Rate the race: 2013 German Grand Prix

2013 German Grand Prix

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What did you think of the today’s race? Share your verdict on the German Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2013 German Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (9%)
  • 9 (25%)
  • 8 (31%)
  • 7 (17%)
  • 6 (9%)
  • 5 (5%)
  • 4 (2%)
  • 3 (0%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (2%)

Total Voters: 676

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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See the results for past seasons here:

2013 German Grand Prix

    Browse all 2013 German Grand Prix articles

    Image © Lotus/LAT

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    186 comments on “Rate the race: 2013 German Grand Prix”

    1. yawn, boring vettel race

      1. Are you kidding?

        1. You must be a Mercedes fan.(I am a Lotus fan) That was a brilliant race, brilliant track, brilliant battles and a great double podium for Lotus.

      2. …are you serious?

      3. Let me guess, Hamilton fan? :P

        1. Why not he be a marussia fan ? ;) . I rated 7/10

      4. The race was amazing! Not a single dull moment, I just wish that the race was a couple laps longer though :D

    2. What a nail-biter! 10/10

      1. @tmekt I rated the race 9/10. Funny that up until now 5% have rated this Race as 1/10. I am just thinking what kind of races would they be rating 10/10 and what would we be rating such a race LOL.

        1. I gave it 4, how a good average (5) F1 race ought to be but still spoiled to some degree (-1) by overinfluential tyres.

          1. But at least we had the lead guys really pushing this time @hohum, I would think that should make it for a notch better rating.

            1. @bascb, I appreciate that they were pushing, my point however is that that should always be the rule, not the exception. See how bad things have become, how low our expectations are.

            2. Ah, I see @hohum! The good news is, next years Pirellis will be made to last, on the other hand, we could be in for a LOT of “save fuel” at least in the first half of next year.

    3. Real F1 multi strategy race…. Loved it…. That is how we want the F1 races

      1. A great race definitely! Battles at the lights, battles at mid-race, battles at the flag; battles for every position. I’ve seen great drives from all drivers in the top 10.

        I just hope the cameraman is ok, it was shocking.

      2. seconded . totally great race. 9 poitnts just coz tyre changes made force india and STR drop behind Mclaren

    4. Good race! Nice battle for the lead.

    5. You’ve got to be kidding. It was so close with the Lotuses for over half the race.

      1. This was in reply to @fosrone. My internet was acting up. And I can’t delete this.

        1. nice display picture could listen to him all day..

    6. On the edge of my seat for the final 1/3 of the race. So close for Kimi! 8/10

    7. And German Anthem at Nurburgring…..

      1. Ha Toh choos na bha

    8. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
      7th July 2013, 14:52

      good race (7), because they were actually racing. not sure if Kimi really have to pit again in last 10 lap… Grosjean is driver of the day.

    9. Great race – different strategies and a showdown till the last corner with tires that allowed wheel to wheel racing. That’s how F1 should be.

    10. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
      7th July 2013, 14:54

      There was lots of neat strategic interplay, and an intriguing battle for the lead by the closing stages, culminating in an edge-of-seat finale. Moreover, we saw plenty of action up and down the field – including, but not limited to, Webber’s charge from the rear, overtakes on and by the Mercedes cars, as well as the twin Lotuses. Overall, good entertainment, with excellent showings by Vettel, Grosjean and Raikkonen. A solid 9.

    11. Was more than a little annoyed at the pointless and over-long safety car period, esp. given that the Lotuses were catching Vettel at that point. I’m glad that the race transcended it in the end.

      1. @erikkennedy Wasn’t pointless as Webber needed to catch up to the rest of the field..

        1. So we watch a nascar-style F1 race, with the safety car coming for no other reason than to reduce the distances between the cars. It cancelled all the correct strategies that some teams and drivers made. Bianchi’s car was no longer on the track, so the SC should have entered back immediately; instead, it closed the field,severely altering the result of the race. I would have given it a 10, but I ended in almost giving it a 8. F1 needs to change the SC rules, sometimes it comes for no reason and always stays at least 2 laps to long.

        2. @wsrgo Interesting, because last week Chilton and Van Der Garde were allowed to take their lap back, but they didn’t wait for them to catch up.

        3. Why does he NEED to catch up? He already got a bit advantage getting the lap back, let alone catching up the back with nice warm tyres & brakes!

          1. Agreed, ridiculous rule. At the very most let lapped cars overtake and then bring in the safety car immediately. I’d rather just leave them in the pack. Yes, those behind lapped cars will be held up at the restart a bit, but so what? They would have been held up anyway.

            Alternatively force the lapped cars to drop to the back of the queue.

            1. While I was pleased for Mark, I agree completely with all above.

            2. The thing that was unfair, was Redbull made a terrible and dangerous mistake in the pits. Webber dropped a lap but purely for the the weird rules got a massive advantage by being allowed to unlap, catch up from the back, warm up his tyres and steam past all the cars on colder tyres that were having to drive at the much slower pace car speed. Then he ended up in the points.
              What happened in the pits should have been race ending. The guy on the wheel clearly indicated there was something wrong but the lolly pop guy let him go. What happened to waiting for the guys on the wheels to put their hands up to show they were done?

