After the German Grand Prix Ferrari claimed they had ordered Felipe Massa to let Fernando Alonso by because they were concerned Sebastian Vettel could pass the pair of them.

But it’s clear from the lap times that Vettel was hardly catching either of them at the time – indeed he wasn’t even close enough to see the switch take place.

Read on for the post-race analysis.

Lap 1

Lap 1 position change (click to enlarge)

Another bad start from pole position for Vettel saw him lose two places which he never regained. Jenson Button had got away cleanly but as Vettel slowed down Button had to do likewise, and lost two places as a result.

Both Williams drivers made poor starts which ultimately led to them finishing out of the points having started in the top ten.

Pit stops

Pit stops (click to enlarge)

Red Bull took advantage of the rapidly-growing gap between Jenson Button and Robert Kubica to bring Sebastian Vettel in for an early pit stop, triggering stops from the other front running drivers in reaction.

Pedro de la Rosa tried to gain places by starting on the hard tyres and delaying his pit stops until lap 51. But he ended the race where he started, in 14th.

Race progress

View interactive chart full screen

Tick/untick drivers’ names to show their laps, click and drag to zoom

After the race Ferrari said they wanted Alonso to go in front of Massa because they were concerned Vettel might pass them.

But looking at these times it seems their fears were unfounded. In the ten laps leading up to the change of position remained static at 5.1 seconds.

It’s clear that Vettel caught Massa after the change of positions – but how much was Massa pushing after being ordered give up the lead of the race?

Lap chart

Lap chart (click to enlarge)

A long first stint for Nico Hülkenberg didn’t pay off but he at least managed to pass Pedro de la Rosa to finish behind his team mate.

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

View interactive chart full screen

Tick/untick drivers’ names to show their laps, click and drag to zoom

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

It wasn’t a very happy-looking podium ceremony after the German Grand Prix.

The controversial circumstances of the race left Felipe Massa in particular looking rather subdued.

Have a look those pictures and more from the race in the selection below.

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

Images (C) Ferrari spa, Bridgestone/Ercole Colombo, www.mclaren.com, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India F1 Team, Williams/LAT

Fernando Alonso claimed his second win of 2010 in the German Grand Prix – but only after team mate Felipe Massa was ordered to give him the win.

The change of positions has already drawn widespread criticism and both drivers were clearly subdued on the podium afterwards. The stewards are investigating what happened.

German Grand Prix pictures

The pair took the lead at the start as both overtook Sebastian Vettel. But Vettel’s attempts to keep Alonso behind let Massa through into the lead ahead of his team mate.

Pinched between the Ferraris, Vettel slowed held up Jenson Button. That allowed the McLaren driver’s team mate to pass him as well as Mark Webber.

Vettel was the first driver to pit, his team smartly taking advantage of a small gap in the traffic behind.

Alonso reacted, pitting before Massa, but after his team mate pitted Alonso was still behind. Lewis Hamilton came in too and was briefly stuck behind Robert Kubica when he came back out.

But Mark Webber came off worst in the first round of pit stops, ultimately losing fifth place to Jenson Button. Button stayed out late and came close to getting ahead of Hamilton as well as Webber.

That left the Ferraris first and second, with Felipe Massa struggling to begin with after he switched to hard tyres.

At first it looked as though Alonso might be able to pass his team mate. He made a concerted effort when when was briefly held up behind Bruno Senna but Massa held the inside line for the hairpin and Alonso’s attempt to pass failed.

After that Massa began to pull away, building up a gap of over three seconds over his team mate. Later Alonso began to bring the gap down again and came within range as Massa hit more traffic.

It was at this point that Rob Smedley got on the radio to Massa with a message that has already become infamous. It was clearly a coded instruction to Massa telling him to let Alonso by.

Later Ferrari’s press officer Luca Colajanni defended the decision saying the team were concerned about the threat of third-placed Vettel:

If Felipe would have struggled more Vettel could have joined Fernando and that could have been a danger for the team.

When you are on the pit wall you have to think about all the potential scenarios. Vettel could have joined them and maybe in last ten laps of the race we could have been in trouble.
Luca Colajanni

However he denied Massa had been told to let Alonso by, saying:

We didn’t let Fernando pass. It was a driver decision. We inform the drivers about situation. We didn’t give any instruction at all to what they have to do. It was his own decision.
Luca Colajanni

Even when Massa slowed after being passed, Vettel wasn’t able to do anything about the Ferrari, and followed him home in third. But afterwards the stewards summoned Ferrari to explain themselves raising the possibility that Vettel may yet gain more places.

The McLaren drivers had a quiet race to fourth and fifth. They might have been pushed harder had Webber not developed a problem with high oil temperature, meaning he had to drop back from them.

