The complete 2011 German GP review

PRACTICE

Practice one

A dark sky welcomed the drivers for the opening practice session of the weekend, although the rain held off throughout the 90 minutes and so it proved to be a productive session for most.

Fernando Alonso started his weekend in perfect fashion with the quickest time in the Ferrari, the Spaniard outpacing the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, second and third respectively.

The McLarens did not enjoy a good session, with both Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button beginning to show problems with the handling of their cars, finishing down in fifth and sixth over a second behind Alonso.

The session was mostly incident-free except for a few offs, the most specular stared by Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi, who lost control of his car at Turn 5 and - despite not hitting anything- ended up damaging his car so much he could not go out in the afternoon.

Practice two

Webber hit the front in the afternoon, although for the first hour it had mostly been the Ferraris leading the way, with Felipe Massa at the head of the order before Alonso asserted himself. Webber then pipped both of them with a string of quick laps just before the one-hour mark.

Vettel later got between Alonso and Massa, with the Mercedes duo completing the top six. Nico Rosberg had a wild trip through the Turn 6 gravel without damage.

McLaren struggled again - Hamilton only seventh and Button 11th after an exhaust problem.

Aloso in the wars were Daniel Ricciardo (an early failure on the HRT), Buemi (a misfire ruled him out of the session) and Timo Glock, who had a spin.

Practice three

Practice three was all a bit prescient of the action to come as things came thick and fast and little could separate Red Bull and Ferrari, though the surprise would be the lack of pace McLaren showed in the cold conditions.

For most of the session it was the Mercedes of Rosberg that set the pace, and certainly that was the case with the prime tyres until McLaren's Button and Hamilton moved the mark.

Rosberg again moved to the fore as he became the first driver to switch to the softer option tyre. But once the others did the same first Alonso and then the two Red Bulls of Webber and Vettel. In the end the world champion's last lap was the fastest of the hour and capped a remarkable recovery after losing his way on set-up earlier in the weekend.

Less satisfying for Karun Chandhok was a spin at the end of the session at the chicane.

QUALIFYING

1. Mark Webber, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-7

Qualifying for the German GP offered further confirmation of Webber's progress in recent races, the Australian looking like the man to beat for most of the day. This time it looked like Vettel could do nothing to stop his team-mate, who was mighty quick on Saturday, especially over sector 2.

2. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-3

After claiming on Friday that McLaren was around a second off Red Bull over a single lap, his performance on Saturday came as a shock to Hamilton, who came close to snatching pole after a sensational effort. The McLaren driver himself had to admit it was one of the best laps he had ever driven.

3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-3

There was a confused expression on Vettel's face after being unable to match the pace of Webber during much of the session. After all, it was the first time in 15 races that he had missed the front row of the grid. The German said he was not disappointed with the result after having endured a tough start to the weekend because of the balance of his car.

4. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 10-0

Despite not being able to fight for pole position - something that was still tall order despite his British Grand Prix - the Spaniard was happy with his day and said he was expecting Red Bull to be as quick as it was. He may not have expected Hamilton to finish ahead of him, however, but a victory was still pretty much on the cards anyway.

5. Felipe Massa, Ferrari
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-10

Massa admitted he was not too pleased with his day after discovering his car was not as quick as he had expected. The Brazilian found himself nearly in no man's land, half a second behind Alonso and nearly four tenths ahead of Rosberg.

6. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-1

Rosberg's natural position at the moment should be seventh place, so securing sixth made the German happy on Saturday. He admitted he was pleased with the performance of his team's new components, which left him hopeful of a stronger grand prix.

7. Jenson Button, McLaren
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-7

Button had a pretty solid morning practice, but during qualifying things simply didn't work for him. The McLaren driver struggled with the handling of his car and could not get enough grip during his runs. The result was five places and over a second behind Hamilton.

8. Adrian Sutil, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-7

It was a pleasing day for Sutil, who felt he had extracted the maximum from his car all day. The German Force India driver said his laps in Q2 and Q3 had been pretty much perfect, and the result was his best qualifying performance of the season so far.

9. Vitaly Petrov, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-3

After a difficult morning to try to find the right set-up for his car, Petrov admitted he was satisfied to have achieved the goal of reaching Q3. He did concede, however, that things could have easily gone wrong given the pace of Renault, who is in need of a step forward to get closer to the top.

10. Michael Schumacher, Mercedes
Team-mate qualifying battle 1-9

Not a good day for the seven-time champion, who felt he had failed to meet the expectations. Schumacher, who found his Mercedes was sliding too much during qualifying. admitted he was mystified by the gap to Rosberg after finishing over a full second behind.

11. Nick Heidfeld, Renault
Team-mate qualifying battle 3-7

Heidfeld, using Renault's usual forward-facing exhausts after having tried the rear-pointing version on Friday, missed the cut to go into Q3 by some three hundreds of a second, therefore conceded his qualifying had not been good. He was still hopeful Sunday's weather would give him a chance to have a good race.

12. Paul di Resta, Force India
Team-mate qualifying battle 7-3

The Scot admitted some changes done overnight had backfired, as the gap to Sutil increased for qualifying when they had been closely matched on Friday. Di Resta said he could not get his tyres to work properly during the session, and he ended up missing out on Q3.

13. Pastor Maldonado, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 6-4

It was a difficult day for Williams, which never looked to be in contention for a place in the top ten. Maldonado admitted his pace had been stronger on Friday and conceded he was expecting a better result on qualifying day.

14. Rubens Barrichello, Williams
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-6

The Brazilian said he was expecting a difficult qualifying, and so it was. Williams decided to send Barrichello out without KERS in order to gather more data for comparison purposes, and the decision obviously cost the Brazilian valuable time.

15. Sergio Perez, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 4-5

Perez said there was not much to extract from his car, but Sauber had to admit its car was simply not competitive enough at the Nurburgring. The Mexican was still satisfied with his performance, although he said his time could have been slightly better if not for a luck-up during his lap.

16. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-2

Buemi was not too disappointed with his performance, having missed the session practice second completely after his off in FP1. He opted for a set-up aimed at a wet race, compromising his pace in the dry. It didn't matter, though, as he was later excluded for a fuel irregularity and sent to the back of the grid.

17. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-8

For the first time in five races, the Spaniard managed to move into Q2, although he didn't make any progress from there. Alguersuari admitted there was not a lot more to do, given Toro Rosso's qualifying pace at the moment. But as usual, he was hopeful there was more to come in the race.

18. Kamui Kobayashi, Sauber
Team-mate qualifying battle 5-5

The only positive thing about Kobayashi's day was that he had two sets of new soft tyres left for the race. The Japanese's car was simply lacking pace at the German circuit, and his only run in Q1 was not good enough to even make the cut into Q2.

19. Heikki Kovalainen, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 9-1

Kovalainen said there was more speed to extract from his car, but it didn't really matter much, as he was in the middle of nowhere, two seconds behind Kobayashi and nearly one in front of Glock. All in all, it was another solid performance from the Finn.

20. Timo Glock, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 8-2

Having managed to outqualify a Lotus, Glock had reasons to be happy in Germany, as he can't really hope for much more right now. He said his car was not easy to drive at all, with the wind affecting its handling too much, as it was the case also at Silverstone.

21. Karun Chandhok, Lotus
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-1

Returning to racing for the first time since last year's British Grand Prix, the Indian was happy with the progress made since Friday practice. He finished around eight tenths of a second behind Kovalainen, which he said it meant his target was achieved.

22. Jerome D'Ambrosio, Virgin
Team-mate qualifying battle 2-8

The Belgian was satisfied with his performance, having finished some three tenths of a second off Glock's pace. He acknowledged he had not extracted everything from his car, but his set-ups was also not the best, having bet on a wet race.