        4. That is precisely why it was pointless…. for what reason should lapped cars be able to unlap themselves and end up gaining a whole lap advantage on everyone else

        5. A car rolling downhill onto the track isnt pointless at all. F1 is supposed to follow the rules, and they say when there is a SC, the drivers should unlap.

    12. 9/10 – Haven’t felt that tense since last season’s finale. Fantastic to see the front runners so close, with Raikkonen chasing Vettel and Alonso chasing Grosjean. Goes to show that you don’t need statistics like “number of passes”, you just need the tension of the battle.

      Thumbs down to the director, though, he missed the final lap passes of Hamilton and Webber.

      1. Aditya (@adityafakhri)
        7th July 2013, 15:08

        +over 9999

      2. Apparently the crowd was more intriguing…. I quite enjoyed the race but I think the battle at the front could have been even better if it wasn’t for RBR’s bungled pitstop. Gave it a 7.

      3. I was thinking of giving it a 9 myself; it would’ve been a 10, but the action in the final laps was nowhere near as intense as I had hoped.

        Then I remembered the guy who almost got killed today and I ended up giving it a 7. I think the pit crews, particularly among certain teams (I won’t name names), are starting to seriously ignore safety in their pursuit of lower pit stop times.

        1. The Mechanics want to be the best at what they do just as much as the drivers want to be the best at what they do. But to be honest, the only people that should be allowed in the pit lane during a race should be the mechanics and other necessary personal. There is no need to have actual camera men in the pits when they could easily make HD cameras small enough to place in multiple locations operated by remote. By having an over abundance of people in the pits they are just increasing the foot traffic as well as placing more lives at risk.

    13. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      7th July 2013, 14:59

      As a race, this was a 10/10. Best race of the year yet – I was hoping Kimi will overtake but that wasn’t to be! Great driving from Grosjean! But then, I am an Alonso fan. If F1Fanatic was a room, I will be curled up in a corner hiding my face. Good strategy by Ferrari – but did Alonso capitalise? Nope. The guy was lucky to finish with the fuel he had left. Totally lacked pace today – not the car, but Alonso.

      1. Not sure why you are accusing Alonso of lack of pace. The guy almost got 3rd with the third best car of the day. They probably didn’t setup his car for greater straightline speed, that cost him.

        1. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
          7th July 2013, 15:16

          @sankalp88 Did you not observe that Alonso wasn’t just able to overtake with DRS, but he was slow through the corners too. When Vettel pitted, Alonso was suddenly 4 secs off Kimi! And then when Kimi and Alonso came off the pitlane the split was at most 2s. And both were on softs, and Kimi goes to second and Alonso stays at 4 – unable to pass even Grosjean. He was even consistently losing huge chunks of time, but that may or may not have been because of him switching to fuel conservation!

          1. @shreyasf1fan

            “Alonso was suddenly 4 secs off Kimi”.

            No he wasn’t! What were you watching?! He was 2.7 behind Kimi when VET pitted. Considering that Kimi was clearly getting held up, Alonso did well to manage the gap to around 4.3 seconds until he pitted for the softs. Kimi was let by GRO, you can’t expect the same for Alonso. He just ran out of time, and may be that extra grip at the end.

            1. He ran out of fuel. He was catching Gro and would’ve taken him if the Team didn’t order him to go into fuel conservation mode in the last few laps. Smart, considering he came to a stop few metres after crossing the finish line.

          2. Did you not observe that Alonso wasn’t just able to overtake with DRS, but he was slow through the corners too

            the word “slow” is relative here , if you’re talking about Vettel Kimi & Grosjean the answer is simple the Red Bull & the Lotus were simply faster than the Ferrari
            if you are talking about how Alonso was under performing then tell me please how did you figure out that because if you can notice it like that then why use telemetry

            1. @tifoso1989

              the Red Bull & the Lotus were simply faster than the Ferrari

              I don’t think that was the case. For most of the race Alonso was faster than Raikkonen, Grosjean and Vettel. I think Alonso lost the race yesterday. If he had qualified more strongly he would have been in contention for the win as well.

            2. @baron-2

              For most of the race Alonso was faster than Raikkonen, Grosjean and Vettel

              I don’t know if you have watched the same race as me , bur anyway the lap times that will be displayed in the forum will prove you wrong
              In the fist stint Alonso was nowhere near the pace of both Lotus & Red Bull
              which was not due to the difference in the compounds but the degradation of the used set of medium mounted on his car was higher than expected which led the team to anticipate the first pit stop, with the new set of prime tyres Alonso has regained his pace but he wasn’t as quick as both Vettel & Grosjean , in the last stint Alonso was the quickest driver for the first 4 or 5 laps because he was on new option & kimi was on used option after that Grosjean was on used Medium was able to respond to Alonso’s times in the last laps

            3. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
              7th July 2013, 17:34

              @tifoso1989 No I did mean Ferrari’s pace.

            4. @tifoso1989

              I’m just basing my opinion on the fact that every time they showed the delta between Raikkonen and Alonso, Alonso was closing in. Also, after the first stops Alonso was a lot further behind than at the end. Logic dictates Alonso made up time for most of the race. He wasn’t lots quicker but he was gaining a tenth or two more often than not.