Kubica took seventh ahead of the Mercedes duo, Nico Rosberg leading home Michael Schumacher after getting past him via the pit stops. Vitaly Petrov claimed the final point ahead of Kamui Koabayashi’s Sauber.

The two Williams drivers fell out of the points having started in the top ten and came home 12th and 13th.

Pedro de la Rosa ran a long first stint on the hard tyres but ultimately finished where he started in 14th.

The two Force Indias finished 16th and 17th behind Jaime Alguersuari after a terrible race for the team. Both cars were in for repairs at the end of the first lap.

The only two drivers of the new teams to finish were Timo Glock and Bruno Senna.

Alonso’s win means he is still fifth in the drivers championship but is now within 13 points of the Red Bull duo – assuming the stewards allow him to keep his win.

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

Image (C) Ferrari spa

Constructors’ championship points

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

Useful links

• Track map
• Race programme
• Live F1 video FAQ
• Live F1 timing
• Weather Online
• Metrociel

Launch the F1 Fanatic Live blog in a new window by clicking here

Use this button on the Live Blog panel to turn off auto scrolling so you can read earlier messages.

Please remember this is a live blog not live chat – comments are moderated before going live and not every comment is published because we get so many!

Keep an eye on the rolling text at the bottom of the live blog window for details like where to find video or what the weather is at the track.

Twitter feeds

The following Twitter feeds are integrated into this live blog:

• f1fanatic_co_uk – The F1 Fanatic Twitter feed
• F1 teams -The teams’ Twitter feeds

Red Bull scored their tenth pole positions from 11 attempts in 2010 at the Hockenheimring.

Take a look back at pictures from the session below in which home hero Sebastian Vettel came out on top with the Ferraris in close pursuit.

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

Images (C) Ferrari spa, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, Bridgestone/Ercole Colombo, www.mclaren.com, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India F1 Team, Lotus F1, Motioncompany

Sebastian Vettel beat Fernando Alonso to pole position by just two thousandths of a second at the Hockenheimring.

Felipe Massa underlined Ferrari’s improved pace by taking third place, capitalising on a mistake by Mark Webber who will start fourth.

Q1

The first part of qualifying was only five minutes old when Vitantonio Liuzzi brought it to an early halt. He lost his car at the final corner and hit the concrete barrier in front of the pit wall in a crash not dissimilar to Timo Glock’s during the 2008 race.

And it was Glock who had to brake and swerve to avoid the front wheel which was torn off Liuzzi’s car.

Race control swiftly red-flagged the session to recover Liuzzi’s car and clean up the track.

Lewis Hamilton was among the first of the cars to go quickest when the session re-started, before heading back to the pits.

His mark was beaten by the two Red Bulls and finally Fernando Alonso, who set a new best time of the weekend with a 1’14.808.

Unsurprisingly it was the three new teams’ cars that were eliminated along with Liuzzi. Both Virgin drivers are expected to take five-place penalties for gearbox changes, as is Adrian Sutil.

Q2

Most of the front-runners did their first runs on hard tyres but Felipe Massa was a notable exception, setting the fastest time to begin with on super-soft tyres.

But when his rivals switched to super-soft tyres towards the end of the session he was demoted – with team mate Alonso fastest once again on a 1’14.081.

The fight to escape the drop zone was closely-fought – especially between the Mercedes drivers. Nico Rosberg edged Michael Schumacher by eight-thousandths of a second, and Schumacher was ultimately knocked out by the improving Williams of Nico Hülkenberg.

The Saubers, Toro Rossos, Vitaly Petrov and Adrian Sutil were also eliminated ahead of the top-ten shoot-out.

Q3

Alonso struck the first blow in the final part of qualifying with Vettel unable to beat his first effort on the super-soft tyres.

But when they came out for the last runs Vettel turned the table – setting a 1’13.791 which Alonso got within 0.002s of beating.

Webber might have joined his team mate on the front row but he ran wide at turn one on his first lap and had to abort his lap. That allowed Massa to take third place off him.

Jenson Button turned the tables on his team mate with his last effort, edging Hamilton by a tenth of a second on his final run.

See how the grid will look after penalties here: German Grand Prix grid

Full qualifying times

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)

*Five place penalty for gearbox change

2010 German Grand Prix

• Ferrari face FIA World Motor Sport Council on team orders charge tomorrow
• Ferrari: “Lauda missed out on a fine opportunity to keep his mouth shut”
• Lauda: Ferrari will get a pasting from WMSC
• From the stands: Tommy B and Katy watch the German GP at Hockenheim
• Technical review: German and Hungarian Grands Prix
• From the stands: Nikolai Vogler watches two races in one week
• "I am much quicker than Felipe" - how Alonso urged Ferrari to use team orders
• F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix
• 2010 German Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
• Who was the best driver of the German Grand Prix weekend? (Poll)