FORMULA 1 - 2012

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Heikki Kovalainen wants to see stronger results from Caterham as weighs up 2013 F1 options

Heikki Kovalainen has suggested Caterham will need to start posting stronger results if he is to stay with the team after his current contract expires.

The Finn is tied to the team until the end of the season, but has previously admitted he is yet to sort out his future.

Caterham has failed to deliver the kind of results it expected ahead of the start of the 2012 season, having targetted a move into the midfield.

And Kovalainen told Autosprint magazine in an interview that he needs to see some progress soon.

"Good question," he said when asked what he wanted to do in the future. "I feel good here but I would like to do more results-wise, and soon. At the moment we aren't there yet.

"I don't know what the future holds for me, perhaps my current team doesn't even want me anymore... I let my results do the talking, and up to now they seem fairly good to me. That's the best way to present myself."

The Finn, who turns 31 in October, is convinced he still has much to offer in terms of performance, and is happy people are seeing him as a strong driver despite the lack of results.

"I still have plenty of racing in my blood. I feel I haven't given everything yet, also because things didn't go well at McLaren and I still need to demonstrate something. I'm not even interested in what position I am, what's important is that there are people realising I can do better than 16th or 17th."

Kovalainen made it clear he is only interested in securing a competitive drive and is relatively unconcerned with financial motivations.

"Money is the thing that interests me the least, really," he said. "The important thing is to find a good team, here or elsewhere. Now I think I'm able to do that."

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HAMILTON REGRETS LACK OF SUCCESS BUT GETS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE FROM ALONSO:

Lewis Hamilton will start his 100th Grand Prix on Sunday, but as he revealed in media briefings on the eve of practice, he has mixed feelings about his lack of success in the last few years. Nevertheless, his former team mate Fernando Alonso, who has described himself as being in the form of his life, gave the Englishman a thumbs up, saying that he is the driver he considers his greatest rival.

“Why do I talk about Hamilton when McLaren has been in crisis for a few races?” said the Spaniard, “Because he always manages to get something extra from the car, even when he looks like he’s in trouble. And then McLaren is always a team that, even when they take a step backwards, can always take two steps forward.”

Hamilton has 18 wins on the board in his 99 races to date, of which 50% came in the first two seasons when he battled Alonso in 2007 and then won the title the year after. In the four seasons that have followed the wins have come in fits and starts as Red Bull moved into a dominant position in the sport.

It would have been hard to believe, back in 2007/8 that one would talk about Hamilton’s career not fulfilling its potential, but that is the risk he runs as he reaches both a milestone and a crossroads.

Asked in Hockenheim on Thursday whether he could have achieved more since those first two seasons, the 27 year old said. “Yes. I can’t deny it, putting aside the fact that I’m very proud and grateful that I’ve had the chance to be competitive in a competitive car.

“But if I didn’t feel that, I wouldn’t be the driver that I am.”

“Every year, I feel like I’ve prepared myself and had the mental ability and skill to have won more but, just with the circumstances, we haven’t been able to do so. It’s been a tough 10 or 15 years for this team.

“I’m waiting for that time when they have their highest point. I hope at some stage it’s our turn.”

When Alonso signed for McLaren in late 2005 for a 2007 move he did so reasoning that the team is “always there or thereabouts”.

Hamilton’s last four seasons have seen him finish fifth twice and fourth also twice in the drivers’ standings.

He races on Sunday in his 100th Grand Prix at a career crossroads; respected by his peers as one of he most talented among them, but with the path forward for the next six years of his career not clear.

If Sebastian Vettel does move away from Red Bull he is the obvious man to replace him, but that situation is so clouded in mystery, it’s hard to know what may or may not be the outcome.

A renewal of his McLaren contract seems likely, but perhaps with performance clauses should he find that team is not able to rediscover those peaks.

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FERNANDO ALONSO PLAYS HIS CARDS RIGHT FOR POLE POSITION FOR GERMAN GRAND PRIX:

Fernando Alonso will start on pole for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim after another rain affected qualifying session; another day for making the right decisions and being on the track at the right moment.

It was Alonso’s 22nd career pole and his second in a row after Silverstone, as he looks to consolidate his position at the top of the drivers’ world championship.

Sebastian Vettel was second and Mark Webber third. The final stages of qualifying were all about timing and tyre temperature and Alonso got it spot on, setting two fast laps as others struggled to get on his pace. He had done a pit stop for a new set of full wets just prior to his final run and it made the difference, a strategic decision which he and Ferrari were delighted with.

“It has been a strange weekend for conditions on the track,” said Alonso. “The forecast should be a little bit better for tomorrow, so we are quite optimistic.”

Meanwhile there are 5 place gearbox change penalties for Grosjean, Webber and Rosberg. Webber’s penalty means that Schumacher will start 3rd with Nico Hulkenberg fourth and Pastor Maldonado fifth. Schumacher said, “We cannot look ahead, we have to look behind us. It will be a tough race.”

Heavy rain started falling during Q2, as it had at Silverstone two weeks ago, but not so bad that the session needed suspending at that point, as it had in Great Britain.

The track was dry for the start of Q1 and Alonso was quickly into the groove, with the updated McLarens of Hamilton and Button also quick out of the traps.

Most of the front runners started with the medium tyres, but those who needed a second run went for the soft tyre on the whole. Raikkonen, Rosberg and Schumacher were the exceptions using mediums. Raikkonen set the fastest time.