              As for Alonso not overtaking Grosjean, I doubt Raikkonen could have overtaken Grosjean without the teamorder so I doubt it had to do with Grosjean being able to counter Alonso. The way the track is made means it’s really tough to pass a slightly slower car even with DRS. Just look at Raikkonen being stuck behind Hamilton. And if I recall correctly Hamilton couldn’t DRS pass Hulkenberg at one point despite a sub 4 tenth gap. The track is similar in that regard to the Hungaroring. Unless there’s a big difference in pace getting passed is very tough. If not impossible.

      2. Good strategy? Really..He lasted how long on his first stint?

        1. it appeared they pitted him far to early, if they waited a few laps and gone for the softs at 2nd stop(which was a no brainer, me and a friend even discussed it last night) he would of gained track position and got the softs out of the way.

          Ferrari somehow picked a poor strategy out of a good one. Alonso drove ok other than running wide out of pit.

          Any news about massa? strange one

          1. Traverse (@)
            7th July 2013, 19:30

            Any news about massa? strange one

            Apparently Massa was stuck in 5th gear when he pirouetted.

    14. Not one tyre failure; not counting a flying RB Webber Wheel.

      1. Will Buxton was reporting that Pic had a slow puncture on the left rear about halfway through the race. Still, it’s good that there were no catastrophic failures like last week.

        1. Strictly speaking not really a failure, as the structure held. But point still well made.

    15. P45 for Felipe Massa(useless wingman, useless) and possibly Dommicelli. Wrong call again from Ferrari, should have started on “soft” after all.. blunder after blunder. I’m amazed that some people warrant high wages.

      1. Dommicelli? I’m sure you mean Domenicali, that’s quite a typo :P

        1. Damn(auto-correct), thanks for pointing that out Sir. Please don’t give me detention. ;)

      2. Have we heard anything from Ferrari yet to explain what happened to Massa? That did not look like a normal driver error for me @liambo

        1. I also do not think it was a normal driver’s error.
          The Ferrari F1 website mentioned:” The team is currently investigating the cause of this incident that brought the Brazilian’s race to a premature end”.
          Pat Fry said about the incident:”he [Felipe] locked up the rear wheels under braking and spun, possibly because of the lack of grip”.
          Felipe Massa said:”at the moment when I braked, the rear wheels locked up and I couldn’t stop the car from spinning. When the car came to a stop, it was stuck in fifth gear and I couldn’t stop the engine from stalling”.
          So I guess it is not clear yet.

      3. If you did that, you’d also have to fire Boullier from lotus for getting the strategy wrong at Silverstone.

    16. Loved it. Tense and lot of interesting battles.

      One thing tho, F1’s getting themselves to a point when accidents don’t happen because of luck, maybe?. The Webber wheel, the Marussia rolling backwards on the circuit. Another thing to look at quickly.

    17. 5 starting score.
      -1 For trully awful pitlane incident with the cameraman. I was really worried for his life there, as I thought the tyre had hit him on his head/neck.
      +1 For the tyres allowing teams different strategies.
      +2 For drivers being able to push for the whole race.
      +2 For nail-biting last stint with 3 different drivers looking capable to win at some point.

      So I’d say it was a 9. Brilliant race, had me in the edge of my seat throughout. Really good form for all the podium finishers. Good race from Jenson as well. Felt sorry for Massa and Grosjean – I reckon he could have finished 2nd had it not been for the safety car, and he would have truly deserved it.

      1. Romain got ahead of kimi with better strategy for staying out on first stint.

        Kimi got screwed up by the team that pitted him behind the traffic.

        Kimi would’ve won by staying out on 1st stint like Romain did.

        1. yea true that. I was so surprised when Romain came out in 2nd. that should of been Kimi, but I guess radio problems kinda made them panic a bit. still glad to see Lotus r faster than Ferrari and Mercedes.

        2. I think kimi had a second chance to win, but Lotus budged and got scared of keeping him out ahead.

    18. Really strong race of strategy: probably the best strategic race of the season that wasn’t dictated by tyres horribly falling off cliffs.
      A few interesting incidents, glad to hear the cameraman is well. Great fight back from Webber AGAIN, beautiful drives from the Lotus drivers, very close battles for positions right through the pack. 9/10.

      1. Agree.
        And they told vettel to push even at the end, you know he didn’t win by just cruising.

    19. 10.
      The final laps were incredible. There was a lot of tension with different strategies, close racing. Thrilling. And then, of course, it’s always nice to see a guy winning his home GP.

    20. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      7th July 2013, 15:14

      @sankalp88 Did you not observe that Alonso wasn’t able to overtake with DRS, he was slow through the corners too. When Vettel pitted, Alonso was suddenly 4 secs off Kimi! And then when Kimi and Alonso came off the pitlane the split was at most 2s. And both were on softs, and Kimi goes to second and Alonso stays at 4 – unable to pass even Grosjean. He was even consistently losing huge chunks of time, but that may or may not have been because of him switching to fuel conservation!

      1. watch the race again, alonso was 4+ seconds behind kimi before his final stop. HE cut it back to 2 with fastest laps.

    21. Great race, really good fights for position all over the field, everyone was pushing as far as I could see. Again, we had a close finish. One more lap and it would have been even closer.

