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MASSA ON THE PODIUM WITH WEBBER
Felipe Massa started the second half of his 2009 campaign in fine style, with his first podium and the team's second of the season, when he finished the German Grand Prix in third place.
“It’s been such a long time since I made it to the podium! I really wanted it after a very difficult first half of the season. Little bit little, we are improving and we will do all we can to get back to winning ways this season: I want to start hearing the Italian and Brazilian national anthems as soon as possible! A great start and the strategy were the keys to this result. In the first fifteen laps I was struggling to keep Vettel behind me, but than I think he too was also struggling a bit with the tyres. Maybe I could have managed to get one place higher, if we had brought the pit stop forward a bit, because I too was struggling with my tyres, but it's easy to say these things with hindsight. Before the race however, I didn’t think I’d end up on the podium as a place in the top five already seemed a lot to ask. But then we saw that cars that in theory are quicker than us ended up behind us and so we realized we had a good chance. We have to continue in this direction.”
Kimi was forced to retire with a mechanical problem, having completed 34 laps.
“Germany definitely doesn’t seem to bring me luck. I don’t know how many times a problem beyond my control has forced me to retire and this time it was down to debris. A shame, as I think I could have got a good result. The car was a bit difficult to drive at the start, but I think it was the same for everyone. Around lap 14, we began to see that something wasn’t right and we tried to manage the situation. Then I started to lose a lot of power and the team asked me to pit because there was nothing that could be done anymore. The incident with Sutil? These things happen in racing, we spoke to one another and I think that he also sees it that way, as indeed did the Stewards.”
The race was won by Mark Webber, the Red Bull Renault driver thus securing his first ever grand prix victory in his eighth season of Formula 1. He finished ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel. In the Constructors’ classification, the Scuderia is still fourth, now only 2.5 points behind Toyota .
After qualifying had been hit by rain on Saturday, the race started under sunny skies and a temperature of 18 degrees. Felipe Massa was eighth on the grid with his Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen in ninth. Timo Glock in the Toyota would start from the pit lane.
KERS played its part at the start as Felipe immediately moved up four places to fourth and Kimi was seventh. Hamilton had charged up from fifth and almost led but he went off the track and his car appeared damaged as he dropped to last. At the start of the second lap, Button got his Brawn past Felipe, so the Brazilian was now fifth, with Vettel right behind him in the Red Bull.
The order after two laps was Barrichello, Webber, Kovalainen, another KERS start from sixth to third, Button, Felipe, Vettel, Kimi, Sutil, Rosberg, with Kubica rounding off the top ten. The Brawns were on a three stop strategy. After six laps, while Barrichello was one second clear of Webber and the Australian had a 9.3 second gap to Kovalainen, behind the Finn was a train made up of Button, Massa and Vettel, with Kimi in seventh, 1.8 behind the German.
On lap 8, Vettel made a move on Felipe, but he could not get past. On lap 11, the Stewards decided that Webber had caused a collision – he pulled over on Barrichello at the start – and he was given a drive through penalty.
Button was the first to pit on lap 13 with team mate Barrichello coming in on 14, at the same time that Webber took his penalty. Kovalainen who had been holding up most of the field came in on 15. Unusually, Webber now found himself in the lead, although he would have to come in again for his refuelling which you cannot do at the same time as a penalty. Felipe was second, running a long first stint, ahead of fellow countryman, Barrichello, with Vettel fourth ahead of Kimi, with Sutil an amazing sixth in the Force India.
By lap 23, Felipe was leading after Barrichello pitted, with the Brawn driver still second, ahead of Kimi, Sutil and Rosberg and then Kimi was the first of the two F60s to refuel on lap 24. Felipe came in on lap 25. Of the leaders, only Sutil in second and Rosberg in third had yet to pit and Felipe and Kimi were down in ninth and tenth respectively, behind Vettel. The Force India man came in on lap 27 and when he left the pits he collided with Kimi, removing part of his front wing. After the race, the Stewards deemed it was just a racing accident and no action was taken. After Rosberg finally refuelled on lap 29, the order one lap later at the halfway point of the 60 lap race was Barrichello, Webber, Button, Vettel, Felipe now fifth, but Rosberg now split the two Ferraris with Kimi seventh ahead of Kovalainen, Nakajima (yet to pit,) and Fisichella tenth.
Button made his second of three stops on lap 31 and his team mate Barrichello came in next, leaving Webber back in the lead again. The Brazilian had a longer stop and he came out in fifth, just ahead of Kimi, while Felipe had now moved up to third. Button also got past the Finn on lap 33.Kimi slowed dramatically, obviously having some sort of problem with the car, eventually pulling into the garage to retire. Barrichello was also having a bad day, as he had to come in again after there had been a problem with the refuelling rig at his previous stop, not putting enough fuel in the car. In third place, Felipe was 1.1 down on Vettel, but lapping fractionally quicker than the German, who trailed his team-mate and race leader by 22.6 seconds. But with 20 laps to go, the Vettel-Massa gap had grown to 2.2.