23. Tonio Liuzzi, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 10-0

Liuzzi said he was confident of finishing ahead of the Virgins, but claimed the track conditions changed and hurt his chances. As it was, the HRT driver found himself quite far from the pace of the cars that he was outqualifying not long ago.

24. Daniel Ricciardo, HRT
Team-mate qualifying battle 0-2

The Australian admitted he was not delighted with his performance, but he was still pleased to be able to show progress since his debut at Silverstone. Finishing less than a tenth behind Liuzzi was a good effort all things considered, even if it still meant starting last.

QUALIFYING RESULTS
Pos  Driver                Team                 Time          Gap    
 1.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1n30.079s
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1n30.134s   + 0.055
 3.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1n30.216s   + 0.137
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1n30.442s   + 0.363
 5.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1n30.910s   + 0.831
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1n31.263s   + 1.184
 7.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1n31.288s   + 1.209
 8.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1n32.010s   + 1.931
 9.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1n32.187s   + 2.108
10.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1n32.482s   + 2.403
11.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault              1m32.215s   + 1.217
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m32.560s   + 1.562
13.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m32.635s   + 1.637
14.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m33.043s   + 2.045
15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m33.176s   + 2.178
16.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.546s   + 2.548
17.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m33.698s   + 2.700
18.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m33.786s   + 1.960
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m35.599s   + 3.773
20.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m36.400s   + 4.574
21.  Karun Chandhok        Lotus-Renault        1m36.422s   + 4.596
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m36.641s   + 4.815
23.  Tonio Liuzzi          Hispania-Cosworth    1m37.011s   + 5.185
24.  Daniel Ricciardo      Hispania-Cosworth    1m37.036s   + 5.210

RACE

It was a shame for Sebastian Vettel - and for Germany - that the weekend when he finally started hinting that he might be fallible happened to coincide with what could have been a triumphant homecoming grand prix. But for Formula 1, to have a race extremely closely fought out between three drivers from three different teams - and with the runaway points leader not one of the key trio - was actually rather a good thing.

Up to the Nurburgring, you could throw whatever you liked at Vettel and Red Bull. Changes of weather, tyre vagaries, rules fluctuations, the most wide open racing in years... the world champion didn't have to dodge the banana skins because he tended to be ahead of them. And even when something 'disastrous' did happen (like someone else having a superior strategy or being a touch quicker), he still salvaged second place and kept that ample points lead in good health.

But in Germany, Vettel was just a footnote. Not even on the front row in qualifying, nor on the podium in the race. He lost his third place to the fast-starting Fernando Alonso at the first corner, repassed the Ferrari when it ran wide in the complex on lap two, but was then outbraked again into Turn 1 on lap eight. A spin at Turn 10 shortly afterwards then dropped the champion totally out of victory contention - and that meant the race became all about Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber and Alonso.

Webber had been the most confident of the trio going through the weekend. Always a Nurburgring specialist even before he took his maiden grand prix win there in 2009, he had been upbeat after practice and reckoned he was ready for whatever the track and its famously wayward weather patterns threw at him. There had been less positivity at McLaren and Ferrari, with Hamilton surprised to find himself second on the grid having ruled out a pole challenge when he struggled in practice, and Alonso not enjoying the low temperatures' effect on the Ferrari's relationship with its Pirellis.

None of that was on their minds at the start, though, as a great getaway from Hamilton saw him dive into Turn 1 already clearly ahead, while Webber was being swamped by fast-starting Ferraris, with Alonso and Felipe Massa appearing on either side of him. He braked late enough to keep them both at bay, with Alonso slotting into third and Massa ending up back in sixth behind Vettel and Nico Rosberg after running slightly wide.

The brief exchanges with Vettel did not cost Alonso too much time to Hamilton and Webber, and once Vettel had spun out of touch, the top three were left firmly in a closely-matched class of their own.

