Vettel wins his duel against Alonso again

Sebastian Vettel was unable to fight for the podium at the German Grand Prix after starting from sixth position, but the four-time world champion was still able to reach the finish line in fourth place ahead of Fernando Alonso with whom he fought a new duel for a good part of the race after the previous battle experienced at Silverstone.

“It was nice with Fernando today, maybe we started where it left off last time,” comments the German who remained calmer than in Great Britain. “It was pretty fun in the first part of the race, but then it got tighter with both Ferrari, but I was able to stay ahead. It was tighter during my second stop and Fernando was able to pass me without too much difficulty. We then decided to be more aggressive at the end by attempting the "undercut" and putting enough distance behind him, which was essential with the fuel consumption to be monitored at the end of the event. »

Fernando Alonso even almost lost to Daniel Ricciardo after taking the advantage over the Australian six laps from the finish. But the Scuderia Ferrari driver mainly paid for his team's poor strategy which left him on the track too long during his third stint. “We did what we could. Although we would have liked to finish on the podium, the cars in front of us were too fast. It was a good race, although it was very complex, given that we chose to go from two to three stops. It wasn't easy to stay in the fight while monitoring fuel consumption at the end. We couldn't do better than finishing ahead of Ricciardo. We made slight progress at Hockenheim and that encourages us to continue even if it doesn't yet show on the times. The priority is the Manufacturers' Championship (where Williams Racing has just overtaken Ferrari with a five-point lead). »

Discover the analysis of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1970 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.