The race leader made his second and final pit stop on lap 43, coming out just ahead of Felipe, who was temporarily second when Vettel came in next time round. The Ferrari man made a very quick final stop on lap 45, rejoining in sixth place behind Vettel. Barrichello came in again on lap 50, followed by Button next time round. So with eight laps to go and most of the significant pit stops completed, the order was Webber, Vettel, Felipe, Rosberg, Button, Barrichello, Alonso and Kovalainen in the last of the points positions. And that was the order at the chequered flag, with a happy Felipe delighted to stand on a podium once again.
“This podium from Felipe is a really great reward for the whole team, who did a great job this weekend and in preparing for this race. However, we are also very disappointed about what happened to Kimi, who could have brought home some important points. This result is a great motivation for the rest of the season. We must continue to work with the same intensity to get back to where we want to be. The choice to stick with the softer tyre for the second stint of the race was based on what we had seen in the first stint, where it’s true that Felipe had suffered a bit, while Kimi had no problems. We were also concerned about how the harder compound would work in these temperatures.”
Race Details
Nuerburgring, 12th July 2009
F. Massa: 3rd 1:36.59.216 + 15.906 60 laps 277 chassis
K. Raikkonen: R 55.53.781 DNF 34 laps 279 chassis
Weather: air temperature 19/20 °C, track temperature 21/23 °C, cloudy, with occasional bursts of sunshine.
Second podium of the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, with a third place in the German Grand Prix for Felipe Massa. Kimi Raikkonen had to retire after 34 laps because a radiator was damaged by debris and this led to a loss of engine cooling fluid from the system. Thanks to this result, Felipe moves up to fifth place in the Drivers’ classification while the team has consolidated its fourth place in the Constructors’, reducing the gap to third.
1. Mark WebberAustraliaRed Bull-Renault 60 laps 1hr 36m 43.310s
2. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault +00m 09.2s
3. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 15.9s
4. Nico RosbergGermanyWilliams-Toyota +00m 21.0s
5. Jenson ButtonBritainBrawn-Mercedes +00m 23.6s
6. Rubens BarrichelloBrazilBrawn-Mercedes +00m 24.4s
7. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault +00m 24.8s
8. Heikki KovalainenFinlandMcLaren-Mercedes +00m 58.6s
9. Timo GlockGermanyToyota-Toyota +01m 01.4s
10 Nick HeidfeldGermanyBMW Sauber +01m 01.9s
11. Giancarlo FisichellaItalyForce India-Mercedes +01m 02.3s
12. Kazuki NakajimaJapanWilliams-Toyota +01m 02.8s
13. Nelson Piquet JrBrazilRenault-Renault +01m 08.3s
14. Robert KubicaPolandBMW Sauber +01m 09.5s
15. Adrian SutilGermanyForce India-Mercedes +01m 11.9s
16. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 20.2s
17. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota +01m 30.9s
18. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +1 lap
Rtd Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 34 laps completed
Rtd Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 18 laps completed
Fastest lap:
Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 33.365s lap 49
F1 DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP (after round 9 of 17)
POSITION / DRIVER / TEAM / POINTS1 / Jenson Button / Brawn GP Formula One Team / 68
2 / Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull Racing / 47
3 / Mark Webber / Red Bull Racing / 45.5
4 / Rubens Barrichello / Brawn GP Formula One Team / 44
5 / Felipe Massa / Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro / 22
6 / Jarno Trulli / Panasonic Toyota Racing / 21.5
7 / Nico Rosberg / AT&T Williams / 20.5
8 / Timo Glock / Panasonic Toyota Racing / 13
= / Fernando Alonso / ING Renault F1 Team / 13
10 / Kimi Raikkonen / Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro / 10
11 / Lewis Hamilton / Vodafone McLaren Mercedes / 9
12 / Nick Heidfeld / BMW Sauber F1 Team / 6
13 / Heikki Kovalainen / Vodafone McLaren Mercedes / 5
14 / Sébastien Buemi / Scuderia Toro Rosso / 3
15 / Robert Kubica / BMW Sauber F1 Team / 2
= / Sébastien Bourdais / Scuderia Toro Rosso / 2
17 / Nelson Piquet Jr / ING Renault F1 Team / 0
= / Kazuki Nakajima / AT&T Williams / 0
= / Adrian Sutil / Force India F1 Team / 0
= / Giancarlo Fisichella / Force India F1 Team / 0
F1 CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP (after round 9 of 17)
POSITION / TEAM / POINTS1 / Brawn GP Formula One Team / 112
2 / Red Bull Racing / 92.5
3 / Panasonic Toyota Racing / 34.5
4 / Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro / 32
5 / AT&T Williams / 20.5
6 / Vodafone McLaren Mercedes / 14
7 / ING Renault F1 Team / 13
8 / BMW Sauber F1 Team / 8
9 / Scuderia Toro Rosso / 5
10 / Force India F1 Team / 0
(ends)
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Release Number: Ferrari_393
Date of Issue: 28 November 2018. Time of Issue: 23:53:50