Hamilton and Button got through Q1 with only one run, showing some confidence at this stage.

Schumacher just squeaked through in 17th place, eliminating Vergne once again.

Rain was forecast for half way through the session and it duly fell before Q2 started.

Button went straight out on intermediates, hoping that the first laps on the track before it got too wet would be the fastest.

As the rain came down more heavily, Hamilton set the fastest time from Schumacher, Vettel and Alonso. Rosberg was the first to switch from intermediates to full wets, followed by Hulkenberg. Webber improved to P7 with seven minutes to go, showing it was still possible, but the conditions were too bad to improve in the closing minutes.

This put Ricciardo, Perez, Kobayashi, Massa, Grosjean, Senna and Rosberg out. Rosberg said that he had been unable to get temperature into the tyres, despite two runs.

Q3 started on time, with everyone going out on full wets, but Hulkenberg showed that aquaplaning was a real problem, with a high speed 360 degree spin, luckily he didn’t hit anything.

Schumacher said on radio that it would be very tough to “survive” the session. A message from Vettel, meanwhile, seemed to suggest frustration that Webber had not let him through.

The margins in the final stage of qualifying were large; 1.78 seconds between the pole and P4. Alonso timed it perfectly at the end, getting the temperature into the wet tyres and setting two laps faster than his rivals in the closing stages.

McLaren’s updates looked like they had made a real difference for the dry conditions, but weren’t able to impact much on their performance in the wet and they qualified 7th with Button and 8th with Hamilton. Hamilton said that he didn’t have enough grip in the wet, indicating that tyres and temperature were likely to blame.

GERMAN GRAND PRIX, Hockenheim, Qualifying

1. Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1m40.621s

2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1m41.026s

3. Mark Webber Red Bull 1m41.496s

4. Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1m42.459s

5. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1m43.501s

6. Pastor Maldonado Williams 1m43.950s

7. Jenson Button McLaren 1m44.113s

8. Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m44.186s

9. Paul di Resta Force India 1m44.889s

10. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault 1m45.811s

11. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1m39.789s + 2.424

12. Sergio Perez Sauber 1m39.933s + 2.568

13. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1m39.985s + 2.620

14. Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m40.212s + 2.847

15. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1m40.574s + 3.209

16. Bruno Senna Williams 1m40.752s + 3.387

17. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1m41.551s + 4.186

18. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1m16.741s + 1.048

19. Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1m17.620s + 1.927

20. Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1m18.531s + 2.838

21. Charles Pic Marussia 1m19.220s + 3.527

22. Timo Glock Marussia 1m19.291s + 3.598

23. Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1m19.912s + 4.219

24. Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1m20.230s + 4.537

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Webber and Grosjean handed grid penalties

Mark Webber and Romain Grosjean's hopes of securing pole position have been dashed, as both will start the race five places lower than they qualify after taking gearbox change penalties.

Red Bull and Lotus have opted to change the pair's units after discovering issues with them following practice.

It brings the total grid penalty tally for the German GP to three after Mercedes opted to

change Nico Rosberg's gearbox on Friday.

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Perez penalised for impeding

Sergio Perez became the fourth driver to be penalised in Germany after being found guilty of impeding his rivals in Q2.

The Sauber driver qualified in 12th place for Sunday's 67-lap German GP at Hockenheim, revealing he was disappointed with his result as he was caught out in traffic.

"It is such a shame," said the Mexican.

"It looked really promising for us until the rain set in. After I changed to soft tyres I ended up second fastest in Q1.

"Then we went out late on intermediates in Q2 and I was stuck in traffic. I had cars in front of me, but could not back off as there were some behind me as well."

But while Perez felt he was caught out, the stewards believed he was the one catching others out and slapped him a five-place penalty for impeding Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso.

A statement from the stewards said the penalty was "imposed due to the driver being involved in two similar offences in the same session."

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Schumi: A nice place to start

Michael Schumacher says his second row grid slot for Sunday's German GP was better than he had expected.

The seven-time World Champion, who has won his home grand prix on four occasions, qualified fourth for Sunday's 67-lap race.

However, Mark Webber's gearbox penalty means Schumacher will be elevated to third, sandwiched between fellow Germans Sebastian Vettel and Nico Hulkenberg.

"That's certainly a nice way to start the German Grand Prix," said the 43-year-old.

"We had been expecting a position between fifth and seventh on the grid, so fourth in qualifying, which will become third place on the grid, is even better.

"Naturally I'm particularly happy for all the Mercedes colleagues in the grandstands: they support us throughout the year and we wanted to give something back to them.

"In any case, we can be satisfied with this result. Perhaps it would have been even better to change to a new set of tyres right at the end, but I don't think we could have done much more today."

The German is now looking ahead to Sunday's grand prix and the possibility of a fifth German GP victory.

"Now we have to focus completely on tomorrow's race," he said. "We know that it should be dry tomorrow and we should be more competitive here than we were in Silverstone."

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Raikkonen baffled by lack of wet pace

Kimi Raikkonen is hoping for a dry German GP after lacking pace in the rain in Saturday's qualifying.

Down in tenth position in Q3 and with time running out, Raikkonen opted to pit for a fresh set of extreme weather tyres in a bid to improve his time.

However, even with the new rubber, the Lotus driver says he lacked grip and ultimately speed.