      And look at it, no punctures today!

    22. Fantastic race! Not too much drop off by the tyres, but enough to make things interesting. Further to this there was a huge difference in both performance and longevity between the compounds which led to such an exciting finish. The last 10 laps were truly edge-of-your-seat thrilling! This is what a great Pirelli race looks like, and what should be aimed for.

      Although Vettel winning was the worst possible outcome for the Championship battle, you can’t take anything away from the man today. Composed, hard fought win by him. Relieved that the cameraman is ok.

      1. Forgot my score. I gave it a 9.

    23. I gave it a 7 . Brilliant racing from vettel ,grosjean and kimi to a nail biting finish . Tough luck for webber as usual . Red Bull have brains all over ! they can design a car which works even on the moon ( Please don’t counter me with some gravity laws , I bet they have an answer for that too , they did some tests with felix baumgartner ) .

      Just could have been better with a couple more laps in the end . That’s why a 7 instead of 8 from me .

      1. you think the webber incident was tough luck? when I saw him pitting with a change to come ahead of his teammate I said, i bet the farm it’s going to be the longest pitstop since the Flintstones. Well RBR owe me a farm.

        1. Yeah . I predicted they would ruin his start . but maybe they needed him to squeeze lewis for vettel to get the job done . Also maybe they didn’t wan’t him to loose too many points . Unfortunately Webber can’t control these things . That pitstop was so bad . How come webber gets these always . Nothing is a coincidence . But vettel was omnious today irrespective of webber

          1. The reason this things happen to Webber is because Vettel is priority and they put their full concentration on giving Vettel the best they can do that they subconsciously relax when it is Webber and make mistakes.

    24. Zantkiller (@)
      7th July 2013, 15:28

      A solid 8.

      There was a bit of a dull moment just after the safety car which gave way to the tension of the finish.

    25. Gave the race 9 out of 9 for all the different tyre strategies and the safety car intervention.
      I must add that felt very bad for Massa and Webber for their problems.

    26. 9/10

      This is what F1 is and should always be. No ridiculously easy DRS overtakes or SC shuffles.
      10 -1 for the incident with Webber’s rear tyre.

      And what the hell happened to Massa? Such a shame.

    27. 8/10

      Lovely to see karma come and bite Mercedes.

      1. Are you refering to the test which gave them a clear advantage and solved their tyre issues? Couldn’t have been more obvious..

      2. @davef1 I don’t see your point . Their test has not given them too much as we saw today . Their car , unlike red bull is still temperature dependent ( Imagine what will happen in asia where temps are high) . They gave got a just penalty now with all the other cars also going to test with new tires and race drivers . They have enough karma for now . I guess they need some 1-2 race finishes to keep ahead .

    28. Anele (@anele-mbethe)
      7th July 2013, 15:33

      Lap after lap of nailbiting action, constant pressure on the leader till the last lap. The only thing missing was the lead changing hands a couple of times and it would have been a perfect 10. 7/10

    29. +1 for getting to see Kimi’s new haircut :P It was a nice race, i feel sorry for Massa and Webber, generally a nice race anyway, Kimi’s charge in the end looked incredible but he never seemed to threaten Vettel’s victory chances.

    30. I gave it an 8. It was a very good race with intrigue and good solid racing throughout the field. Thought the Hulk had a really good drive as did JB, they were both very good drives. Surely the track temps hindered Mercedes as they struggled throughout the race but that played into Lotus’ hands and Grosjean showed his speed today with a great drive.

      Kimi was a little unlucky in the end but a solid drive from the Iceman. Lotus as of now could really challenge at the Hungaroring and could be really quick.

      Did anyone see a replay of Massa spinning it looked bizzare from Alonso’s onboard. However Ferrari’s strategy just didn’t work I think because the pace isn’t in the car. They have stood still since Barcelona and the championship is slipping away from Alonso. Ferrari have to up their game.

      Vettel was asbsolutely brilliant today, that in my opinion is the best win of his career and he was top class. He really is starting to get closer to a 4th world title. This annoys me he wins his home race and they give him a Santander trophy. Hope the cameraman is ok.

    31. Brilliant race, 9/10. I was on the edge of my sofa until Vettel crossed the finish line. Tyre choice for this race was perfect, just well-judged. And it produced a variety of strategies, which I haven’t seen for a while. Also drivers were able to push quite hard. Classic track added even more appeal to this race.

    32. Shreyas Mohanty (@)
      7th July 2013, 15:43

      By suddenly, I meant a little while later. Alonso was 4 secs behind way before they pitted. I am an Alonso fan too. But atleast I am not in denial of the facts.

    33. What’s a shame in my opinion is that when Grosjean performs well, he is at some point in the race always told to let Raikkonen pass. Hope he can put on some good performances like this one without the team orders getting in his way.

    34. GREAT race by Lotus. I loved their team performance, but strategy was off a bit by running options in Q1 and not doing their usual one less pit stop. glad they finally getting quicker stops. if Lotus can keep up this kinda double podiums for the majority of races, they will definitely finish 2nd in the WCC and could be pretty close behind RBR.

