Alonso wins, helped by team tactics

F1 Grand Prix, GP Germany, Hockenheimring

Fernando Alonso has won the German GP but only thanks to Felipe Massa. The Brazilian took the lead at the start and remained at the front until Massa as asked to let the Spaniard through because he was faster. Sebastian Vettel completes the podium in third.

Just like in qualifying yesterday, the track is dry but there are clouds all over the track. No rain is expected however.

As the lights go out, Vettel immediately crosses the track after seeing how well Alonso got off his second place spot. In the event, he didn't see Massa charging through as well, resulting in an easy first place for the Brazilian after the first corner. As Alonso was then on the inside, he took P2, ahead of Vettel. Webber went through in 4th, only to lose his position to Hamilton on the back straight after the latter had already passed Button thanks to being on the racing line at the start.

One lap later Sutil is in the pits with his team completely disorganised as they were ready to replace Liuzzi's broken front wing. They changed his tyres and let him go, before Liuzzi also entered the pits. 5 laps later, both Force India cars came in another time as they had each other's tyres on.

Meanwhile Jarno Trulli retired from the race after crawling back to the pitlane, while Buemi halted in the pits after he lost his rear wing in the first lap mixup.

On lap 13 Vettel is the first man in to change to primes. He comes back on track with some open track space ahead of him. Webber and Alonso follow one lap later, a stop that turns out badly for the Australian as he ends up in the middle of a pack, just ahead of Kobayashi. Massa and Hamilton then also stop one lap later as Vettel shows the primes are working brilliantly.

After the tyre changes, Alonso is still behind Massa but he appears to be quite a bit faster than Massa. The latter is struggling in the braking zones, often locking up the rear wheels. Vettel meanwhile is closing in on the Ferrari's by 0.4s a lap. On lap 21 the gap is only 1.6s.

On lap 23 Button makes his first stop. He was 5 seconds ahead of Massa and rejoins the track in 5th place, just behind Hamilton.

After another scruffy lap from Massa, Alonso attempts an overtaking move in the hairpin but loses out as he was on the outside of the corner.

Suddenly on lap 25 Massa ups his pace by a full second a lap, and Alonso is only able to match that 4 laps later. The stunning difference in pace surely has tactics or fuel saving involved. Out of nothing, on lap 29 it's Alonso then setting the fastest lap, more than a full second quicker than his previous lap.

On lap 30, Massa leads by 3.2 seconds over Alonso, who has another 3 seconds on Vettel. Lewis Hamilton is a further 9 seconds behind. Closely behind him are Button and Webber.

8 laps later Alonso is starting to gain again on Massa, and 2 laps later a second between them has gone already.

Meanwhile Mark Webber has backed away from Button, dropping 2.5 seconds in a single lap. There is apparently a problem with the Renault engine in the back of the Red Bull car. An increased oil consumption is the worry for the team as Webber is asked to back off where possible and stay away from Button by at least a full second.

On lap 47, 20 laps before the end of the race, Alonso is back with Massa, just one second is splitting the two Ferraris now.

2 laps later, Massa is told by his race engineer Rob Smedley "okay, Alonso is faster than you. Can you confirm you received this message?". A response was not heard, but a single lap later Massa clearly held back and allowed Alonso to pass in the acceleration zone after the hairpin. Another example of dubious tactics at Ferrari...

With 12 laps remaining, Di Grassi is out of the race after a problem with his left rear. On that same lap Alonso put in the fastest lap after a string of fastest laps from Sebastian Vettel who looks set to challenge Massa for second.

On lap 57, with 10 remaining, Alonso leads with 2.7s on Massa. Vettel is third and 2.5s behind the Brazilian Ferrari driver.

On lap 60, De La Rosa breaks his left front wing endplate and immediately loses considerable pace, ending up in the pitlane for a new front wing. He drops from 12th to 14th place. Two laps later Kovalainen's race is over as well, probably the result of the contact that broke De La Rosa's front wing.

Despite a late challenge by Vettel, the Ferrari 1-2 is a fact and will do the team good after some dismal performances.