"We weren't fast in the wet today for some reason and we need to look at why that was," said the 2007 World Champion.

"I wasn't able to get any grip from the tyres, even when we tried a fresh set of wets halfway through the final qualifying session."

Qualifying in tenth place, 5.190s off the pace, the Finn is hoping for a dry afternoon come Sunday's German GP.

"In the dry the car is very good and in the races our car usually has strong pace.

"Let's hope for some dry weather tomorrow and see what happens."

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Mercedes says tyre temperature issues caused Nico Rosberg's German Grand Prix qualifying struggles

Ross Brawn blamed Nico Rosberg's struggles to get temperature into intermediate rubber for the German's poor qualifying performance at Hockenheim.

Rosberg was slowest in Q2 after failing to set a quick time on intermediate rubber. By the time he made a second attempt on wets, conditions were too bad to manage a time anywhere near the top 10. Rosberg will also take a five-place penalty for a gearbox change after a problem on Friday.

Brawn pointed out that while Michael Schumacher, who was fourth fastest in qualifying, was happy with the tyres in those conditions, Rosberg was not.

"Rather peculiarly, Nico was pretty happy with his dry tyre performance and not the wet and Michael was vice versa," said Brawn. "Nico was the fastest on the prime tyre, but struggled to get the temperature into the intermediate for Q2. Michael was the opposite.

"With Nico, we missed the window when the intermediates worked. There was no way we were going to be able to run around on the intermediate in the second half of Q2 as it would just be too wet.

"The frustration was that we didn't manage to get the tyres working well in the first half of Q2. If we didn't get the tyres working in the first half of Q2, we suffered. And we weren't alone in suffering.

"It wasn't a mistake as such but it was a problem that we didn't get the intermediates that Nico went out on up to temperature. Michael was able to do that and the difference in laptime between them was down to that."

Rosberg admitted that he struggled on his set of intermediates, even though he has no doubts that on warm tyres he would have been able to match Schumacher's pace.

"If I had intermediates [up to temperature] on my car then I could do that time too," he said. "On the set that I had, it was just not working. There was no warm-up and I was sliding all over the place."

Despite Rosberg's gearbox problem, Brawn has no doubts that the Mercedes unit will be reliable from now on.

The team introduced a carbon fibre gearbox casing at the Spanish Grand Prix in May and changes have been made to prevent a repeat of the problem.

"It was introduced at Barcelona and Michael and Nico both ran their first five-race cycle with that box," said Brawn. "When we investigated Nico's box we found that there was a dis-bond within the gearbox itself but we don't know what caused it.

"We've got some reinforcement in that area and we don't expect a problem."

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FERNANDO ALONSO WINS THE GERMAN GRAND PRIX AS RED BULL COURTS CONTROVERSY:

Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix from pole position, his third win of the season and another stunning drive under intense pressure by the Spaniard, who increased his lead in the drivers’ championship to 34 points.

It was the 30th win of Alonso’s F1 career, one less than Nigel Mansell and his second consecutive win at Hockenheim, following on from his controversial win in 2010.

Sebastian Vettel finished second on the road, his 40th podium in F1, with Jenson Button third, but afterwards Vettel was given a 20 second penalty by the stewards for passing Button by going off track with all four wheels. This dropped him to fifth place and promoted Raikkonen to the podium.

There was plenty of controversy as earlier Hamilton had repassed Vettel, when he had just been lapped by the world champion.

The situation around the Vettel pass on Button recalled Alonso’s move on Robert Kubica at Silverstone two years ago, where he went all four wheels off the track to pass and at that race the FIA Race Director ordered him to give the place back, which he could not do as Kubica pitted, so the stewards penalised him with a drive through penalty.

Button had got ahead of Vettel thanks to the fastest ever F1 pit stop at 2.31 seconds, which gave Button the chance to jump Vettel at the second stops.

Kimi Raikkonen got another good result in fourth with Kamui Kobayashi a candidate for driver of the day with a stunning drive from 12th on the grid to finish 5th for Sauber, ahead of team mate Perez.

It was a tense race, with the top three cars separated by less than 2.5 seconds after 60 laps of racing.

Button made a small mistake early in the final stint, flat spotting a tyre, which may have contributed to his problems at the end.

There was drama before the race; FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer had brought the Renault engines used by Red Bull to the attention of the stewards, claiming that the torque levels were not consistent with other races. The implication is that by changing the engine map the team had been achieving hot blowing of air to the diffuser. But just over an hour before the race the stewards issued a statement saying that, while they did not accept all of Red Bull’s explanations, they would take no further action as there was no specific wording for the rules around this area and that therefore the two Red Bull cars would be allowed to start the race in their normal position. However the wording of the statement hinted that this would be an area which would be closed in the near future.

At the start all the front runners went with the soft tyre, with Vergne, Rosberg, Pic and Glock on mediums.

Alonso got a good start to lead, while Schumacher attacked Vettel on the opening lap. Jenson Button gained a place to fifth, while Massa, Grosjean and Senna pitted at the end of lap 1 after contact damage. All switched to medium tyres to gain data for their team mates and to play a long stint strategy.

Hamilton had a poor start and ran into trouble with a puncture on the left rear tyre on lap 3, there was a lot of debris in Turn 1 from first corner tangles. It was a long slow lap into the pits for Hamilton.

