COOPER: German GP Team-By-Team

Formula 1

COOPER: German GP Team-By-Team

A look at how all 12 F1 teams performed over the weekend in Germany...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted July 22, 2012 Hockenheim (DEU)

Sebastian Vettel (Left) is honored alongside race winner Fernando Alonso (Right) after finishing second on Sunday in his native Germany. Vettel was later penalized and dropped to fifth in the order. (Photo: Getty Images)

The German GP provided yet another fascinating chapter in the battle for the 2012 title as Fernando Alonso logged his third win of the season and extended his lead. But it was far from an easy win for the Spaniard, who had to survive strong pressure from Sebastian Vettel and a resurgent Jenson Button. Vettel took second on the road, but was dropped back to fifth by a penalty after a controversial pass on the McLaren driver.

Meanwhile, there was a solid performance from Kimi Raikkonen, who gained third from the penalty, and impressive runs into the top six from both Saubers. It was a frustrating day for Lewis Hamilton, who picked up a puncture and ultimately posted the only retirement of the day. Here is how things played out down the field:

Red Bull
A gearbox change penalty meant Mark Webber went into qualifying knowing he would lose five places. The Australian earned a very respectable third, and thus just dropped back to eighth, while teammate Vettel was second and joined Alonso on the front row for his home race. Vettel slotted into second at the start, and held the place until he lost out to Button at the second pit stops. He dropped back initially but later reeled in the McLaren driver, passing him with two laps to go. However, he was deemed to have gained an advantage by going off circuit, and a 20-second penalty demoted him to fifth. Webber struggled for grip throughout and finished where he started, in eighth.

McLaren
McLaren had a major update package, including new sidepods, and it looked promising when Button was fastest in the dry FP1 session. Hamilton was on top on intermediates in Q2 but the cars struggled on extreme wets in Q3, with Button and Hamilton taking seventh and eighth, both then moving up because of Webber’s penalty. Button made good progress in the first stint, and as others made early stops, he moved into third place. He was the first of the three leaders to make a second and final stop, and that just got him ahead of Vettel. He lost the place with two laps to go but regained it when the German was penalized. Hamilton pitted with a puncture on the third lap and dropped to the back. Although he was fast enough to run with the leaders when lapped – and annoy Vettel while so doing – the team retired his car with 11 laps to go.

Ferrari
Alonso was fastest in the dry FP3 session on Saturday and then repeated that form in the very wet conditions in Q3, taking pole after a late change to new tires paid off. Felipe Massa was less fortunate, failing to get out of Q2 in 14th but moving up a spot because of the Sergio Perez penalty. Alonso made a good start and led strongly throughout. He came under pressure from Button when the gap shrank to 0.6 seconds with 10 laps to go, but later pulled away to log his third win of the season. Massa lost his front wing on the run to the first corner and had to pit, and after a difficult afternoon he recovered to 12th.

Mercedes
There were mixed fortunes for Mercedes in the wet FP2 session when Michael Schumacher had a heavy crash and Nico Rosberg was second fastest, but their fortunes were reversed in qualifying when Schumacher earned fourth, gaining another place from the Webber penalty. Rosberg struggled in Q2 and was a disappointing 17th before a gearbox penalty demoted him to 21st. Schumacher ran strongly in the early stages but ultimately had to run a three-stop strategy, which proved costly as he fell back to seventh. Rosberg did the same and, helped by a good first lap, jumped up to 10th by the flag.

Lotus
Lotus was happy with its dry pace when Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in FP3 but in wet qualifying both drivers struggled badly. The Finn made Q3 but had no grip on extreme wets, and had to settle for 10th. Romain Grosjean could not better 15th, and a gearbox penalty dropped him to 19th. For the sixth time this season, the Frenchman got involved in an early incident, pitting at the end of the first lap. He could recover only to 18th by the flag. Raikkonen, meanwhile, had a positive afternoon, finishing a solid fourth on the road and gaining a podium spot after Vettel was penalized.

Force India
The wet conditions of qualifying clearly suited Force India as both drivers made it into Q3. Despite a spectacular off at the start of the final session, Nico Hulkenberg earned fifth, before Webber’s penalty moved him up a spot. Paul Di Resta, meanwhile, was a solid ninth. Hulkenberg planned a two-stop strategy but tire degradation meant that in the end he was forced to switch to three, and that contributed to a slide back to an eventual ninth place. Di Resta, on contrast, stopped twice and found he still had good pace in the closing laps, but he could not better 11th place.

Sauber
Perez was fifth, fourth and third in the three practice sessions, and second on soft tires in Q1, but could manage only 12th in Q2, complaining of traffic. He then received a five-place grid penalty for impeding, which dropped him to 17th. Kamui Kobayashi did at least benefit, moving up from 13th to 12th. The Japanese driver was the highest-placed qualifier to start on the prime tire, and it paid off as he moved up the order before a late first stop. He finished fifth on the road but gained another spot from Vettel’s penalty to record his best ever finish. He was not far from Perez for much of the race, and the Mexican ultimately finished 5.9 seconds behind in sixth.

Toro Rosso
Daniel Ricciardo was an encouraging seventh in the wet FP3 session before a trip into the gravel, and he showed good form again in Q2, earning 11th. Jean-Eric Vergne was unlucky to be bounced down to 18th in Q1 at the very last minute by Schumacher, but penalties gifted him three places. Ricciardo slipped back in the first stint as he struggled for balance, but wing changes improved the car later on as he brought it home 13th. Vergne had a good start and ran 13th until a puncture led to an early stop on lap 6. He finished just behind his teammate in 14th.

Williams
Test driver Valterri Bottas crashed Bruno Senna’s car in FP1, but the damage was not too bad. Pastor Maldonado showed good wet weather form, topping FP2 and then qualifying sixth, before moving up a place after Webber was penalized. Senna took 16th and gained two places from penalties. Maldonado ran sixth in the first stint but slipped back after debris caused some aero damage on his car. He finished 15th. Senna had a clash with Grosjean on the first lap, and after a long stop, dropped well down the order. He crossed the line two spots behind his teammate in 17th.

Caterham
Encouraged by a recent straight line aero test, Caterham struggled for grip initially. The rain didn’t give the team a helping hand, and Heikki Kovalainen (at his 100th GP) and Vitaly Petrov could not better 19th and 20th. However, the Finn gained three spots from penalties, and his teammate two. Petrov did the better job of avoiding the first lap incidents and gained a couple of spots, and after what he called a quiet race, finished 16th, successfully holding off the delayed Senna. Kovalainen had a handling problem and made an extra late stop for a new nose, which seemed to cure it. He finished 19th.

HRT
Pedro de la Rosa was disappointed to lose vital tenths to traffic at the end of Q1, which cost him a chance of improving on 23rd. Narain Karthikeyan handed his car to Dani Clos for FP1, and thus missed the only dry running on Friday. He qualified last, just over 0.3 seconds off his teammate. De la Rosa spent much of the race chasing Timo Glock, finally passing the German in the closing laps to claim 21st. Karthikeyan, meanwhile, only just failing to catch the Marussia as he took 23rd after a reliable run for the Spanish team.

Marussia
Charles Pic did well to outpace Glock at the latter’s home track, and then moved up from 21st to 20th thanks to Rosberg’s penalty. Glock, meanwhile, stayed in 22nd spot, having complained of a rear end instability that didn’t help his confidence. Pic made a bad start but still managed to stay ahead of his teammate. He finished 20th. Glock began to suffer serious handling problems from an early stage and could not match the French driver. He was lacking top speed and also had a differential problem. After being passed by de la Rosa, he finished 22nd.

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED