German GP: Williams fails to deliver in the race

The AT&T Williams team would see their drivers Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg start the race from eighth and tenth respectively. It was expected that the majority of the sixty seven lap race would be run under dry conditions with the sun out but there was a possibility that rain may fall late in the race. Rubens would comment on the softer tyres saying that they should last for around twenty laps. The top ten would all start on these softer tyres with Vettel on pole from Alonso and Massa. Penalties had been given to Sutil and both Virgin cars. Sutil would start from nineteenth and the Virgin cars would occupy the final two grid positions. The second Red Bull of Webber was on fourth followed by Button, Hamilton, Kubica, Rubens, Rosberg, and Nico in tenth. Schumacher and Kobayashi were in eleventh and twelfth and both would start on the softer tyre.

The grid would move up and complete their parade lap and Vettel would take his place on pole. The grid would form up and the lights would go out and it would be Vettel moving over onto Alonso pushing him closer to the wall and he would lose out and we would see both Ferrari's leading. Massa was leading from Alonso with Vettel in third. Hamilton had moved up to fourth from Webber, Button, Kubica, Schumacher, Rosberg, Kobayashi, Rubens, Petrov, and Nico in thirteenth. Buemi would lose his rear wing and would pit but Sutil, Alguersuari, and Liuzzi would also come in. Alguersuari had lost his front wing. The two Torro Rosso cars had got together at the hairpin.

Massa was now leading by 15 seconds over Alonso. Both Williams cars had lost out at the start while Trulli would retire in his pit. Hamilton had dropped away from third placed Vettel as on lap three Massa would set a fastest lap of 1m:19.501. Rubens was 1.3 seconds behind tenth placed Kobayashi. On lap four Sutil would again pit as on lap five Alonso would seta new fastest lap of 1m:19.292. Liuzzi would also pit again as Alonso continued to push again been fastest with a 1m:19.153. Alonso was now 1.1 seconds behind Massa with Vettel 1.5 seconds behind Alonso. Liuzzi had swapped to the harder tyre. Trulli had come back out as his team tried to fix a gearbox problem but he would pit again. Lap nine and a 1m:18.965 from Alonso while Webber had closed in onto Hamilton. Lap ten and
Massa would respond with a 1m:18.915 with his lead now 1.5 seconds.

Vettel was now 2.1 seconds behind Alonso. Lap eleven and Massa was agin fastest with a 1m:18.823 but Alonso was very close to his team-mates time. Vettel would pit on lap thirteen taking on the harder tyre. He would come back out in sixth while Ferrari would react with Alonso pitting on lap fourteen. Webber would also pit with both drivers taking on the harder tyre. Massa would pit on lap fifteen joined by Hamilton. Ninth placed Schumacher was also in along with Rubens. Button was now leading the race from Massa, Alonso, Vettel, Kubica, Hamilton, Rosberg, Webber, and Petrov. tenth placed Kobayashi would pit on lap sixteen. Massa would get out of shape at the hairpin allowing Alonso to close.

Nico was now running in eleventh ad Rubens had dropped to fourteenth. Massa was struggling on the harder tyre but was still able to keep his lead. Eighth placed Kubica would pit on lap eighteen also taking on the harder tyre. He would come back out in front of Schumacher running in eleventh. Nico was now ninth but yet to stop while at the front Button was now leading by 4.3 seconds from Massa and Alonso. Vettel was now 1.4 seconds behind Alonso while the Ferrari pair would come up behind some back markers. This would see Alonso close right up to Massa and try to make a pass but Massa was able to keep the lead. Alonso would say on his radio that "this is ridiculous" as he ran behind his team-mate. Button would pit on lap twenty three having built his lead up to 5.1 seconds. Button would come back out in fifth, ahead of Webber.

Lap twenty three and Massa would set a 1m:18.711 to again be fastest. Petrov would pit from eighth allowing Nico to move up to this spot, but Nico had yet to pit. Lap twenty four and a 1m:18.646 from Massa while Rosberg would pit from seventh on lap twenty five. Rosberg would come back out in tenth while Nico was now in seventh from De la Rosa. Lap twenty six and Massa would continue to increase his lead over Alonso as he set another fastest lap with a 1m:18.560. Rubens was down in a disappointing fourteenth as Massa continued to build on his lead. Lap twenty seven it was out to 3.4 seconds as he set another fastest lap, 1m:18.399. On lap twenty eight Alonso would respond with
a 1m:18.075. He would take a tenth off Massa as Rob Smedley, Massa's engineer, to keep pushing and that he can win this race.