He radioed in that he felt they should retire but they sent him back out with a new set of medium tyres, 64 seconds behind the the race leader.

Vettel harried Alonso in the opening stint, within the DRS detection zone of under one second.

Button passed Hulkenberg for fourth place on lap eight, closing quickly on Schumacher in third. He needed to pass him quickly to stay in touch with the leading pair.

He passed him straight away using DRS on lap 11.

Perez had had a strong opening stint and was up to 5th place by lap 14 after the first cars started to make stops. This netted him an 8th place after his own stop.

Some went with medium tyres, like Webber and Hulkenberg, while Schumacher and Raikkonen went with softs.

Both of them passed Hulkenberg in one move on lap 16 as the Force India driver struggled on the medium tyre.

Meanwhile Rosberg and Hamilton were lapping quickly on the medium tyre not having changed it since the start.

Alonso pitted for medium tyres on lap 18, having had data on them from Massa’s first stint.

Button stopped a lap later, also taking the medium tyres, as did Vettel, who not only lost time to Alonso by staying out the extra laps, but who came out behind Kobayashi. He managed to pass him quickly, however.

There was a superb battle between Raikkonen and Schumacher over fifth place, the Finn passed him and then drove away from Schumacher, on the same pace as leaders, 12 secs behind as the race approached half distance.

Alonso was not as fast on the medium tyre as Vettel and Button, who closed up on him.

By lap 29 Vettel was back within the DRS detection zone and Vettel closed right up as they came up to lap Hamilton.

On lap 34 the leaders lapped Hamilton but Vettel made a mistake and Hamilton reposed him, to Vettel’s disgust. This allowed Alonso to open a gap of over 2 seconds on Vettel and Button to close on Vettel.

Hamilton on fresher tyres had the pace to uncap himself on Alonso but sat behind him, apparently not wanting to influence the lead battle further.

Button pitted on lap 41, again choosing the medium tyres, as did Webber. Alonso came in on lap 42 with Vettel, who came out behind Button.

McLaren’s faster stop and Button’s out lap had made the difference. Now he set off after Alonso.

But in pushing hard, he flat spotted his right front tyre on lap 44. It didn’t seem to slow him down much, as he stayed within a second of the Ferrari, while Vettel dropped to two seconds behind.

Vettel pushed a bit too hard and on lap 53 ran wide at Turn 1, losing 8/10ths of a second in the process.

Schumacher’s 3rd stop put Kobayashi fifth, the Japanese driver proving very effective on a medium/medium/soft strategy, with a long first stint.

With four laps to go Button’s tyres began to show signs of losing performance, he had been the first of the three leaders to pit for the second time.

Vettel passed him, but went off track with all four wheels in the process, which Button complained about over the radio. The team indicated that the FIA were aware of it and the stewards did the right thing by giving Vettel a 20 second penalty.

“The rules state that you can’t go off the track to gain an advantage,” said Button. “The thing is, there would have been more opportunities for him before the end of the race as my rear tyres were damaged. That’s because I had to push hard to try and catch Fernando [Alonso], which meant I had nothing left for the end of the race. We pretty much ran out of rubber two laps before the chequer.

Vettel accepted the stewards decision, which drops him a further eight points behind Alonso in the championship, but said, “It was a difficult one, I didn’t know if he was on the inside or not,” said Vettel. “The last thing you want is contact. I can’t see him from the side of the car so I tried to give enough room and went wide. We were all struggling with our tyres and I think that was the case for Jenson and that’s why I passed him.”

“I was thinking he was still there and I didn’t want to close too early. I wanted to leave some space. The last thing you want at the end is to crash. So I decided to go off the circuit to make it safe. He had no traction but even on the slippery paint I was able to pass.”

GERMAN GRAND PRIX, Hockenheim, 67 lap

1. Alonso Ferrari 1h31:05.862

2. Button McLaren + 6.949

3. Raikkonen Lotus + 16.409

4. Kobayashi Sauber + 21.925

5. Vettel Red Bull + 23.732 (after 20 sec penalty added)

6. Perez Sauber + 27.896

7. Schumacher Mercedes + 28.960

8. Webber Red Bull + 46.900

9. Hulkenberg Force India + 48.100

10. Rosberg Mercedes + 48.800

11. Di Resta Force India + 59.200

12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso + 1:11.400

13. Massa Ferrari + 1:16.800

14. Vergne Toro Rosso + 1:16.900

15. Maldonado Williams + 1 lap

16. Petrov Caterham + 1 lap

17. Senna Williams + 1 lap

18. Grosjean Lotus + 1 lap

19. Kovalainen Caterham + 2 laps

20. Pic Marussia + 2 laps

21. De la Rosa HRT + 3 laps

22. Glock Marussia + 3 laps

23. Karthikeyan HRT + 3 laps

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THE RED BULL RENAULT ENGINE MAP CONTROVERSY:

F1 technicians are always in search of detailed innovations, which will give a competitive edge over their rivals, especially where the rules are not clearly worded.

At Hockenheim this weekend at the German Grand Prix, we saw an episode where an innovation from Red Bull and its engine partner Renault was allowed through because it was not covered by the rules, so even though the FIA’s own technical delegate Jo Bauer, felt he had found something in the engine mapping which was not allowed, when he referred it to the race stewards on Sunday they felt they had no choice but to let Red Bull race with it.

