German GP: Alonso exceptional entertainer

The rain that could have helped the Scuderia Ferrari drivers to go beyond the level of competitiveness offered by their car, cruelly arrived immediately after the end of the German Grand Prix, in which Fernando Alonso finished in fifth position, while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen brought his F14 T to the finish line just outside the points, in eleventh place. In an absolute sense it is certainly not something astonishing, but Fernando once again proved to be one of the main actors in what was one of the most exciting races of the season. Two weeks ago, in the British Grand Prix, the Spaniard fought wheel-to-wheel with Sebastian Vettel; here, after a brief rematch in which the German once again prevailed, the thrilling duel took place with the other Red Bull driver, Daniel Ricciardo, with whom the Scuderia Ferrari standard-bearer battled for several laps, thrilling the audience in the stands and the viewers at home. At the end of the battle, Alonso managed to get the upper hand, taking fifth position with a handful of laps to go. Kimi, on the other hand, experienced a less pleasant day, despite a good start and some overtaking conducted with great aggression. Things got complicated for the Finn after the initial stint, also due to damage to the front wing.
There are several other similarities with the race a fortnight ago at Silverstone: meanwhile a Mercedes won, this time it was Nico Rosberg's, then the Safety Car had to come in due to an accident involving Felipe Massa, who this time overturned after contact with Kevin Magnussen at the first corner; finally there was second place for Valtteri Bottas, a great consolation for the Williams team, who did well in the final laps to defend themselves from the attacks of Lewis Hamilton who, with his Mercedes, recovered from the back of the grid to be last in the field trio on the podium.

At the start, the track temperature was more than twenty degrees lower than during qualifying on Saturday. The Safety Car had to come in immediately after Massa and Magnussen came into contact at the first corner and the Williams ended up overturning on the run-off area. At that point, Fernando had gained three positions, rising from seventh to fourth place while Kimi had recovered from twelfth to ninth. Up front, Rosberg had held the lead after starting from pole position and was ahead of Bottas and Vettel, who did well to climb from sixth to third place. Between Fernando and Kimi were Nico Hulkenberg, Jenson Button, Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez.

Kimi, on lap 11, had to helplessly suffer Daniel Ricciardo's overtaking but fought wheel to wheel with Hamilton. On the following lap Fernando was the first top driver to return to the garage to change tyres, switching from a set of Supersoft to one of Soft. In the fight with Lewis, Kimi came into contact with the Englishman's Mercedes and a small piece of the front wing blew off his F14 T.

On lap 15 spectators could instead witness an incredible battle for fourth place, with the Ferraris wheel to wheel between them. Kimi, who had yet to stop after starting on the hardest compound available, ended up in the middle of the fight between Fernando and Vettel, and the three cars arrived at the braking point at the hairpin coming into contact with each other. At this juncture, Kimi's front wing was further damaged and as a consequence the Finn began having problems managing the tyres. Sebastian Vettel emerged victorious from the three-way battle.

On lap 25 Kimi overtook Jean Eric Vergne and returned to the points and shortly afterwards also took ninth place at the expense of Magnussen. Raikkonen moved up to eighth place on lap 31, taking advantage of Jenson Button's pit stop. Even at the second pit stop Fernando returned before Vettel in an attempt to get out in front of him. The German stopped immediately afterwards and managed to stay ahead of the Spaniard from Scuderia Ferrari. Except that Vettel's tires were not yet up to temperature and so, by locking the wheels, Alonso managed to overtake the Red Bull after the hairpin. Kimi, for his part, returned a little earlier than expected to fit more Soft tires after complaining about the efficiency of the set mounted on his F14 T.

With eleven laps to go Fernando returned to mount another set of Supersofts with which to reach the finish line, returning seventh. The Spaniard quickly got rid of Button and launched himself in pursuit of Ricciardo, who he caught up on lap 60. At that point the two put on a great show, battling wheel to wheel for several laps. With five to go, Fernando managed to get the better of him and reached the finish line in fifth place.