      Seb had a up-close and personal experience and how Kimi would push him in the same car(Kimi makes it seem like Lotus is on par with RBR, imagine when they in the same car…Kimi could be a ahead)

      1. Actually Lotus was the fastest car today, even Eric Boullier said it during an interview.

        1. true. but man Kimi cant catch a break here. I think the radio problems made them panic a bit and pitted Kimi way too early cuz Romain went longer and came out 2nd. that 1st stop is what lost the win for him. im hoping for similar hot weather in Hungary and Belgium…and NO RAIN!

    35. 8/10 a lot of things going on, a lot of overtakes, and Webber really took advantage out of the SC period, fantastic stuff

    36. It was a really great race.
      A lot of strategies, great overtakes, fights for the lead.
      It was good.
      Very good. 8/10

    37. Loved that. Overtaking, different strategies, funny moments (Bianchi) and a battle at the front. 9/10 for me

    38. Absolutely awesome race, drivers were able to push throughout the whole race, as mentioned by vettel on the podium. No tyre failures and no stupid gp2 style crashes. There were only two things i didn’t like about this race one the cameraman getting hit by the tire(luckily he is still alive) and two the sc period was way too long i think after one lap the safety car had to come in.
      8/10 for me

    39. Kimi justifies Lauda’s comment he is a wimp. Such a good car and still fails to win.

      1. All Lauda said was: IF Kimi doesn’t join RB, he will be a wimp. Which is ok to say.
        Nevertheless dislike Lauda.

      2. And Kimi “Couldn´t give a ****” what Lauda says or thinks.

      3. I think you are the only sane person ( Lauda blabbers like a toddler to pass his time ) to call kimi a wimp . Guess what kimi told the reporters about the tire blowing on his face last GP . He said “that’s why we wear helmets”

    40. Fantastic strategic race, very tense! It was a slow burner, unfolding for quite a while. Haven’t gave it a 10 only because of the quality of the actual track battles – nature of the circuit (front-limited) prohibited the drivers to drive side by side more often – most of the passes were DRS-assisted and trivial. But it was great fun to watch this race, so i gave it 9\10.

    41. 9 for me, because of the camera man accident. Very sad to see something like that. Otherwise the race was perfect

    42. 8. I’m not particulary impressed but this was for sure one decent race. We’ve had it very close for most of the time between the top 4, shuffles in the field, mixed strategies and thus a very present element of surprise.

      – 1 for the immense amount of mistakes in the pit lane (Williams throwing away points, the Webber incident, etc.)
      – 1 for a sort-of anti-climatic ending.

      If we had a three-way battle for position between Vettel, Raikkonen and Alonso, and no wheel incident, then it would have been a 10.

      Otherwise, a race how they should normally be.

    43. MG421982 (@)
      7th July 2013, 17:16

      Kinda boring race ! 7 from me.

      Massa = useless indeed. If Ferrari drops him, I’ll be amazed if he’ll find a seat.

      1. Should find one in the grand stands if he buys a ticket.

    44. 9/10 This was without a doubt the best year of the race. Every lap was 200% tension. However there is a point I’m keen on making. We all know pitstops can be a dangerous thing but are teams not chasing impossible speeds by trying to do a 2.4 second stops? Over the past years we’ve seen more and more wheels roll down the pitlane. Today it was close but one of these days someone in the pitlane is going to get a pirelli tyre to his temple and then it is going to be game over. I’m not going to say we need some stupid restriction rule but perhaps we need a revision of the wheel guns, to make them a bit slower so we are actually sure the wheel stays on the car. I know something has to happen.

    45. boring! vettel led out of turn 1 and i said out loud “well, there’s your winner”.

      i remember when the winner wasn’t decided until the first round of pit stops. it’s sad that red bull domination makes the refuelling era look action-packed and unpredictable by comparison.

      1. @f1yankee – Actually, the Lotuses pushed him all the way and Alonso was only a few seconds off.

        1. they were only as close as vettel wanted them to be. after the safety car, he quickly put them back at arm’s length. this victory was never in doubt, despite what the commentators would have you believe.

          1. @f1yankee – Well, he just got a good restart, being able to dictate the pace once the SC pulls in. Lotus knew they had the car to win today, and were often in DRS range later on having closed in before and after the SC.

          2. I doubt any driver would want the chasing car to be within the DRS margin. Also Vettel had a KERS failure on some laps. He was being asked a few times by his engineer to push more to pull away from Grosjean.

      2. Here’s to a different WDC winner in 2014

      3. It wasn’t as much RB domination as it was Vettel all the way this time. It was he who beat both Hamilton and Webber into turn one, made it stick and fought very hard to win it in the end. Didn’t really see any ‘domination’ and calling it that is just looking for excuses for the fact that Vettel was by far the best driver out there today/yesterday.

        1. your statement is full of contradictions. so, he didn’t dominate, he merely whipped everyone’s buttocks? ok.

    46. Nice race from Lotus… too bad for Lewis and tired of seeing Vettel winning… It’s the God damn Schumacher Era All Over Again… I hope Merc and Lotus (Kimi) can still take the title’s fight to the end…

    47. 8/10

      Good race, not the best one I’ve ever seen, but definitely one of the best of the season so far. I think the safety car was what made it interesting: it effectively cut the race into two bits, with the latter being pretty much a GP2 feature race. Everyone made one stop, some did medium-medium, a few did medium-hard. And as in GP2, that produced some fantastic racing, because the different strategies still had to overtake plenty of cars to make their strategy work.