The Stewards’ statement said, “While the stewards do not accept all the arguments of the team, they however conclude that as the regulation is written, the map presented does not breach the text of Art 5.5.3 of the Formula 1 Technical Regulations and therefore decided to take no action.”

The F1 Technical Working group is meeting today in London and this will be on the agenda. In all probability the FIA will follow up this week with a rule clarification (known as a Technical Directive), which will outlaw the Red Bull/Renault idea before next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, but it certainly served its purpose in Germany.

The idea was to use engine mapping to cut the torque at medium revs, which would certainly have helped with driveability in the wet conditions of practice and qualifying in Germany and would also have an aerodynamic benefit in slow corners; some of the fuel/air mixture finds its way into the exhausts to create post combustion – which blows hot exhaust gas under pressure down through the diffuser to create rear end downforce.

It’s very clever and shows the lengths teams will go to to find extra downforce. Bauer felt it was illegal because the rules say the connection between the opening of the throttle and the torque demand on the engine should be linear and in his view Red Bull was introducing a deviation in that process. Bauer had observed that the torque demand was less than at other recent races.

The rule that he felt Red Bull and Renault were trying to get around is new for this year and is designed to outlaw the practice of engines blowing exhaust gas into the diffuser even when the driver’s foot is off the throttle in a corner.

Engine maps are one of the dark arts of F1. Teams have various maps, controlled from the steering wheel by the driver; settings for fuel saving in the race, for example, for overtaking, or for setting the engine at the pit lane speed limit.

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Schumi: We didn't have that extra bit

Michael Schumacher has lamented Mercedes' inability to find that "bit extra" to finish sixth at the German Grand Prix.

The seven-time World Champion started his home race at Hockenheim in P3, but he quickly slipped back and eventually crossed the finish line in seventh place. The German made a late third stop in an attempt to catch Sauber's Sergio Perez in P6, but he couldn't manage to pull it off.

Schumacher admits it was disappointing to go backwards at the start, but then went all cryptic about some "interesting happenings in the future".

"It was busy but in the wrong way. We did not have the bit extra to get Sergio Perez under pressure and start overtaking," he told BBC Sport.

"It wasn't qualifying I had to save fuel at certain moments. We take the result and see what happens in future. I think we might see some interesting happenings in the future that does not concern just one car but several cars. It will be interesting."

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Vettel: Hamilton battle was 'stupid'

Sebastian Vettel has hit out at Lewis Hamilton, saying his determination to unlap himself was "stupid" and that he should use some "common sense."

Battling with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button for the victory in Sunday's German Grand Prix, Vettel was just 0.7s behind the Ferrari driver.

However, instead of it being Button right behind him, it was Hamilton, who had been lapped after a puncture in the opening laps dropped him down the order.

The McLaren driver, though, had good pace and used it to unlap himself, passing Vettel, which cost the Red Bull driver time.

"That was not nice of Lewis. I don't see why he was racing us," said Vettel.

"If he wants to go fast he should drop back and find a gap. It was stupid as he was a lap down.

"If you want to go quick and you have no chance to win the race you should respect that and use common sense.

"I didn't expect him to attack because I didn't see the point, and then I was surprised when he was side by side."

The reigning World Champ blamed Hamilton's move for his subsequent failure to hold onto second place through the second round of pit stops.

"I think that lost us the place to Button because shortly after that we pitted."

Vettel fought back on the penultimate lap, taking second off Button for which he is now being investigated.

The German, though, was not the only driver who Hamilton dogged in an attempt to unlap himself. He did the same with eventual race winner Fernando Alonso.

However, the Ferrari driver was not unhappy as he saw it as a buffer between himself and Vettel.

"I knew that if Lewis was close enough with the DRS and trying to overtake, I had no problem to leave the space," said Alonso. "I knew he was not in the race. We didn't want to risk anything.

"For me it was a good position to have Hamilton between me and Sebastian.

"Having Hamilton there it meant Sebastian was 2.5s behind approaching the pit stop, so I tried to keep Lewis there."

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Hamilton: Shows Vettel's maturity

Lewis Hamilton has hit back at Sebastian Vettel for calling him "stupid", saying his behaviour "shows his maturity."

Racing Fernando Alonso for the lead in Sunday's German GP and trying to keep Jenson Button at bay, Vettel found himself just ahead of Hamilton out on track after the McLaren driver emerged from his second pit stop.

Hamilton, though, was a lap down on the leaders due to a puncture early in the grand prix.

Having better pace than Vettel at the time, the Brit set about unlapping him off the German.

Vettel was not happy with the situation and was seen angrily waving his fist as Hamilton went by.

Later he had a few words to say about it as well.

"That was not nice of Lewis. I don't see why he was racing us," said the 25-year-old.

"If he wants to go fast he should drop back and find a gap. It was stupid as he was a lap down.

"If you want to go quick and you have no chance to win the race you should respect that and use common sense."

Hamilton, though, wasn't too impressed with the German's comments, saying he made the move in a bid not to hamper Button as he closed in on Vettel.

"It doesn't really bother me what he says," Hamilton told the Daily Mirror. "I guess it shows his maturity.

"I don't think I've made any silly decisions throughout the race. I had nothing to gain apart from staying out of the way of my team-mate.

"I never give up, so I'm not going to back off and let everyone past me when I've got the pace to go past the guy in front."

