German GP: Difficult race for Williams
Williams Pitstop
By Andrew Hooper
July 22 2012
The results of the 2012 German GP would be one that the Williams F1 team would want to forget with drivers Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna finishing in a disappointing 15th and 17th. Both drivers would struggle for various reasons seeing both drop down the order with Bruno having to pit early with damage to his car.
| German GP Race Review |
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With all the
various penalties that various drivers received Williams F1 drivers Pastor
Maldonado and Bruno Senna would start from fifth and fourteenth
respectively. Prior to the start it was dry but with the teams having so
little dry weather running it may be a race that see drivers having to adapt
to the race conditions. On pole was Alonso from Vettel, Schumacher,
Hulkenberg, Pastor, Button, Hamilton, Webber, Di Resta, and Raikkonen in
tenth. The drivers will have the choice of the medium and soft tyres with
the drivers taking on various combinations of the dry weather tyre for the
start. Soft tyres looked like it was the choice of the field the only ones
of the medium tyre were Rosberg, Vergne, Glock, and Pic. |
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Raikkonen would pass Di Resta
under braking to move up to eighth. Replays showed sparks coming from
underneath Bruno's car forcing him to pit. Vergne would pit from fifteenth
on lap seven with Pastor still sixth and Bruno now last. Button would pass
Hulkenberg for fourth at the hairpin. Webber was still in seventh from
Raikkonen, Di Resta, and Perez in tenth. Bruno was back out on the medium
tyre and with a new front wing. Lap nine and Alonso was leading by 1.1
seconds from Vettel with Schumacher 4.7 seconds behind Vettel. Di Resta
would pit on lap eleven taking on medium tyres. Button would pass Schumacher
for third at the hairpin while team-mate Hamilton was down in twenty second.
Raikkonen would pit on lap twelve taking on the soft tyre. Pastor was now
challenging Hulkenberg while for Bruno he was very close to being lapped.
Lap thirteen and Hulkenberg, Webber, and Rosberg would all pit. Webber and Hulkenberg would take on the medium tyre while Rosberg swapped to soft's. Pastor was now in fifth and would pit on lap fourteen taking on the medium tyre. Webber would run wide at Turn one seeing him come back out behind Pastor. Pastor would put a Caterham between him and Webber as on lap fifteen Schumacher would pit taking on the soft tyre. Petrov would pit from thirteenth while Schumacher would try to pass Hulkenberg at Turn eight, a move that he makes. Raikkonen would also take the opportunity to pass Hulkenberg following Schumacher. Pastor was now down in tenth while at the front Alonso was still leading Vettel by 2.1 seconds. Button was still third followed by Perez and Kobayashi. |
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Lap nineteen and Alonso would
pit taking on the medium tyre. Lap twenty one and Vettel would pit from the
lead while just prior to this Webber would pass Pastor for ninth. With
Vettel's stop Alonso returned to the lead with Kobayashi in third from
Button, Raikkonen, Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Perez, Webber, and Pastor in
tenth. Kobayashi would pit on lap twenty three seeing Button move up to
third. Pastor had dropped away from Webber with the gap now 3.5 seconds.
Pastor was not running well at all on this set of tyres. Kobayashi would
come back out in front of Pastor seeing Pastor drop to eleventh. Rosberg
would pass Pastor at the hairpin as Pastor continued to drop back. Lap
twenty five and Massa would pit from sixteenth, followed by Grosjean from
twentieth. Bruno was now twentieth with Alonso closing. Button had been closing in onto Vettel but his progressed had slowed. Bruno would pit on lap twenty seven again taking on the medium tyre while Pastor was down in twelfth. Vettel was now just 1.0 seconds behind Alonso after lap twenty seven as fourteenth placed Vergne pitted staying on the medium tyre. Lap thirty and Vettel was now just 0.6 behind Alonso with Button 3.3 seconds behind Vettel. Webber would pass Hulkenberg for seventh at the hairpin and Hulkenberg would pit on lap thirty two taking on the soft tyre. Hamilton would pit from eighteenth on lap thirty three with Rosberg also coming in from ninth. Petrov had pitted staying on the mediums. Hamilton had come out behind Vettel while for Williams Pastor was in tenth. Hamilton was trying to unlap himself as he passed Vettel. There would be wave of the hand from Vettel was Hamilton went past. While all this was going on Button had closed in onto Vettel. |
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Schumacher would pit on alp
thirty seven coming in from fifth. Pastor would get passed by Hulkenberg
with the Force India simply driving past the Williams. Schumacher would come
back out in eighth behind Webber. Vettel was now 2.0 seconds behind Alonso as on lap thirty nine Raikkonen would pit changing
from soft to medium tyres. Pastor and Ricciardo would pit from twelfth and
thirteenth. Pastor would take on another set of medium tyres. Di Resta would
also pit from tenth on lap forty. Lap forty one and Button would pit from
third joined by Perez and Webber with both drivers taking on medium tyres. The next lap and both Alonso and Vettel
would pit and Button was able to pass Vettel as Vettel came out of the pit
lane. The following lap and Vettel would run wide at Turn one handing Button
some time. Kobayashi was now up to fourth but he would pit on lap forty four
taking on the soft tyre. Button was just 0.8 seconds behind Alonso as on lap forty seven Vergne would pit from fourteenth. This would see Pastor move up to fifteenth while Bruno was in eighteenth. Hulkenberg would pit from eighth and the next lap Massa from thirteenth. Hamilton would also pit followed by Bruno with Bruno taking on the soft tyre. At the front Button was now closely following Alonso as Vettel continued to lose ground to Button. Lap fifty one and Rosberg would pit from eighth. Lap fifty three and Schumacher would pit taking on the soft tyres. Pastor was now in thirteenth and Bruno nineteenth in what was a major disappointment from the Williams team. Raikkonen was down in fourth followed by Kobayashi, Perez, Schumacher, Webber, Hulkenberg, and Di resta in tenth. Massa would pass Pastor for thirteenth. |
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Hamilton would pit on lap fifty
eight to retire in his garage. Pastor would also stop again seeing him go a
lap down and now in fifteenth. Lap sixty and Button was now 1.3 seconds
behind Alonso. Vettel was 1.3 seconds behind Button with Raikkonen a distant
fourth. Vettel was closing in onto Button while Alonso looked to have the
race under control with five laps remaining. Fifteenth and seventeenth for Pastor
and Bruno and both a lap down. Lap sixty three and Vettel was now right with
Button with Alonso 1.9 seconds ahead of Button. On lap sixty six Vettel
would finally pass Button coming out of the hairpin but Vettel did go off
the track to complete his pass. Button would come on his radio asking the same question. Alonso would complete his
last lap and would take victory in the German Grand Prix. So it was Alonso from Vettel, Button, Raikkonen, Kobayashi, Perez, Schumacher, Webber, Hulkenberg, and Rosberg in tenth. Pastor and Bruno would finish in fifteenth and seventeenth in what can only be described as very disappointing. But Vettel's pass was under investigation for his pass at the hairpin so the results may change. With just one week before the next race the Williams team is going to find the ging tough. Since the win at the Spanish Grand Prix the Williams team has been on a down hill slide failing to produce any significant results. |
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