      Too bad nobody could challenge Vettel for the win. Grosjean seemingly didn’t have the pace and Raikkonen just ran out of time. Lotus team orders weren’t particularly nice either – I wonder what if Grosjean could have done the medium-soft strategy? And of course, thank goodness no tyres exploded.

    48. i was a good race. but 5 laps longer and it would have been epic. 7/10.

    49. It was a mini-sports car race without the interest of different technologies. It almost got exciting at times but eventually became the ususal high-speed train. Gave it a 5

    50. Not too much on track action.

    51. I gave it a 7/10. it had lively moments, but I just found it a bit quiet.

    52. Yet another event dominated by tyres, tyres and tyres. Wearing very thin this narrative. So they didn’t blow up, hallelujah! A tyre manufacturer has managed to make a tyre that doesn’t explode when used. Congratulations.

      How about making a tyre that race drivers can use to race instead of this contrived artificial substitute for water sprinklers.

      4/10.

      Wimbledon provided a more interesting and exciting event. Next thing I know I’ll be rooting for thrill a minute cricket at this rate.

      1. Are you kiding the new Kevlar belted tyres proved to be way better then the old compounds :-o They could push way longer and better compared to some of the races this season where drivers were doing delta timed laps.

        1. I just want to go back to 2010 when every sentence related to F1 wasn’t obliged to have the word “tyre” in it.

          Doh, there it is again!

          Just put them all on the same tyre that will last the distance and be done with this illusion.

          1. +1
            I could not agree any more with this.

        2. Let me quote Nico Hulkenberg:

          However, having to fight for positions all the time is never good for the strategy, as it’s tough on the tyres and you loose time.

          So the drivers want to race but can’t because they have to nanny the tyres.

      2. Actually the water sprinklers would be better, it would then actually award driver skill instead of this joke.

    53. Decent race 7/10.
      Reminded me an awful lot of Bahrain.
      I think had it run 62 laps we may have just seen Kimi take it, which would have been a far better result for the championship.
      It was awful to see Mark have such dreadful luck, again.
      It was utterly painful for me to see Lewis drop so far back again, although his last stint passes were really impressive.
      Fantastic drives from Romain, Kimi and Fernando once again, popping out of nowhere.
      I honestly thought Mercedes were in with a shout of the title this year, this race has now changed my view completely.

      1. As we have seen today and past races, on race day the teams are:
        Hot track/weather:
        Lotus – Very good
        Ferrari – Good
        Red Bull – Almost as good
        Mercedes – ****

        Cold track/weather
        Lotus – Average
        Ferrari – Average
        Red Bull – Good
        Mercedes – To the top!

    54. Anyone know what caused Massa’s accident, and why Alonso stopped on track at the end of the race?

      1. @chaddy Massa spun due to his own error by locking up both rear wheels, he would have continued but his gearbox was stuck in fifth and wouldn’t budge.
        I think Alonso just ran out of fuel which isn’t rare at the end of a race and I don’t think it’s a problem

        1. Thanks for the info on Massa.

          Regarding Alonso, he couldn’t have run out of fuel, because leaving less than a litre would be a big problem, and so far we haven’t heard anyone talk about it, suggesting that it wasn’t something that is going to have him unclassified.

        2. I’m starting to wonder if Ferrari are doing something odd with their brakes. Massa has been having all sorts of problems with brake lock-up this season, something which he has never had before.

          1. @jonsan Didn’t he have quite some spins at the start of his career due to rear wheel brakes? Or was that simply him getting used to F1. I can’t seem to remember.

        3. @mnm101 How would he have run out of fuel with the safety car period?

    55. I voted 8/10
      Would have been a 9, but I am still shocked by the violence of the impact on the cameraman.
      Apart from that, the race was extremely exciting; it was really tense between Kimi and Vettel, and also Grosjean and Alonso, some great defensive driving by Hamilton to have been able to hold Alonso off about mid-way or so through the race.

    56. Great drive, not won from pole. Lots of uncertainty, multiple strategies in play, wasn’t ruined by DRS. 10/10

    57. “Yes Yes and Yes again” The cream rises to the top yet again. Decent race overall 7/10. When Vettel wins his 4th championship this year even the doubters will have to recognise his quality.

      1. I’m sure no one doubts his quality.
        I for sure see that he is an immense driver and certainly deserves the titles he has to his name, I just think it’s immensely irritating when he wins races.
        Thankfully I am not alone.

        1. Finding it irritating when he wins is pefectly fine but unfortunately there still are some people out there who don’t recognise his achievements. Lots of people make sweeping statements like “Vettel only wins because he has the best car” blah blah blah, which is so easy to say but the reality is he had the best car in 2010/2011 perhaps but in 2012 McClaren had the best car. As regard this year Lotus, Ferrari and Mercedes are all just as good as Red Bull.

    58. Very good race. Glad cameraman is ok. Tyres still holding back real performance. 26 years old and triple DWC. When are people gonna give Vettel the credit he clearly deserves?