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Kimi 'pretty pleased' but wants first win

Kimi Raikkonen says his podium finish at Hockenheim was the best he could have asked for given his tenth place starting position.

Struggling in the wet in Saturday's qualifying, Raikkonen lacked the pace needed to fight for a top grid slot, finishing down in 10th place.

However, the Lotus driver had better pace in the dry on Sunday and worked his way up to fourth at the end of the 67-lap grand prix.

He was later elevated to third when Sebastian Vettel was hit with a 20second penalty for an illegal overtaking move.

"It's nice to have another podium, but obviously we would rather get it on the track," said Raikkonen.

"Having said that I think we did the best we could from the position we started.

"Maybe if we had found a bit more pace in the wet (qualifying) we could have started higher, avoided the traffic and pushed the leaders, but it is what it is.

"We were hoping for a bit better, but the car worked well all through the race and we still brought home some good points for the team so there are some positives to take to the next race."

But while Raikkonen was happy with his race result, the Finn - who is fourth in the Drivers' Championship on 98 points - is still wanting the first victory of his comeback season.

"If you had told me in January that we would be fourth halfway through the season, I think I would have been pretty pleased.

"It's not a bad place to be, but I think we have a car good enough to have scored more points.

"I want to win and the whole team is pushing hard to make it happen, so let's see what we can do in the second half of the season..."

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Button: No-one quicker than McLaren

Jenson Button believes McLaren are back in the hunt for title glory after challenging for the win in Sunday's German Grand Prix.

The 2009 Champion climbed from sixth on the grid to challenge race-winner Fernando Alonso of Ferrari for the lead before having to settle for third after being controversially passed by Sebastian Vettel.

However, the Brit later moved up to second after the FIA found the German's move to have been illegal and handed him a 20-second penalty.

Button, 32, who has struggled for pace in recent races, was boosted by the improved performance of his McLaren car and believes the Woking-based team are now in a position to start winning races.

"I am happy that we have done a good job and we have good pace. There is no-one quicker than us at the moment and we can fight for the win in the next few races," said Button.

"I have had some difficult races earlier in the year but in the last two I have felt confident in myself and the team, but we weren't quick enough, so to come here and fight at the front for the victory was a very special feeling.

He added: "We need a little bit more, as we always do, but you'd say we are in the mix and if we can sort out qualifying then we've got a really good chance of winning races at the moment."

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Alonso: Points lead means nothing

Fernando Alonso reckons his lead in the Championship "means nothing" as there is still half a season to be run.

The Ferrari driver extended his lead in the Drivers' standings to 34 points over Mark Webber with his third victory of the season in Germany.

However, the Spaniard concedes there's still a long way to go before the title is decided.

"We are very happy with the points we have achieved in the first half, but it means nothing because there are still another 10 races in which we need to improve the car," he said.

"We need to be consistent, to keep finishing all the races.

"One or two drivers always don't finish because of a mechanical problem or incident or something, so we need to avoid these problems."

One problem Ferrari have already avoided is the tragically slow car that they started the season with.

Since debuting a revised their F2012 at the Spanish GP, Alonso has claimed two victories, an additional three podium finishes and a worst result of P5.

However, even with those impressive results, the double World Champion says Ferrari were not sure what to expect at Hockenheim.

"Before coming here we were not sure about the performance of the car," said Alonso.

"It's true we were okay in Valencia. Red Bull were quicker than anybody there, but we took advantage of the mechanical problem Sebastian (Vettel) had and we won the race.

"In Silverstone we were okay in wet conditions, but a bit slower than Red Bull in dry conditions. Mark (Webber) won the race and he deserved it because he was the quickest.

"We set pole in wet conditions again, which seems to suit our car, but in the dry, we again saw we are still not the quickest.

"Sebastian and Jenson (button) put a lot of pressure on us, also (Lewis) Hamilton was extremely quick, but he had some problems.

"At halfway through the season we have made a very good recovery when you think of where we started in the Jerez test where we were maybe two seconds off the pace."

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Sauber celebrate double top-six finish

Sauber celebrated a double top-six finish at the German Grand Prix on Sunday to the delight of team owner Peter Sauber who congratulated the entire team.

"I think it's fair to say this performance was outstanding and it was rewarded by 18 championship points," said the Swiss. "Congratulations to the drivers, who both did an excellent job, and thank you to the whole team."

Kamui Kobayashi secured his best finish ever, fourth, after Sebastian Vettel was

handed a 20-second time penalty post-race and therefore Sauber take home 20 points.

"I am very happy for the team that we have managed to get a good result again," said Kobayashi.

"We have been unlucky in the two most recent races and also had a bad qualifying yesterday. The performance of our car, especially in the dry, is really strong. If we only had qualified better we could have achieved even more today."

Sergio Perez managed to come from 16th on the grid to finally finish 6th, taking home eight points.

"I am so pleased for all of us that we have recovered after we had such a bad qualifying. The team did a great job today and this will give us a good boost for next week's race in Budapest."

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TOTO WOLFF INCREASES HIS INFLUENCE AT WILLIAMS F1 TEAM:

Toto Wolff has increased his influence over the Williams F1 team by stepping up to an executive position on the board.

The Austrian, who has been a minority shareholder of the company since 2009, will “assist” Sir Frank Williams in his role as team principal.

