The start has been one of the most exciting of the season. Nico Rosberg has already made a statement of intent placing on the grill very turned towards Vettel, and has actually managed to get ahead of his compatriot to the first corner, but he has opened up considerably and Vettel has returned to him in Turn 3. Fernando Alonso has started pretty well, and also in the first braking has rushed right on the edge (about to go out), taking advantage of a gap on the outside has advanced to three drivers at once, getting the third position. From here, Sebastian Vettel had opened a gap of four seconds in only two laps, reaching lap 5 with a lead of 6 seconds, after this he has slowed down and started to look after the tyres.
In the third place Fernando Alonso led a group formed by Mark Webber, Romain Grosjean, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, but the positions were not moving. Vettel was able to take much more than his rivals, and did not stop until lap 18 to put the harder tyre , keeping his great advantage and with the wheels in better condition. Fernando Alonso has stopped before and also has a set of media , leaving behind Paul di Resta, who was the last driver to stop and he has done a considerable cap to the Spaniard , which prevented him from trying to approach Rosberg; they also used the medium compound .
On lap 25 , Daniel Ricciardo had an accident in Turn 18 and has forced the safety car to make an appearance. Most pilots have used to make another pit stop, except Vettel, Rosberg, Webber and Hamilton in the first four positions, and di Resta in the seventh , which has become the sixth by a mechanical failure that forced Grosjean to leave. The most notable after the withdrawal of safety car was the message has been received by Vettel on the radio: “use the gums to pull away ,” and the German has again shown a rate more than two seconds than any other driver, a pace without opposition, a superiority that could be considered humiliating for the rest, a real hurricane that with few laps he could make an extra stop and go still leader.
Webber was running in the third position within a second of Rosberg, but on lap 42 Rosberg has stopped and he has followed in his footsteps, entering the next turn to defend the position , but it was late and that one has been enough for Australian to win the position. Hamilton would again be behind his teammate, and the three would go towards Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Perez, Hulkenberg and Gutierrez, they would not stop anymore. Vettel made his final pit stop on lap 44 , putting the supersoft tyre and comfortably holding the advantage over Alonso, who ran second. In the eighth position , Webber was with Gutierrez, the Mexican caused a small plug, and Rosberg and Hamilton were poured on top. After two rounds, the Sauber has not filed as opposition, knowing he had nothing to do, and lost three positions in one lap, and still would be losing more in the following.
Button was third, under pressure from Raikkonen, who could not overtake faster despite being behind Perez and Hulkenberg, who were trapped and developed by the group of Webber. Finally, Kimi overtook the English from McLaren on the outside at turn 14, and the difference with the tyres was very noticeable. Button also lost positions with the group of Webber and Massa, which also came with a strategy similar to the Mercedes. The monotony of the race start contrast to the large amount of track action in the closing stages. Mark Webber tried to catch Kimi for the podium , but suffered a serious problem and was forced to go to low speed in order to finish the race , which was used by the Mercedes to gain positions. The Aussie finally broke on the penultimate lap, going very slow, and finally had to stop at the loophole because his car was engulfed in flames.
Vettel has made another step towards the title , if it was not yet clear , the German touches his global fourth finger, so the celebration was very blunt. Now just a heap of nonsense could deprive him of this world championship, and probably not win the remaining races . Alonso finished second thanks to a great start and the strategy , the best result he could have achieved today . The Spaniard has collected and has led Webber to pit , returning the favor Webber did at the Nurburgring in 2011. Kimi Raikkonen finished third thanks to the strategy, which has deprived Rosberg of another podium. Lewis Hamilton rounded off the top five.
P | Driver | Team | Time | Grid |
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull | 1:58.13 | 1 |
2 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | +32.6 | 7 |
3 | Kimi Räikkönen | Lotus | +43.9 | 13 |
4 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | +51.1 | 2 |
5 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | +53.1 | 5 |
6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | +1:03.8 | 6 |
7 | Jenson Button | McLaren | +1:23.3 | 8 |
8 | Sergio Pérez | McLaren | +1:23.8 | 14 |
9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | +1:24.2 | 11 |
10 | Adrian Sutil | Force India | 1:24.6 | 15 |
11 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams | +1:28.4 | 18 |
12 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Sauber | +1:37.8 | 10 |
13 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | +1:40.0 | 16 |
14 | Jean Eric Vergne | STR | +1:48.3 | 12 |
15 | Mark Webber | Red Bull | +1 Lap | 4 |
16 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham | +1 Lap | 20 |
17 | Max Chilton | Marussia | +1 Lap | 22 |
18 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia | +1 Lap | 21 |
19 | Charles Pic | Caterham | +1 Lap | 19 |
20 | Paul di Resta | Force India | +7 Laps | 17 |
21 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus | OUT | 3 |
22 | Daniel Ricciardo | STR | OUT | 9 |