World Champ fends off Lotus pair as Mercedes' tyre woes return
Sunday 7 July 2013 18:25, UK
Sebastian Vettel finally broke his July victory jinx to claim his first ever win at his home German GP after withstanding race-long pressure in a tense, and at times chaotic, race at the Nurburgring.
McLaren would love to even have such an outside chance of achieving such a feat this season but Button's fine drive to sixth, with Sergio Perez eighth, will surely lift spirits at the Woking team after two point-less races. Mark Webber, meanwhile, came home seventh in the second Red Bull after the most up-and-down of afternoons in which at one point he had been last and a lap down after a botched Red Bull pitstop had seen him drive off with his right-rear tyre not properly attached. As Webber exited his pit box, the tyre detached and went on a frightening collision course with the FOM cameraman, later named as Paul Allen, who was knocked to the floor when the tyre hit him from behind. After being immediately attended to by medical teams in the pitlane, Allen, who escaped serious injury, was taken to the local hospital for further checks. "During the German GP, an FOM cameraman in pit lane was struck by a loose wheel. Paul Allen was hit on the left hand side," an FIA statement read after the race. "Remaining conscious, he was treated at the circuit medical centre and then transported by helicopter to Koblenz Hospital. The Briton has been kept there, under observation." There was a second safety concern later in the race when Jules Bianchi's stricken Marussia, which the Frenchman had just parked up and evacuated after smoke starting billowing from the back of it, started rolling down back across the track on the backstraight before coming to rest against an advertising hoarding.