Clearly over time he has come to gain Williams’ trust and as the company changes, with Patrick Head retiring and anointed successor Adam Parr being moved on, Wolff will understudy Williams, who is now 70 years old. One of his tasks will be to find strong partners to take the team forwards. It is over-reliant on the money from Venezuelan oil company PDVSA at present.

It is very clear when you visit the Williams team’s motorhome, that Wolff is already a central figure. Together with his wife Susie, he works the room methodically and spends a lot of time with sponsors and prospective sponsors.

Parr was the CEO of the business until his departure earlier this year. An abrasive figure, it is believed that Bernie Ecclestone was keen not to have to deal with him any longer and with Wolff also expanding his influence, Williams changed course and parted ways with the Cambridge graduate, who he had anointed as his successor.

“Toto’s new role, working closely alongside myself, is about Williams looking forward and managing the successful running of the company, ” Williams, said. “I am looking forward to our new working relationship and I have every belief that this partnership will help take Williams F1 from strength to strength.”

Toto Wolff, said: “It’s a great honour for me to be assisting and supporting Sir Frank in his role as Team Principal at Williams. I have been a shareholder in the business since 2009 and I am really looking forward to being able to take my responsibilities to a new level. I know that together we will work tirelessly to make the Group and team as successful as it can be.”

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Massa: Alonso will need me

Felipe Massa believes Fernando Alonso will need his help to win this season's Drivers' Championship title.

After his third win of the season in Germany, Alonso is leading the standings on 154 points, 34 ahead of Mark Webber and a further ten in front of Sebastian Vettel.

However, Massa reckons if his team-mate is to hold off the chasing Red Bulls and the rest of the pack, he's going to need the Brazilian to take a few points off his rivals.

"Sure, Fernando needs me," Massa told Autosport. "In a Championship like this, it is very important to have both cars scoring points.

"This year it is so competitive between many drivers, many teams, so you know how important every result is. It is a Championship that maybe one point can be enough to win or lose."

And it's also a Championship that Massa says will go down to the wire.

"Every race will be important (in the Championship) from now until the last one.

"We need to keep working like we were doing in the last few races and improving the car, and then Fernando has even more chance to fight until the last race."

And despite failing to score a single point in Germany - his sixth point-less Sunday in just ten grands prix - the 31-year-old insists he's back in good form.

"I feel very good now. I would say after Monaco I feel very automatic driving the car, very competitive, and that is the most important thing.

"I was not feeling very good in the beginning of the season, but after the first races many things changed.

"It is easy (to deal with a bad race) when you have the pace. It is much harder if you are nowhere.

"But here we had a crash at the start and that was it. There was nothing wrong with the pace."

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Horner: Lewis was within the rules

Christian Horner concedes Lewis Hamilton was within the rules unlapping himself in Germany despite it earning him Sebastian Vettel's wrath.

Fighting for the victory in Sunday's German GP, Vettel was unnerved when Hamilton, who was a lap down but behind the Red Bull after his latest pit stop, overtook him to unlap himself.

The German waved angrily at the McLaren driver and later called the move "stupid", saying it lacked "common sense."

His team boss, however, admits Hamilton was within in his rights, although insists it did cost Vettel time.

"If you look at the rules, I don't think that there is anything to say that a car can't unlap itself," said Horner.

"It's frustrating that it cost us a second and it's unfortunate that he didn't unlap himself from Fernando as well.

"If it had cost Fernando a second as well, then it would have negated the disadvantage of being unlapped. But he was entitled to do it.

"We probably dropped about a second when Lewis unlapped himself, which was frustrating. But when you are fighting for hundredths and tenths of a second, that's the way it goes sometimes."

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Button hopes Alonso's luck turns

Jenson Button hopes Ferrari "get a little bit of bad luck" over the next few races to stop Fernando Alonso's title charge.

Alonso has opened a handy 34-point lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship after picking up 111 points from a possible 150 in the last six races.

Button, who got his campaign back on track with a second-place finish at Sunday's German Grand Prix, believes lady luck has certainly smiled down on Ferrari in recent times.

"Fernando has been phenomenal these last few races, he has done a great job," the McLaren driver said.

"But it could easily go so very wrong. If you have one bad race where you don't finish, you get to the next and think 'I have to get back up there', only for you or the team to make a mistake.

"I'm not saying Ferrari are going to make mistakes. I'm just saying you never know, that when it gets difficult, what can happen within a team.

"We just have to hope they do get a little bit of bad luck like we've had.

"At the moment you can't see it happening, but it could easily do so in the next race because Ferrari are not on their own.

"They have us and the Red Bulls who are competitive, and if we all do a good job that could mean him finishing fifth, or even worse with Lotus also in the mix.

"It could easily turn around for him, but at the moment, I must say he is doing a great job and he deserves to be where he is."

Button's P2 at Hockenheim ended a frustrating spell for him as it was the first time since the Chinese GP that he has managed to get on the podium.

"There is relief, but I now feel much happier and more confident going into the second half of the season," said Button.

"I know the results in Valencia and Silverstone were not good, but I felt in myself I was getting the best out of the car.

"Germany was another step again in the right direction, although the difference now is the car is working, and we've done a very good job with the upgrades.

"Whether future circuits suit us or not, who knows? We should just take this as a good result, a good step forward, and hopefully it will help us fight for the next few races."