    59. Awesome race 9/10 we were all sitting on the tip of our chairs those last few rounds,and seeing Kimi miss the DRS detectionpoint in the penultimate lapbij 0.016 sec was heartbreaking!!!

      Vettel really had to fight for this one !

      And great racing all around!
      And we laughed so hard with the marussia rolling down the hill!

      give us moreof this this year!

    60. Decent race – 7/10. Some good battles, different strategies throughout and tense towards the end. Sometimes it was a bit quiet. Good drives by Vettel and the Lotuses though. Vettel looks increasingly nailed on for his 4th title. I just wish the Nurburgring replaced Hockenheim to be on the calendar every year.

    61. Great race, finally they are racing again and it was definitely one of the better races so far this year !
      9/10

    62. Quite simple really, when there are less than ten laps remaining and I cannot control my heart rate due to a battle up at the front, thats a 10!

    63. having seen the race live on track, i must say that it was very intresting.
      shame about that safety car, otherwise i think grosjean could’ve won the race.
      my first 10/10

    64. There are a lot of 8 and 9 votes here, though i cannot fathom why. I gave it a 5. I found it boring and predicatble. It was so boring that it actually made DRS seem like a good idea. Imagine what it would have been like if there was no DRS? That is how uninspiring it was- Plus i simply hate the Soft tyre; though they allowed for mixed strategies. Yes, there is performance gain, but what use is that if it is only good for 5 laps (a marked improvement on before).
      I turned off to go have coffee in a Starbucks at the Lakeside Shopping Centre at 14.00 – well before the race ended. The proof is in the number of comments on ALL articles relating to the race. They are well down on the norm.

    65. great racing, various strategies, very enjoyable. Keith the pictures are awesome, so many backgrounds to choose from!

    66. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
      7th July 2013, 21:59

      Didn’t watch the race purely because vettel won. He has 3 wdcs give that finger a rest and let a better driver win please

      1. Dude you missed a pretty exciting race. Its ok not to like the best driver on the grid gving his finger but you will miss lots of awesome F1 races if you do

      2. ‘Better driver’.. at the moment I can’t see who you could possibly mean with that.

        And yes, I can see a 3WDC just move over and let someone else win because you asked him nicely.

      3. @full-throttle-f1

        Pretty laughable there. If he has to let others win, then those others are not better.

    67. I was at the Nurburgring this weekend. And I can tell you it was a fantastic race to watch from the grandstands.
      I was standing along the straight just before the last chicane with a big tv-screen in front.
      The whole race was actionpacked, and especially the blow up from Bianchi was spectacular as it happened right
      in front of my nose. There were loads of overtaking manouvres and also some overtakes at the chicane were not shown on TV so there was even more action than you have seen on TV. And watching Kimi closing in on Vettel on the final stage of the race was nailbiting stuff. So this was definately a 10/10 for me!

    68. We had Grosjean pushing for twice as long on softs, the lotuses chasing down Vettel, Raikkonen struggling to pass Hamilton, barely any tire drama. On the other hand, we had a terrible accident in the pitlane and… a car rolling down hill.

      9/10

      Oh yeah. Alonso raced an anonymous race and came out of nowhere to challenge for podium AGAIN.

    69. was this my feeling or there wasn’t any sort of contact made between the cars throughout the hole race??

      1. I think you are right. When was the last time this happened?

        1. I have no idea. Would like to see some statistics here. I’ve seen no one mention it

    70. Pretty good race..9/10.

    71. Pretty boring. The gap to the leader might as well have been 30 seconds for all the difference it made. Highlight of the race was Bianchi’s car rolling slowly across the track under it’s own volition, haha.

    72. Actually wanted to give it a 10 but mistakenly clicked 9. Nail-biting race particularly the last few laps between VET and RAI. Almost had a heart attack :) Vettel thoroughly deserved this one. Fantastic start and he stayed composed and focused until the end. Excellent job from Kimi for fighting for 1st, great drives from Grosjean and Alonso, and to Webber for getting to 8th from last after that pitstop debacle.

    73. Michael Brown (@)
      7th July 2013, 23:18

      9/10

      Still dislike these tires

    74. I gave it a 9 due to SC being an unnecessary nuisance. Some of my favorite drivers did well: Kimi, Grosjean, Webber, and Button, not sure what happened to Massa, or Rosberg. Thanks, Ray

    75. There was suspense but no real fight for the lead. once red bull got the lead they managed it perfectly, and in the end they managed to win in a front limited circuit, something very important for their form. The fact that RBR managed great pit-stops except one weighted in my score, it was a shame to miss Webber so early and more importantly it was a very dangerous incident. Again the perfection of red bull’s and the lack of objectivity of Lotus lost them another race. I really get angered when a race misses to deliver in the end and when a team repeatedly botches their own chances of victory, so frustrating. More importantly of course we saw a shocking incident that seriously hurt someone, an incident that could have happened to any team nevertheless one idiot Team Principal from a great team responded in a defensive stance that no one got seriously injured when in fact that person broke his shoulder and cracked several ribs. 5/10.

    76. It was a solid race but that safety car was out for too long, 8/10. Also, it seems that the McLarens like the post-Silverstone spec tire.

