After Race 9: Germany

Somewhere hidden away amidst the blanket coverage of Andy Murray’s outstanding and historic Wimbledon victory, there was a Grand Prix on this weekend too (and the Tour de France!). There may not have been any spectacular Pirelli punctures this weekend but the race did feature at least two rather bizarre moments. Let’s crack on...

1.   Sebastian Vettel (last week: 1^st, no change) (Season high: 1^st, low: 4^th)

The World Championship leader ticked two more things off his bucket list: he finally won his home race and a race in July. It was the perfect way to bounce back from his Silverstone disappointment.

 

Jinx? What jinx?
Source: AP

2.   Fernando Alonso (last week: 3^rd, up one spot) (Season high: 1^st, low: 13^th)

Another mediocre weekend for Ferrari saw Fernando Alonso lose ground to Sebastian Vettel in the championship standings; although his relentless consistency sees him recover the spot he lost in last week’s F1 Power Rankings. His post-race Twitter comment was that the team has “three weeks of hard work” ahead of them.

3. Kimi Räikkönen (last week: 7^th, up four spots) (Season high: 2^nd, low: 12^th)

Sunday afternoon marked the return of Lotus. The hot conditions played into their hands and Romain Grosjean might have won the race if not for the Safety Car. Kimi Räikkönen opted for a late surge on the softer tyres which came up just short – it would have been very interesting to see if he could have survived at the front of the field without making the stop at all.

 

A double podium for Lotus for the first time since Bahrain
Source: Sutton Images

4.   Lewis Hamilton (last week: 2^nd, down two spots) (Season high: 2^nd, low: 9th)

Another pole position for Lewis Hamilton this season was followed-up by another failure to convert it into a victory. Having lost his lead before Turn 1, tyre woes saw Hamilton suffer a miserable first half of the race before, for the second straight race, an excellent fight back saw him record a fine top-five finish on the last lap. Credit his superb qualifying lap and it must be noted there is a certain degree of irony that he actually finished higher in Silverstone despite his spectacular puncture.

5. Mark Webber (last week: 5^th, no change) (Season high: 1^st, low: 15^th)

No change for the Aussie after a weekend of mixed fortunes. As with every other race this season he was outqualified by Vettel but he demonstrated strong pace in the early stages before Red Bull’s nightmare in the pits – which saw Mark Webber’s right-rear wheel bounce through the pit-lane and strike cameraman Paul Allen (at the time of writing, Allen’s confirmed injuries include broken ribs and collarbone). He recovered strongly, aided by the SC, to seventh place but it’s another case of what might have been.

 

A repeat of his Chinese GP woes for Webber - this time with horrific consequences
Source: Getty Images

6.   Paul di Resta (last week: 4^th, down two spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 17^th)

A disappointing weekend for Force India who failed to score points on outright pace for the first time this season (pit-stop problems kerbed their Malaysian race). PDR missed out on Q3 but managed to work his way into the top ten by the final quarter of the race. His hopes of stealing a point were dashed in the closing laps as those on fresher tyres cruised past him but he, once again, comfortably outperformed Adrian Sutil.

7. Nico Rosberg (last week: 6^th, down one spot) (Season high: 2^nd, low: 12^th)

A weekend at home to forget for Nico Rosberg. Complacency saw him miss out on Q3 which put him on the back foot for the race although his ninth-place finish is nonetheless disappointing – especially in a chaotic SC-affected race.

8. Romain Grosjean (last week: 16^th, up eight spots) (Season high: 6^th, low: 22^nd)

Yes! Finally! Grosjean finally sewed together a clean, composed, and fast race weekend and he was rewarded with just his second podium in eighteen races. As mentioned earlier, Lotus were enjoying the high temperatures and Grosjean ran strongly throughout free practice and quali (only narrowly edged out by Kimi). His race pace was superb, especially his opening stint which saw him drive into contention for the victory (had the SC not come out, I believe he could have won!). As it was, the SC neutralized the strategy differences between Grosjean and Vettel, and the Frenchman made way for his championship-contending team-mate in the closing stages. I almost moved Grosjean up even higher but resisted for now – he first has to maintain this form.

9. Charles Pic (last week: 11^th, up two spots) (Season high: 7^th, low: 19^th)

Charles Pic works his way back into the top ten after another fine weekend. He won the Caterham/Marussia battle in both qualifying and the race – despite having to change his gearbox post-qualifying (which dropped him to last on the grid) and a slow puncture shortly after the Safety Car, which again dropped him to last.