Lap thirty and Massa set a 1m:17.991 seeing his lead now 3.2 seconds. The next lap and it was a 1m:17.751 from Alonso. He had closed the gap to Massa to 2.8 seconds. Lap thirty three and it was now 2.0 seconds as Alonso continued to close onto Massa. Nico would be struggling setting times that were some three seconds slower than the cars in front. Lap thirty five and De la Rosa would pass Nico going down into the hairpin. Nico would pit on lap thirty six his super soft tyres pretty well finished. Rubens was now in thirteenth and Nico fourteenth. Lap thirty six and Alonso would set a 1m:17.666 to now be 2.5 seconds behind Massa. Webber was right behind fifth placed Button with Hamilton still in fourth.

A 1m:17.495 from Alonso and Massa's lead was now down to 2.0 seconds. Hamilton was told to look at conserving fuel as Rubens and Nico now had fairly lonely races with both drivers looking to be lapped before the end of the race. With both Ferrari's finding their way through traffic Alonso had closed onto Massa so that his lead was now just 1.2 seconds. Lap forty one and Massa's lead was down to 1.0 seconds. Vettel was 6.0 seconds behind Alonso and on lap forty two Vettel would be fastest with a 1m:17.242. Webber's engineer trying to help Webber get to the finish as the engine of the Red Bull was having an oil consumption problem. Vettel was starting to push setting a 1m:17.170 on lap forty three. Rubens was closing in onto twelfth placed Kobayashi. A 1m:17.122 from Vettel while Alonso was now just 0.8 seconds behind Massa.

The start of the race had seen Williams hopeful of scoring some points but the race so far was not working out for either Rubens or Nico. Nico would be the next car to be lapped as on lap forty seven Alonso was fastest with a 1m:17.012. Massa was told by his engineer that Alonso was faster than you. Massa was asked to confirm that he understood this message. And Guess what happened, Alonso would pass Massa for the lead with just under eighteen laps to go in the race. Rob Smedley would say sorry to Massa for what was obviously a hard thing for Massa to do. Lap fifty and Alonso was now leading by 1.4 seconds over Massa. Lap fifty one and a 1m:16.669 from Alonso as Nico was lapped. Vettel was now fastest with a 1m:16.669 to be 2.9 seconds behind Massa. De la Rosa would pit from eighth making his one and only stop, taking on the super soft tyres.

Rubens had also been lapped while Vettel continued to close in onto Massa, the gap now 2.6 seconds. Rubens and Nico were now in twelfth and fourteenth. Nico had been passed by De la Rosa at the hairpin while on lap fifty five Alonso was again fastest with a 1m:16.625. Lap fifty seven and Vettel was now 2.1 seconds behind Massa while Nico was looking to get back past De la Rosa. Massa was now just 1.4 seconds behind second place Massa with fifty eight laps completed. De la Rosa would pit on lap sixty having to take on a new front wing after making contact with Kovalainen's Lotus. Rubens and Nico were running in twelfth and thirteenth. Vettel was now 1.0 seconds behind Massa. Hamilton and Button were still running in fourth and fifth. Webber was still sixth from Kubica, Rosberg, Schumacher, and Petrov in tenth.

A 1m:16.525 from Vettel on lap sixty one while eighth placed Rosberg would be lapped while Alonso would set a 1m:16.471 to again be fastest on lap sixty two. Alonso continued to set another fastest lap with a 1m:16.103 on lap sixty four, now leading by 4.3 seconds. Massa was leading third placed Vettel by 1.1 seconds. Both of the Williams cars were running close together bit both were outside the points. Button would run wide at Turn one returning to the track. Alonso would complete his last lap to take victory in the 2010 German Grand Prix. Vettel was third from Hamilton, Button, Webber, Kubica, Rosberg, Schumacher, and in tenth and with the last point was Petrov.

For the AT&T Williams team it was a race that failed to deliver with the prospect of a points
scoring finish disappearing right from the start when both Rubens and Nico would lose places at the start. They were never in a position to reverse their poor starts and would end the race being lapped. But having said that everyone up to seventh was lapped by Alonso. A frustrating race for the Williams team.

Pos  Driver  	   Team		  	      Time
 1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    1h28:38.866
 2.  Massa         Ferrari                    +     4.196
 3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +     5.121
 4.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    26.896
 5.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +    29.482
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    43.606
 7.  Kubica        Renault                    +     1 lap
 8.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +     1 lap
 9.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +     1 lap
10.  Petrov        Renault                    +     1 lap
11.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
12.  Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
13.  Hulkenberg    Williams-Cosworth          +     1 lap
14.  De la Rosa    Sauber-Ferrari             +     1 lap
15.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +     1 lap
16.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes       +    2 laps
17.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes       +    2 laps
18.  Glock         Virgin-Cosworth            +    3 laps
19.  Senna         HRT-Cosworth               +    4 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:15.824

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Kovalainen    Lotus-Cosworth               58
Di Grassi     Virgin-Cosworth              51
Yamamoto      HRT-Cosworth                 20
Trulli        Lotus-Cosworth               4
Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari           2