NUERBURGRING: McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton produced a monumental drive to take his second win of the season in the German Formula One Grand Prix after an enthralling battle with Ferrari’s second-placed Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber, while Force India’s Adrian Sutil delivered a sixth place finish in the Formula One German Grand Prix here Sunday, Karun Chandhok in the Team Lotus car ended up 20th and four laps down in his first outing in over a year.
Force India delivered another excellent performance as Sutil raced to a superb sixth place while team-mate Paul Di Resta was the victim of a first lap crash, but recovered to finish 13th. The eight points scored today move the team into seventh place in the Constructors’ Championship.
“It was a great race today and I’m so pleased to get this result for the team because we really deserved it. We had a great car all weekend and everything just went perfectly,” said Sutil.
The only disappointment for the local supporters was Red Bull’s titleholder and championship leader Sebastian Vettel struggling in his home race to finish fourth as rain just about held off.
Vettel’s run of 11 successive podium finishes ended but the 24-year-old saw his overall lead trimmed by just three points over team mate Webber to 77 with nine races left
Pole sitter Webber, who finally led a lap for the first time this year, had watched Vettel win six of the previous nine races while finishing in the top two each time.
This time, both Red Bulls were outshone by the flying Briton who started on the front row and seized the lead into the first corner.
Vettel has 216 points, Webber 139, Hamilton 134 and double world champion Alonso 130.
Hamilton, who said he had no chance of pole before seizing second on the grid, made a great start while Alonso also got past Vettel only to soon lose the initiative. (Agencies)