The first of several lead changes came on lap 12, when Hamilton ran slightly wide at the chicane and lost momentum on the exit. Webber was on him in a flash, surging ahead into the final corner. But as he made it through, he compromised his exit, allowing Hamilton to squeeze back into the lead by the first corner, all of which drew Alonso in even closer.

Webber kicked off the leaders' first of three pit sequences when he came in on lap 14. After some initial traffic frustrations, he started setting fastest lap pace, so Hamilton and Alonso both pitted two laps later. Despite Webber getting somewhat caught up with the yet-to-stop Vettel and Massa, he passed the pit exit just before his two rivals emerged, then assumed the lead when Massa pitted next time around. Remarkably, it would be the first lap Webber had led all year.

The usual 2011 script would now see the Red Bull pull away, but it could not. In fact there remained nothing to choose between Webber, Hamilton and Alonso throughout the next stint.

Also failing to follow the usual pattern was the second set of pitstops. Once again Webber came in first, on lap 30, but there was little sign of the anticipated new-tyre advantage. The Red Bull pitstop was slightly slower than the McLaren and Ferrari ones that followed, but not by enough to cost Webber the lead.

Nevertheless, when Hamilton took his new tyres next time around, he reached Turn 1 ahead of the Red Bull - and then firmly rebuffed Webber's attempt to go around the outside of him at Turn 3.

Alonso stayed out one lap further, and this looked set to pay off even more spectacularly as he rejoined ahead of both Hamilton and Webber.

But with the Ferrari notably unhappy on cold tyres, Alonso was unable to hang on when Hamilton tried the same move on the Spaniard that he had prevented Webber from pulling off one lap earlier - accelerating right around the outside and then storming away in the lap.

As the Ferrari's rubber came to life, Alonso was able to get Hamilton's lead back down to 2.5s, and to completely drop third-placed Webber, who fell as far as eight seconds away from the lead.

There were still more potential twists to come, though. The medium tyre was felt to be such a disadvantage that even Pirelli predicted that drivers might want to wait until the final lap before grudgingly pitting to put it on. And stretching stint three also looked wise with predictions of rain approaching the circuit, though in the event it would stay dry until after the chequered flag.

With preserving tyres not always Hamilton's strong point, an up-to-28-lap run on softs always looked ambitious for him, and he was the first of the leaders to brave the mediums on lap 51. Fears of miserable lap times on this compound proved largely unfounded, though. Hamilton's pace on new mediums was still better than Alonso was managing on increasingly tired softs, and the Ferrari was in two laps later, rejoining the same handful of seconds behind the McLaren.

It briefly looked like Webber might pull off something special, as his pace on worn softs was much better than Alonso's and he swiftly closed in on the Ferrari. But then the wear became just too great and he began losing time, eventually pitting for mediums on lap 56 and having to settle for third place.

"We weren't quick enough today," said Webber. "Did everything I could. I was happy with how I drove. I think these guys just had that little extra margin when they needed to do it, especially at the back part of the stints."

He suggested that Red Bull's qualifying superiority in recent years had been such that it had taken a comfort margin into race days - something that had now evaporated.

"It has been like it for the past two-and-a-half years," Webber argued. "The car has been very, very quick on Saturday and normally enough on Sundays to win grands prix. Obviously, the last two we have been done fair-and-square. Seb last weekend, me this weekend, so we didn't really have much to punch back with. So hats off to the opposition."

Hamilton felt his win had been one of his greatest so far given the pressure McLaren had been under as it drifted away from Red Bull and Ferrari in the preceding races.

"I think every win is special but I think the emotion and all the energy the team put into the car and the effort they have put in... when we don't see results like this it slowly builds up, so when you finally hit the sweet-spot and get it, I think it is just ever better," he said. "It just couldn't feel any better."

