How McLaren turned the tables on Red Bull
Lewis Hamilton won the German Grand Prix thanks to some superb driving and a perfect tyre strategy by McLaren. But, as Adam Cooper explains, it all began with test and development work conducted in Friday practice
This year has mostly been about Sebastian Vettel starting at the front and disappearing into the distance. Like a 400 meter runner who leads from the gun, he has sometimes faded in the home straight. He was passed on the line by Lewis Hamilton in China and Jenson Button in Canada, but elsewhere he's hung on and defeated a late challenge. Most of the time, the strategy works.
The Nurburgring proved once again that for all the excitement generated by the Drag Reduction System and tyre degradation, in a 'normal' dry race there's no substitute for having pure qualifying speed, starting at the front and controlling the race. Except this time, it wasn't Vettel who proved that.
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