Fitting home win!

Sebastian Vettel finally won a race on his home soil on Sunday when he survived spells of intense pressure to steer his Red Bull to victory in the German Grand Prix. The 26-year-old German, who also had never won a race in the month of July, came home narrowly ahead of fast-closing Finn Kimi Raikkonen and his Lotus teammate Romain Grosjean of France.

Vettel’s win was his fourth this year and the 30th of his career and it lifted him 36 points clear of nearest rival, Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, in the drivers championship. Alonso came home fourth ahead of Britons Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Jenson Button of McLaren with Australian Mark Webber seventh in the second Red Bull.

Mexican Sergio Perez finished eighth for McLaren ahead of Germans Nico Rosberg in the second Mercedes and Nico Hulkenberg of Sauber. In the much hotter conditions, with an air temperature of 26 degrees Celsius and track equivalent of 45 degrees, Hamilton, starting on pole for the 29th time, struggled pre-race with a fuel leak and a front right wheel brake problem before the lights went out.

At the start, he appeared to lose traction in second gear as the two Red Bulls passed him, one on each side. Vettel managed to squeeze clear of the luckless Webber to lead. An early spate of incidents saw Massa spin off on lap three, an errant wheel from Webber’s car bounce into the back of a tv cameraman and then Jules Bianchi’s Marussia, after an engine failure, roll without the driver in it across the circuit, triggering the safety car. By this time, Vettel was back in front following Grosjean’s first stop on lap 15, but the Frenchman was fast and closed the gap before the six laps pause behind the safety car and racing’s resumption.

Grosjean swiftly closed on Vettel and put him under pressure before they pitted in succession, holding on in front until lap 50 when he came in for a set of softs, along with Alonso, and gifted Vettel a lead he retained.