Things could have been feeling much better for Vettel. His early spin, when he touched the grass and white marker line under braking for Turn 10, did not cost him any positions, but left him only just ahead of the battling Rosberg and Massa - and the latter was able to jump in front of him in the first pitstops. Most of Vettel's afternoon thereafter was spent staring at the back of a Ferrari, until he finally got ahead of Massa when both pitted for medium tyres at the start of the very last lap, allowing the champion to salvage fourth - 47.9 seconds away from the lead.

"Of course it's not satisfying but I think we have to accept that today other people were quicker than us," he said. "I didn't feel very good all weekend, I probably never got to the pace that Mark had in the car."

At one stage it looked like Jenson Button might have had a shot at joining the Massa/Vettel battle by the end. A poor first lap had dropped the second McLaren right back to 10th, and an afternoon in traffic queues followed, with Vitaly Petrov's Renault a particular obstacle. Not long after making it past Rosberg for sixth, following a spectacular dice, Button was called in to retire with a hydraulic problem.

That meant sixth went to Adrian Sutil, after one of the finest drives of the afternoon. The Force India pulled off a two-stop strategy very successfully, allowing him to run as high as fourth, and eventually beat compatriots and Mercedes drivers Rosberg and Michael Schumacher (who three-stopped) to sixth. Schumacher had caught and challenged Rosberg in the middle of the race, before emulating Vettel's quick Turn 10 spin.

Two stops worked well for Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi too - although a superb start that took him from 17th to 12th played the biggest part in his rise to ninth place. He fended off Petrov, the Russian frustrated that staying out too long before his first tyre stop had dropped him into a time-consuming midfield traffic jam.

An early trip off the road meant an early first stop and an eventual 11th place for the second Sauber of Sergio Perez. Jaime Alguersuari's Toro Rosso was 12th, ahead of the recovering Paul di Resta, whose Force India had been punted into a spin by Nick Heidfeld's Renault as the field fumbled through the complex on the first lap.

Heidfeld was awarded a drivethrough penalty for that move, but before he could serve it, he was launched into retirement after clipping Sebastien Buemi as the Toro Rosso ambled across his path on the approach to the chicane - a clumsy moment that earned Buemi a five-place grid penalty for Hungary. The Swiss driver eventually finished 15th behind the off-the-pace Williams of Pastor Maldonado, whose team-mate Rubens Barrichello dropped out with an oil leak.

Among the not-new-anymore teams, Heikki Kovalainen was a comfortable 'class winner' for Lotus, ahead of the Virgins of Timo Glock and Jerome D'Ambrosio. Daniel Ricciardo got ahead of the Belgian for a while before finishing 19th for HRT. He had also been within a respectable distance of team-mate Tonio Liuzzi prior to the electronic issue that halted the Italian. Returnee Karun Chandhok had some spins on the way to 20th and last.

RACE RESULTS

The German Grand Prix
Nurburgring, Germany;
60 laps; 308.863km;
Weather: Cloudy.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           1h37:30.334
 2.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +     3.980
 3.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +     9.788
 4.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +    47.921
 5.  Massa         Ferrari                    +    52.252
 6.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +  1:26.208
 7.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     1 lap
 8.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
 9.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
10.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
12.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
13.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +     1 lap
14.  Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
15.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
16.  Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault              +    2 laps
17.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
18.  D'Ambrosio    Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
19.  Ricciardo     Hispania-Cosworth          +    3 laps
20.  Chandhok      Lotus-Renault              +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:34.587

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Liuzzi        Hispania-Cosworth            37
Button        McLaren-Mercedes             35
Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth            16
Heidfeld      Renault                      9


World Championship standings, round 10:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel       216        1.  Red Bull-Renault          355
 2.  Webber       139        2.  McLaren-Mercedes          243
 3.  Hamilton     134        3.  Ferrari                   192
 4.  Alonso       130        4.  Mercedes                   78
 5.  Button       109        5.  Renault                    66
 6.  Massa         62        6.  Sauber-Ferrari             35
 7.  Rosberg       46        7.  Force India-Mercedes       20
 8.  Heidfeld      34        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari         17
 9.  Schumacher    32        9.  Williams-Cosworth           4
10.  Petrov        32       
11.  Kobayashi     27       
12.  Sutil         18       
13.  Alguersuari    9       
14.  Perez          8       
15.  Buemi          8       
16.  Barrichello    4       
17.  Di Resta       2       
    

