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Vettel Edges Raikkonen For Home Win In Germany

NURBURGRING, Germany- After controlling a good part of the German Grand Prix Sunday afternoon, Sebastian Vettel held off a last second charge by Kimi Raikkonen, to win his first home grand prix of his career by only a second. Romain Grosjean had one his best races of the season since Bahrain, with the Frenchman finishing in third.

“I am very happy, an unbelievable race. Kimi was pushing very hard, and obviously they tried to do something different with their tires.” Said Vettel. “I think we had a solid, and very controlled race, and I am very happy with the result and am really glad to finally win in Germany.”

At the start, Vettel shot out in front, but his Red Bull teammate, Mark Webber, had an even better start, and went into second. Most of the drivers stayed together early on, but on lap four, Felipe Massa spun his Ferrari at the end of the opening straight and retired. Vettel extended his lead to seven seconds over Webber on lap nine before stopping for the first time for fresh tires. Webber came in moments later, but the right rear tire nut was not tight enough and the tire loosened as the Australian left the pits coming off, rolled, and struck a FOM cameraman. Luckily the cameraman got up moments later but was taken to the hospital.

By lap 23, Vettel was 1.9 seconds ahead of a hard charging Grosjean who by this point, was narrowing the gap to the German. On the same lap, Jules Bianchi had his Marussia’s engine let go on the back part of the track, and the Frenchman failed to put it into park, and moments later, when the Marshalls tried to collect the car, the Marussia rolled back across the track and stopped in the grass. Luckily, this incident did not have another car going across the circuit, but Bianchi and the team could face a fine for not making the car race safe. Because of the unsafe situation, the safety car came out for another five laps before the race resumed under green on lap 29.

Vettel took control again and took a huge lead ahead of both Grosjean and Raikkonen. However, as the laps continued, both Lotus drivers were narrowing the gap to Vettel. With only a handful of laps remaining, Grosjean let Raikkonen by and the Finn began to go flat out, nearly catching Vettel. But in the end, the German ended up crossing the finish line just by one second over Raikkonen.

Fernando Alonso, was close to the top three, but could not get any closer and finished in Fourth, parking his Ferrari at the end of the opening straight. Jenson Button took and impressive fifth, his best finish since China, while Lewis Hamilton finished in sixth. Webber recovered after his earlier mishap to take seventh, Sergio Perez gave McLaren two drivers in the top ten by finishing in eighth, while the two German Nico’s, Rosberg and Hulkenberg, rounded out the top ten.

Vettel now holds a 34 point lead over Alonso, but winning this race for the first time was great for the world champion. However, he was relieved that Raikkonen had no more time to take advantage.

“I am very glad that the race ended on 60 laps and not 61 or 62.” Vettel calmly concluded.

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