2009 German Grand Prix
Round 9 - Nurburgring GP-Strecke - 12th July 2009
The Nürburgring was the setting for the German GP instead of Hockenheim, as the two circuits would now alternate hosting the race. Jenson Button still lead the championship from team mate Barrichello but the Red Bull looked to be spoiling for a fight after their 1-2 finish at the British GP.
Qualifying
An intense session saw Red Bull’s Mark Webber take a sensational pole position, his first in F1. Button and Barrichello looked stronger than they had in Silverstone with P2 & P3 respectively. Vettel lined up 4th, but Adrian Sutil took the praise in Germany as he put his Force India up in 7th. Both McLaren’s and both Ferrari’s got into the top 10 and looked ready to strike with their KERS button.
Race
The race saw the McLarens & Ferraris get a cracking start with their KERS boost helping them along, engulfing Vettel and Button. Hamilton briefly got into the lead, but contact with Webbers Red Bull punctured the McLarens rear tyre and sent him to the back. Webber got a slow start from Pole and banged into Barrichello who took the lead going into Turn 1.
Kovalainen took 3rd, but being largely out of position due to his poor pace, the Finn was holding up the following cars. Button put on a magnificent overtake to pass Massa for 4th. However Mark's start line tactics caught up with him as the stewards gave the Aussie a drive through penalty. Some clever strategy from Red Bull saw Mark serve his drive through at the same time Barrichello pitted for fuel to give himself track position. Some blistering fast laps from Webber in clean air, while Barrichello was being held up by Massa, saw the Aussie haul himself back into contention.
More heart break for Adrian Sutil who made his first pit stop after running up in second, when he emerged he came across his old nemesis Kimi Raikkonen, the pair connected and Sutil’s front wing was damaged forcing the German to pit for repairs. Thus he fell out of contention for any points. A hydraulic problem forced Sebastian Bourdais to retire and it would appear that this would be his final race for the team as poor performances have left the team threatening to drop the Frenchman.
Webber hunted Barrichello down and was right behind the Brazilian when the Brawn driver pitted for his second stop. However a fuel rig problem at the pit stop for Barrichello forced him to stop again and dropped him down the order. Webber then set the timing screens alight and was able to retain the lead after his own pit stop.
Webber went onto comfortably win the race ahead of his own team mate Sebastian Vettel, making it Red Bull’s third 1-2 finish of 2009 and more importantly Webber’s maiden win in F1. Massa collected his and Ferrari’s first podium finish of 2009, but the Brawn’s suffer again down in 5th & 6th – Button ahead of Barrichello.
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- Nurburgring GP-Strecke
- Nurburg, Germany
- 12th Jul 2009
- 67 laps
- Lap Record: Michael Schumacher, Ferrari, 1:29.468, 2004
Hamilton got a cracking start, but it was Barrichello and Webber that lead into turn 1 © Red Bull/Getty
- Driver of the Day
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M Webber - Red Bull
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | L Hamilton | McLaren | 1:31:20.874 |
| 2 | N Piquet Jnr | Renault | +5.5 secs |
| 3 | F Massa | Ferrari | +9.3 secs |
| 4 | N Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | +9.8 secs |
| 5 | H Kovalainen | McLaren | +12.4 secs |
| 6 | K Raikkonen | Ferrari | +14.4 secs |
| 7 | R Kubica | BMW Sauber | +22.6 secs |
| 8 | S Vettel | Toro Rosso | +33.2 secs |