Vettel misses Senna's record

Of all the places that Sebastian Vettel would have wanted to win, it was at his home grand prix at the Nurburgring. Instead, the German Grand Prix was his worst race of the year and put an end to all the incredible streaks he has been building up over the last nine months.

By qualifying third, his run of consecutive front-row starts was halted at 14, leaving him fifth in the all-time list behind Ayrton Senna (24 from Germany 1988 - Australia 1989), Damon Hill (17 from Australia 1995 - Japan 1996), Alain Prost (16 from South Africa - Australia 1993) and Nigel Mansell (15 from Australia 1986 - Mexico 1987).

By failing to make the podium, the Red Bull driver's hot streak was ended at 11, placing him third in the all-time standings behind Michael Schumacher (19 from USA 2001 - Japan 2002) and Fernando Alonso (15 from Turkey 2005 - Canada 2006)

And by not leading a lap for the first time in 13 races, he must start from scratch if he wants to beat Jackie Stewart (17 from USA 1968 - Belgium 1970) and Michael Schumacher (15 from Australia - Italy 2004) if he wants to take the record for the number of consecutive grands prix led.

Vettel's fourth place in Germany was his worst result since last year's Italian Grand Prix (15 races ago) and also ends his hopes of equalling Michael Schumacher's achievement of getting on the podium in every race, a feat the seven-time world champion managed in 2002.

Webber's pole curse continues

For the fourth time since his last grand prix win, Mark Webber failed to make a pole position count - and even that victory, in Hungary last year, came from second on the grid.

Curiously, whenever Lewis Hamilton has started second on a grid headed by Webber, it is the McLaren driver who has won; achieving success in Belgium and Turkey in 2010 and at the Nurburgring last weekend.

He did take two significant steps however, leading a lap for the first time since Brazil last year and beating Vettel for the first time since Belgium almost 12 months ago.

Race notes

• Hamilton's German GP win was the 16th of his Formula 1 career, bringing him level with Vettel and Stirling Moss in 14th place in the all-time winners' list. Prior to his win and fastest lap last weekend, he had never scored a point at the Nurburgring, while his 40th career podium finish leaves him only two behind British compatriot Damon Hill.

• Jenson Button's retirement in Germany marked the first time a mechanical failure had put a McLaren out of a grand prix for almost a year. The last such problem was a broken gearbox that put Hamilton out in Hungary in 2010.

Button failed to make the finish © LAT

• Fernando Alonso scored his 68th F1 podium finish in Germany, tying him with Rubens Barrichello in fourth place in the all-time list. His next target is Senna, third on 80. His result was doubly significant for Spain as it was the 70th such result for a Spanish driver; the first coming courtesy of Alfonso de Portago at the 1956 British Grand Prix.

• While Webber is racking up the third-place finishes (Germany marked his fourth in succession), Felipe Massa is ploughing a similarly consistent furrow. He finished fifth for the third race in a row after Vettel overtook him on the final lap.

• Adrian Sutil scored his best result of the year in sixth place for Force India

• Once again, it was proven that failing to make Q2 is no barrier against scoring points as Kamui Kobayashi finished ninth from 17th on the grid (he had qualified 18th, but moved up a spot after Sebastien Buemi's penalty). It was the fourth successive race in which a driver dropped in Q1 went on to score points.

Qualifying notes

• Red Bull took its 30th F1 pole position courtesy of Webber, who made it back-to-back poles for the first time since his sequence of three in a row from Spain to Monaco last year.

• Button has now gone 40 races since his last pole position, that one coming at Monaco in 2009.

• Sutil's eighth place on the grid was his best qualifying spot since last year's Belgian Grand Prix.

• For only the second time in 2011, Kobayashi failed to make Q2, but unlike the other one (in Turkey, where he started 24th after a technical problem) this one was performance-related. The last time he qualified so far back without a problem was in Japan last year.