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FIA looks to clarify engine rule

The FIA is reportedly trying to close the loophole on engine mapping before this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Red Bull were at the centre of yet another furore over technology after they were referred to the stewards at Hockenheim for a suspected breach of torque map regulations.

According to the FIA's Jo Bauer the Milton Keynes squad were "in breach of Article 5.5.3 of the 2012 F1 Technical Regulations as the engines are able to deliver more torque at a given engine speed in the mid rpm range".

However, they were cleared to race on the Sunday morning after the stewards found that "the map presented does not breach the text of Art 5.5.3 of the Formula 1 Technical Regulations and therefore decided to take no action".

Red Bull's team boss Christian Horner has since insisted that their RB8 is legal, but their rivals have urged the sport's governing body to clarify the regulations.

According to BBC Sport, that is exactly what the FIA is trying to do ahead of the race at the Hungaroring.

'It wants to ensure any rule change does not lead to other problems and no decision has yet been made on whether that will be possible,' the report said.

'It is unlikely there will be a decision before the end of Wednesday.'

The report added: 'If it succeeds, it will be a simple matter for Red Bull to switch back to an earlier map than the one they used in Germany.'

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'Not many options for Lewis or McLaren'

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh insists he is not "panicking" over the upcoming contract negotiations with Lewis Hamilton, saying there are not "that many options" for either party.

Hamilton's current contract with the Woking-based squad runs out at the end of the current season and both sides have indicated in recent weeks that they are willing extend the relationship with the 2008 World Champion admitting it would "feel very abnormal" to find himself driving for another team.

Whitmarsh says they confident of tying Hamilton down to a new contract during the upcoming summer break.

"Based on what I've been told and what I've observed, Lewis wants to stay with this team and McLaren very much wants Lewis to stay," he told the official Formula 1 website.

"Unless something rather surprising happens, we will get there. Maybe we are over-comfortable with each other, but we haven't had the urgency to resolve that contract issue, so we all said, 'Okay, let's sort it out in the break.' And we are only one week away from the break. I suspect that we can resolve it during that period and come back with clarity for the rest of the season."

One of the reasons why Hamilton is likely to extend his deal is the fact that his options are very limited when it comes to joining another top team.

Ferrari appear to be the only front-runner who are actively looking for a driver for 2013 as Red Bull have already re-signed Mark Webber while Mercedes are likely to hang onto Michael Schumacher for at least one more season.

"In truth there are not that many options for either of us," Whitmarsh added.

"It is not impossible for either of us, but I think we are a pretty good fit. We both want the same things, so rightly or wrongly, it is not a big panic issue for me."

Whitmarsh also dismissed suggestions that Hamilton and team-mate Jenson Button are too "cuddly" to spur each other on when it comes to on-track action.

"If we can get Jenson to qualify high up and he is on the same part of the race track as Lewis, I can assure you that you won't see any 'cuddliness'!" he said.

"We saw last year that they had contact a few times - dramatically so in Canada - and I don't like quite that much contact, but there is no doubt that they both desperately want to beat each other.

"If for whatever reason they are further apart, then it is quite easy to be 'cuddly'. But, for sure, Jenson wants to beat Lewis when he gets close to him at the track."

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Further upgrades for McLaren in Hungary

In their constant development push, McLaren will introduce a further upgrade package for the Hungarian Grand Prix following two considerable packages at the previous races.

The outfit struggled at the European GP and its home race at Silverstone despite a large upgrade, which couldn't be evaluated due to the wet weather.

However their latest package for the German GP turned their fortunes around as Jenson Button managed to come from sixth on the grid to finish second on pure pace.

McLaren's sporting director Sam Micheal revealed that more upgrades will be bolted onto the MP4-27 this weekend and at the Belgian GP.

"There are some more updates for Hungary," said Michael. "We will definitely be bringing parts there and then to Spa.

"For Monza, we will probably just have Monza-specific parts and then [a further upgrade] at Singapore. That's where we are at."

The former Williams technical director is certain that the team made a significant step forward last weekend and he's confident they'll be on the lead pace again.

"Without question, we made a big step at Hockenheim," he added. "We saw that in FP1 and FP3 in the dry and if we can get on top of our performance in the wet then we will have the complete article.

"We had competitive race pace and super-competitive qualifying pace if it was going to be dry.

"I'm sure that we can be really competitive [in Hungary]."

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Haug: 'Mercedes needs to find half a second'

Mercedes motorsport boss Norbert Haug says his outfit must find half a second if they're to catch the leading teams this season.

Mercedes won their first race at the Chinese Grand Prix in April but since then, they've dropped back and are now arguably the sixth fastest team behind Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus and Sauber.

Haug is under no illusions that the team must improve, but he says the season has been a mix of ups and downs.

"The verdict on the first half of our season would be: 'much achieved, much still to do'," said the German.

"We have been the pace-setters at a number of race weekends and Nico [Rosberg] scored the first win for our new Silver Arrow works team in China, while Michael [schumacher] set the fastest time in a prestigious qualifying session in Monaco and Nico then finished second in the race. Two races later, in Valencia, Michael also scored a podium finish.

"Our team has scored over one third more points than at the same time last season, in spite of Michael suffering a run of technical retirements.

"The last two races have shown that we currently lack around half a second a lap to the pace-setters," revealed Haug. "This is clear to all in the team and we'll be doing our maximum to develop the car further and close the gap."