Germany and Angry Young Germans

[Tom Bridge]

Topsy turvey qualy with an almost exciting race.  Fernando continues to keep calm when all about him are losing it and blaming everyone else.  I think he will be hard to catch now, even if McLaren have finally figured out the tyres (well almost) and even if the FIA do not 'persuade' RB to de-tweak their engine mapping.  Actually, the Ferrari is very quick now, during the early laps Vettel was all over the place just trying to keep up and it was only towards the end of the stint when the gap closed.  If JB had started further up there may have been a tighter race at the top but I am not certain because Fernando had the gaps under control, I am pretty sure of that.  Good to see Jenson on it again and disappointed for Lewis although I am not sure if he would have been on the podium even without the debris damage.  Liked the little cameo with Seb who really does not seem to deal with pressure very well at all.  Silly to fight with Lewis and then even more silly to wave his hand at him and then criticize at the end.  Even Horner did not back him up.   The error at the end was plain stupid.  The rule about passing off track is about as clear as any rule in F1 can be.  Much prefer Mark's approach.  He did not get the weekend right and simply admitted it although this does have a whiff of 2011 as the car seems to be closer to last year which suited Seb more than Mark. 

Delighted that Vettel's error gave a second podium to Kimi and quite amazed that he is now fourth in the championship.  Good also to see the old man trundling around ahead of his young team mate, but not a great day for the Germans.  As for the rest, Grosjean reminded us of his 2009 self, the Saubers remain quick, Williams really need better drivers and Ferrari really do need a better number 2.  He may have been unlucky in qualy but with that car and a little patience he could have been fifth quite easily.  Instead he wrecked his own race and probably Lewis'.