an reprimand for his role in the collision with de la Rosa. He admitted that he was at fault for causing the incident because he was allowing another car to pass him and had not seen de la Rosa approaching him. Force India's chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer
Otmar Szafnauer (born 13 August 1964) is a Romanian-American engineer.
Biography
Szafnauer was born in Semlac, a small village in Western Romania to an American father of German descent and a Romanian mother. His family moved to Detroit in th ...
said the confusion resulting in the error of fitting the wrong tyres for both their drivers was an example of cause and effect. He wanted to disregard the issue and look forward to the next few races. The team received a warning from the stewards and avoided disqualification because they had recognised their mistake immediately.
Ferrari's use of team orders
In motor racing, team orders is the practice of teams issuing instructions to drivers to deviate from the normal practice of racing against each other as they would against other teams' drivers. This can be accomplished either in advance, simply ...
, which resulted in Massa relinquishing the lead to Alonso on lap 49, risked the team's exclusion from the race results. Team principal Stefano Domenicali
Stefano Domenicali (born 11 May 1965) is an Italian manager and the current CEO of Formula One Group, replacing Chase Carey. He was the CEO of Italian sports car manufacturer Lamborghini from 2016 to 2020. He was the team principal of the Scu ...
, Ferrari manager Massimo Rivola
Massimo Rivola (born 7 December 1971) is an Italian motorsport official and the sports director for Aprilia in MotoGP.
Career
After graduating in 1996 in economics and commerce at the University of Bologna, in 1998 he began his career in Formula ...
, and Alonso and Massa were summoned by the stewards because they were considered have transgressed Article 39.1 of the 2010 Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
(FIA) Sporting Regulations, and were charged with violating Article 151c of the FIA's sporting code. The team was issued a $100,000 (£64,700) fine for the rule infringements, and the stewards decided that the result of the event would be unchanged. Ferrari was referred to the FIA World Motor Sport Council
The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is a major organ within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's governance structure. Its primary role is amending current regulations and drafting new regulations for all of international motor spor ...
for further deliberation. The team was heavily criticised by the Formula One paddock. Red Bull team principal Christian Horner
Christian Edward Johnston Horner (born 16 November 1973) is a British former racing driver and current Team Principal of the Red Bull Formula One team, a position he has held since 2005, winning eleven world titles (five World Constructors' Ch ...
called it "the clearest team order I've ever seen." BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
pundit and former team owner Eddie Jordan
Edmund Patrick Jordan, OBE (born 30 March 1948), also known as EJ, is an Irish businessman, television personality and former motorsport team owner. Born in Dublin, Jordan worked first at the Bank of Ireland. He won the Irish Kart Championshi ...
was more vocal stating the orders were "unlawful", felt it was "theft" and prevented the chance of having a race-winning battle between the two Ferrari drivers. He felt the two cars should have been disqualified. Schumacher argued that Ferrari were concentrating on securing the Drivers' Championship.
Domenicali insisted there were no team orders and that it was Massa who chose to allow Alonso past. Alonso reaffirmed Domenicalli's statement and admitted he was surprised when Massa slowed and claimed that he felt Massa had a gearbox issue. FIA reporter Lars Österlind investigated the incident and sent a 160-page report to the World Motor Sport Council which concluded that Alonso should be given a five-second time penalty which would hand the victory to Massa. He also wanted a suspended penalty on the loss of Ferrari's Drivers' and Constructors' points scored in the event. At the World Motor Sport Council meeting held in Paris on 8 September, the tribunal elected to uphold the $100,000 fine imposed on Ferrari, decided that no further action would be taken against the team, and that Formula One's Sporting Working Group would review the rule that prohibited team orders. In December, the FIA announced a reversion on the rule barring team orders because it was difficult to enforce. Parallels were made between the race and the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix
The 2002 Austrian Grand Prix (formally the Grosser A1 Preis von Österreich 2002) was a Formula One motor race held on 12 May 2002 at the Red Bull Ring, A1-Ring in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. It was the sixth round of the 2002 Formula One World ...
where Barrichello was ordered by Ferrari to concede the event's victory to Schumacher on its final lap.
The result extended Hamilton's lead in the Drivers' Championship to 14 points over Button. Vettel's third-place finish tied him with Webber in third place on 136 points, and Alonso's victory put him within 13 points of the Red Bull drivers. McLaren maintained their lead in the Constructors' Championship although Red Bull's finish of third and sixth meant they reduced the gap by one point. Ferrari's one-two result allowed them to reduce the points deficit to Red Bull slightly. Mercedes and Renault remained in fourth and fifth positions, with eight races left in the season.
Race classification
Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold.
;Notes:
* – Ferrari were called before the Race Stewards after the race, and were found guilty of breaching Article 39.1 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, in relation to team orders and Article 151c of the FIA International Sporting Code for bringing the sport into disrepute. The result stood, although Ferrari were fined US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
100,000 and the matter was referred to the FIA World Motor Sport Council
The World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) is a major organ within the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile's governance structure. Its primary role is amending current regulations and drafting new regulations for all of international motor spor ...
.
Championship standings after the race
;Drivers' Championship standings
;Constructors' Championship standings
* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
See also
* 2010 Hockenheimring GP2 Series round
* 2010 Hockenheimring GP3 Series round
References
External links
{{F1GP 10-19
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
German Grand Prix
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
July 2010 sports events in Germany
Formula One controversies