=10. Sergio Pérez (last week: 14^th, up four spots) (Season high: 8^th, low: 17^th) & Jenson Button (last week: 16^th, up six spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 16^th)

McLaren had a surprisingly competitive race given their recent woes – especially JB. The 2009 World Champion snuck into Q3 and ran inside the top five for most of the race – agonizingly losing out to Hamilton on the last lap. Checo ran the opposite strategy from thirteenth on the grid and, thanks to his aggressive early laps (which included a fine overtake on his team-mate) also ran inside the points for most of the day. Like JB, he also found himself the victim of a last lap manoeuvre. At the moment, I just can’t split the two McLaren drivers apart!

Bianchi's spectacular engine failure was a somewhat nostalgic moment in this; the age of bullet-proof reliability
Source: Getty Images

=12. Jules Bianchi (last week: 12^th, no change) (Season high: 6^th, low: 13^th), Daniel Ricciardo (last week: 8^th, down four spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 18^th) & Nico Hülkenberg (last week: 15^th, up three spots) (Season high: 9^th, low: 19^th)

For the first time since the very first edition of F1 Power Rankings, three drivers share one spot. Jules Bianchi sat out FP1, as test-driver Rodolfo Gonzalez got behind the wheel, and then missed half of FP2 as he was unwell. Despite this, he still comfortably outqualified Max Chilton and retained his position as lead-Marussia in the race until his engine spectacularly failed (followed by his stricken car alarmingly rolling down the hill across the track, leading to the SC).

Bianchi is a non-mover at 12^th for the third straight week and is joined by the falling Daniel Ricciardo & rising Nico Hülkenberg  The Aussie again stole the show in qualifying with a fantastic sixth place while the Hulk also snuck into Q3 as well. Ricciardo held his own in the opening few laps before tumbling down the order as Toro Rosso struggled with their tyres. The Hulk ran inside the top six for prolonged stints as he ran the inverse strategy to the leading qualifiers and was rewarded for his afternoon’s work with a point – although, as mentioned last week, it’s still desperate times for Sauber. Rumours are rife that they are in dire financial straits.

The astonishing sight of Bianchi's car rolling down the hill across the track
Source: Sky Sports F1 (TV image)

15. Felipe Massa (last week: 9^th, down six spots) (Season high: 3^rd, low: 15^th)

Having crashed out in a practice session for three consecutive races, Felipe Massa made it to Sunday afternoon crash-free and ahead of Alonso on the grid. Unfortunately for the Brazilian that was as good as it got as a curious spin in the opening few laps ended his race. Massa accepted it was driver error but that a gearbox problem meant the car then stalled.

 

Massa spins out
Source: Sutton Images

=16. Valtteri Bottas (last week: 18^th, up two spots) (Season high: 10^th, low: 20^th) & Pastor Maldonado (last week: 19^th, up three spots) (Season high: 16^th, low: 22^nd)

Williams’ 600^th race weekend was predictably disappointing given their season-form but there were several moments of hope during the race. It was the rookie Finn again edging out the Venezuelan in quali although with both cars eliminated in Q1, there was little to cheer about. Their race strategy saw both cars run inside the top ten – Pastor Maldonado for the majority of the race – but catastrophic pit-stop problems scuppered any chance of points. Both of Valtteri Bottas’ stops were affected as was Maldonado’s second stop and the two cars only ended up ahead of the Caterhams and Chilton. Pit-stop woes aside, credit their race pace – and Maldonado’s performance sees him draw level with Bottas in the rankings and 16^th is, incredibly, a season-high for him.

18. Adrian Sutil (last week: 10^th, down eight spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 20^th)

In truth, I’m probably being a tad harsh ranking Adrian Sutil behind the two Williams but whilst you could say that both Maldonado and Bottas extracted the most from their cars, the same cannot be said of Sutil.

19. Esteban Gutiérrez (last week: 20^th, up one spot) (Season high: 15^th, low: 22^nd)

The young Mexican moves up one spot based purely on his qualifying effort. A solid 14^th-place saw him outqualify both Sutil and Jean-Eric Vergne but it was another hugely anonymous race from Esteban Gutiérrez.

20. Jean-Eric Vergne (last week: 13^th, down seven spots) (Season high: 5^th, low: 20^th)

Frightening times in the F1 Power Rankings for JEV: Canada seems like a lifetime ago – he soared to 5^th in the rankings just two weeks ago! His alarming drop in performance compared to Ricciardo could not have come at a worse time as they battle for the potential RBR seat and he slides to a season-low 20^th spot after an early hydraulics-inflicted retirement which came after a disappointing bottom-of-Q2 quali effort.

21. Giedo van der Garde (last week: 22^nd, up one spot) (Season high: 17^th, low: 22^nd) & 22. Max Chilton (last week: 21^st, down one spot) (Season high: 17^th, low: 22^nd)

The bottom duo swap places as VDG beat his rookie rival in both quali and the race.

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