Lap-by-lap as it happened on AUTOSPORT Live

TEAM-BY-TEAM

Red Bull

Polesitter Webber led his first laps of 2011, but could only finish third after a race-long duel with Hamilton and Alonso.

Championship leader Vettel meanwhile suffered his worst finish of the year in fourth, bemoaning a lack of confidence in the car all weekend.

McLaren

Hamilton took McLaren's third victory of the season to build upon a sensational qualifying performance which saw him line up on the front row for the first time since Malaysia.

A poor start mired Button in the midfield, before a hydraulic issue forced him to retire from sixth.

Ferrari

Alonso continued his Silverstone form as he challenged for - and held - the lead throughout the race. He was eventually pipped by Hamilton, but finished second to close on Vettel.

Massa meanwhile lost fourth to Vettel in a last-lap pit stop, having held the German at bay for much of the closing stages.

Mercedes

Rosberg led Schumacher home as the pair finished seventh and eighth, with Rosberg running as high as fifth before fading slightly in the latter stages.

Schumacher meanwhile suffered a spin as he clipped the white line mid-way through, but recovered well to finish eighth.

Renault

Ninth and 11th in qualifying suggested Renault could be a force in Germany, but they left with a solitary point as Petrov came home tenth - declaring the team needed to analyse why it had finished behind Force India and Sauber.

Heidfeld fared little better - involved in a first lap clash with Paul di Resta, his race then came to a premature end as Sebastien Buemi left him with nowhere to go as their pair battled for position.

Williams

Williams' struggles in the Nurburgring were compounded by a retirement for Barrichello, as the Brazilian was forced to a halt with an oil leak.

Maldonado also struggled, especially during his final stint on prime tyres, and came home 14th in what he described as a 'really tough' race.

Force India

Sutil was delighted to score Force India's best result of 2011 as he finished sixth in his home grand prix, having jumped Rosberg in the final run of pit stops.

Paul di Resta's race was compromised by an opening lap clash with Nick Heidfeld, but he recovered well from the frustration to finish 13th.

Sauber

Kobayashi credited team strategy for his rapid improvement through the field, as he collected his seventh points of the year in ninth position.

Benchmarking himself against Kobayashi, Perez was unhappy with his own race despite improving from 15th to 11th.

Toro Rosso

Buemi had an eventful grand prix, with a fuel irregularity forcing him to start from last and then a wet set-up gamble which never provided dividend. He was then found to be at fault for a clash with Nick Heidfeld, and was handed a 5-place grid penalty for Hungary.

Alguersuari by contrast had a quieter race, progressing through the order to finish 12th.

Lotus

Kovalainen was comfortably ahead of both Virgins in qualifying and the race, but was not quite able to get on terms with the teams ahead - finishing in 16th as the only car two laps down.

On his F1 debut, Chandhok looked solid in qualifying but lost ground in the race due to a few high speed spins, finishing 20th.

Hispania

Forced to start from the back due to a gearbox-change penalty, Liuzzi's weekend showed little improvement as he struggled with brake problems and then retired with an electrical fault.

Newboy Ricciardo fared better, finishing 19th and ahead of Karun Chandhok, albeit three laps down on the lead.

Virgin

Glock handed Virgin an ideal start to the weekend by extending his contract with the team, and then duly finished as the first Virgin in 17th.

D'Ambrosio was pleased with his own progress with the team, and finished one place further back in 18th.

RACE DATA

The Race in Action

Full race lap times (H)

Full race lap times (V)

Lap chart (positions)

Lap chart (gaps)