    77. Why is it hardly surprising webber had issues. Whenever he’s close to vettel or threatening him for the win something happens to him. Just think china quali and race after the malaysia debarcle. Come on red bull this is ridiculous. Is this how you say thanks to the guy in his last year.

      1. YES!! RBR is out to get Webber!! It’s a conspiracy I tell you!! #strongtinfoilhat #alienslamongus

    78. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      8th July 2013, 6:44

      What a crazy, entertaining, frustrating and edge of the seat race.

      I gave it a very solid7. Would have been an 8 or 9 had Hamilton had more pace.

      Pros:
      The split strategy for half the grid made the race entertaining when usually it goes on a bit of a lull in the middle of the race.
      Good to see Lotus competing for wins again. As long as the conditions are hot, my money will be on the Lotus.
      Romain has the ability to win races, it’s just a matter of targeting the incredible speed of his without hitting things.
      Also good to see the HULK getting in the top end action again.
      Button drove beautifully and way out drove the Mclaren.
      Good to see Vettel win his home GP. He drove a perfect race, he well and truly earned that one.

      Cons:
      Firstly that poor camera man. That was sickening to watching. Made my skin crawl. I hope some regulations are implemented to stop that from happening ever again.
      Webber was so unlucky to have his race ruined in the pits. (I bet the conspiracy theorists / Anti-Vettel fans, will have a field day on that one.)
      Hamilton + Mercedes general lack of pace was surprising. He looked good in the first stint, but after that he was mostly going backwards. I’m not totally convinced it was because of the tyres, because he hadn’t done any long run testing on the setup he ran.
      What on earth happened with Bianchi’s car? ahah. That was one of the most crazy thing’s I’ve seen happen.

    79. a shiver down the spine when webber’s wheel has flown away, my mind has gone back to imola 94.

      hope that guy is ok.

    80. Melchior (@)
      8th July 2013, 9:48

      My heart sunk when i saw Webber’s pit crew botch his stop as i was really looking forward to seeing whether he had done enough (re:undercut) to sneak past Vettel for the lead.
      I am glad that the cameraman that got hit by Webber’s wheel is okay.That wouldn’t have tickled i,m sure.

    81. It was pretty good. Only if there would have been 2 or 3 more laps..

    82. Thought it was a great race. Gave it an 8, which is the same grade, but different than Silverstone. The battle for the top 4 positions was very good, with different strategies, drivers on even more differing strategies sometimes getting in there and the top 10 didn’t seem settled until the final pitstops.

      I would have given it a 9 if the final laps saw some more actual attacks and if Kimi passed Romain on ability.

    83. I had a feeling grosjean was gonna come back into the points this race, I just didn’t think he’d be fighting for the win, well done

    84. 8 out of 10- If only Lotus could have worked out a slightly better strategy, then I would have given it a 10!
      Question- Isn’t Alonso not allowed to stop on track after the race without mechanical failure, just to save enough fuel for sampling purposes? Or is this just a qualifying regulation? I’m thinking of Abu Dhabi qualifying last year.

      1. I wonder if the outcome would have been better for Lotus if Grojean had allowed Kimi by earlier to chase after Vettel?

    85. As a very passionate Hamilton fan i was disappointed by the Mercedes car inability to adapt to hot conditions, with regard to its tire usaged.
      However ,i must say that whatever anyone thinks about Vetal, it is a 100% fact that he is the best current driver in F1.

      The way he responded to the heat and pressure in the battles for the German Grand prix was first class.
      I mean, Vetal has answered every question and doubt i ever had about him.
      People are just purely JEALOUS of him when they make mean remarks about him, but I believe if someone is the best you should admitt they are the best, even if you dont like them particaularly, because the truth is the truth.
      Im a definite Hamilton fan but i wish to give credit where credit is due.
      Vetal is driving out of this world at the moment, and what makes him deferent , either in qualifying or the race itself is that he makes FEWER MISTAKES than any other driver
      Jason

    86. I gave it an 8 only because Red Bull are the favorite due to their great car and drivers. While other teams have to worry a lot about strategy, Red Bull’s winning strategy appears to be to just drive fast and blow everyone away. Overall, I really enjoyed the race!

    87. 8/10 that’s my opinion great duel between the tow Lotus an Vettel I’m sorry for Felipe because though I hate Ferrari Felipe is a good guy

    88. I gave the race a 7, would have rated higher if there was a real fight for the lead at the end.

    89. If I had only read the report of this race I probably would have thought it was great with Raikkonen closing in on Vettel near the end and the various battles down the field, however while I was watching the race I never found myself getting excited at all.

      There are a few reasons why I think I didn’t really enjoy the race.

      As soon as Vettel took the lead at the start I never thought anyone else would win, even when Raikkonen led near the end or when he was chasing Vettel down in the final few laps after making his final stop.

      I only saw the BBC highlights programme and I normally don’t enjoy races as much when I only see the highlights instead live, even though I manage to avoid finding out the result.

      Also I watched the highlights show after watching some great live sporting action a Tour de France stage and Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, so it had a lot to live up to.

      I only rated the race a 7 and this was higher than my enjoyment of the race because I on paper I think it was better, if that makes sense.

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