Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for the German Grand Prix on Sunday on his last attempt during qualifying. A lot of the attention this weekend has been on the Pirelli tyres, which caused several spectacular blowouts at Silverstone last weekend, but we have thus far seen no repeat at Nurburgring this weekend, and everything seems set for an exciting race. World championship leader Sebastian Vettel will start the race alongside Hamilton, with Red Bull teammate Mark Webber behind him in third.
2013 German Grand Prix Odds
Sebastian Vettel 6/5
Lewis Hamilton 2/1
Mark Webber 8/1
Kimi Raikkonen 9/1
Fernando Alonso 8/1
Niko Rosberg 25/1
Romain Grosjean 50/1
Felipe Massa 66/1
It was a mixed bag in qualifying from Mercedes, however, with Rosberg, the form driver in Formula One at present, missing out on the third and decisive qualifying session after his team elected not to send him out on a final run in Q2, thinking that he’d already done enough to get him in, which was not the case.
But once again, Mercedes prevailed through Hamilton, and a trend is settling in this season, with the German team claiming pole, only to drop down the standings during the race. If that is to be the case once again, as it may very well be, Red Bull are in prime position to capitalise. Vettel and Webber, winner of the race last year, will look to pass Hamilton in the opening laps and build a gap to the rest of the pack. Raikkonen, third in the world championship standings, starts alongside Webber in fourth ahead of his teammate Grosjean, and will look to mark the Red Bulls throughout the race.
One team to look out for is Ferrari, the only team among the leading contenders to have opted to start the race on medium tyres. Starting from seventh and eighth with Massa and Alonso respectively, they will be hoping that they can make up for their inferior one lap speed with a different strategy. The idea is that the medium tyres will last longer than the softs in the opening stint, meaning that they can leapfrog several cars come the first round of pit stops. Time will tell whether this tactic pays off. An Alonso podium at 10/11 isn’t bad value given his tendency to gain positions during the race.
Check out the official Formula One website to keep up with the race.
Tagged With : Fernando Alonso • Lewis Hamilton • Nurburgring • Sebastian Vettel