Rate the race: German Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

Mark Webber scored his first ever Grand Prix win – but still no points for Force India. Rate the German Grand Prix and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2009 German Grand Prix out of 10

  • 10 - Perfect (7%)
  • 9 - Fantastic (13%)
  • 8 - Great (22%)
  • 7 - Good (28%)
  • 6 - Not bad (16%)
  • 5 - A bit dull (7%)
  • 4 - Often tedious (2%)
  • 3 - Boring (3%)
  • 2 - Rubbish (0%)
  • 1 - Terrible (1%)

Total Voters: 1,442

 Loading ...

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

77 comments on “Rate the race: German Grand Prix”

  1. Yorricksfriend
    12th July 2009, 14:57

    8 years of waiting has paid off, congrats Mark from Adelaide

    1. Mark’s not from Adelaide. But congrats to him all the same

      1. Sorry i think i misinterpreted what you meant

  2. Brilliant race – first race this where you didn’t know who was going to win till the last 10 laps.

    Only reason it wasn’t a 10 for me was Sutil being taken out by Kimi (AGAIN!!!!) and Lewis getting the puncture at the start which was dissapointing as it looked like he almost took the lead

  3. It was terrible, what a boring race and the stewards inconsistancies were shown once again too, the only good thing about it was Mark Webber finally winning his first race.

  4. Yes, Sutil again with Kimi ! But what about the immediate penalty on Webber, and was it worth a penalty ?

    1. Kimi should be banned for the rest of the season. He doesn’t care about racing at all and one point to Sutil is a dream. He doesn’t deserve to be in F1 anymore. Get lost Kimi

      1. Sutil ran into Raikkonen.

      2. bit of a silly comment!

      3. Sutil didn’t blame Raikkonen afterwards, which says it all really. Racing incident.

      4. Whoa! I think that’s a little harsh, even the biggest sutil fan would have to admit that in hindsight it was a genuine racing incident. As for whether kimi cares or not – why does it anger you so much? The fact is he came 3rd in the championship last year while apparently not giving a crap! Surely that’s just admitting that he’s a great driver – unless you’re assuming that anyone can come 3rd while not even trying??

    2. It wasn’t an immediate penalty for Webber. They announced the investigation about 8 laps after the incident and didn’t give the penalty for another few laps after that.

      The incident happened on lap one, Webber served his penalty on lap 14.

      1. Bull ! The investigation took part a couple of lapses later. OK it took 8 laps to publish it and 14 to serve it, but how come the crash between Raikkonen & Sutil was immediately set as “will be investigated after the race”? I miss something there !

        1. Because there are lots of things to be checked at the start of a race, but very few at lap 30.

          Also, they did a favour to Mark Webber. Had the penalty been thrown at lap #2, he wouldn’t have won the race.

        2. Kimi Raikkonen retired soon after the incident.

  5. Perfect. I’m an Aussie so I’m a little biased ;)
    Congrats Mark

    1. I wanted to vote with a score of 100 out of 10. An Aussie winning after 8 years of trying. Brilliant! You Beauty!

  6. Offtopic, I know. But Alonso in the final stages made me realize the following about the refueling situation for next year:

    There are two camps in this debate, who say:
    1. Many drivers don’t pass now (or don’t try had enough) because they can rely on fuel strategy to jump the cars in front of them.
    2. Passing is inherently difficult given the aero and nature of the tracks, so banning refueling will see even fewer position changes.

    One way to test the first assertion is by going back in each race and finding out if there have been a higher percentage of passes in the final stints of races, when there are no more strategy plays left for the teams and drivers. If they want to pass – and which driver doesn’t – they would have to make a move.

    If there are in fact a relatively larger number of passes in the final stints, then the first camp is probably right. If there aren’t, the second camp is.

    Anyway, I just wanted to put that down before I forget; Cheers to Webber and Massa for fantastic drives.

  7. Perfect. Spot the other biased Aussie.

  8. Mark Webber driver of the day btw. No one comes close

    1. No one comes close

      Sounds like you’re promoting the Singapore GP with the same tagline.

  9. Just saw Barrichello fuming at his team. He really needs to learn to think. The Brawn cars were 6 tenths a lap slower than the Red Bulls. Rubens’ idea that he could win the race is simply not realistic.

    I’ll agree that BrawnGP should work on their strategy and of course he was unfortunate that there was a problem with the refuelling rig.

    1. More drivers should speak there feelings in interviews. Don’t see why people are having such a big go at him. I guess they are Button fans.

      1. It’s just ridiculous to lash out at your employer like that.

        Especially when all his anger is based on his dumb notion that he could have actually won the race.

        I wonder how much time he lost by himself by driving like a wet newspaper in his middle stint. Probably a lot more than the few seconds lost during the slightly longer pitstop.

        Sure their car is struggling and apparently they need ridiculous 3 stop strategies to cope with tyre degredation. Just deal with it, don’t.

        1. driving like a wet newspaper

          Hahahaha

    2. Yes, well done to Webber – a truly class drive. I still can’t believe that Rubens took it upon himself to commit professional suicide on tv though.

    3. Patrick, I dont think Rubens was fuming because of THAT part of their strategy!

  10. Not good… really boring. To top that off… wait… Massa made it on to the podium :D.

  11. The naysayers have been silenced. :)

    Here’s another biased Aussie putting up his hand – grats from Perth, Mark! WOOOO! :D

  12. What a terrible race, another Brawn 1-2, the championship’s over and Button’s already won it etc. etc. etc.

    The times, they are a-changing…

  13. I really don’t understand the high rates. The race had no real action.

    1. First race where you didn’t know who was going to win till the end.
      Lots of passing at the start.
      Penalties and incidents.
      Closed the championships up.
      New winner.
      Perfect really.

      1. It was obvious Webber was going to win as soon as Barichello got stuck behind Massa with more than two thirds of the race still to go.

  14. Boring race but I’m glad Webber won. I like that guy, very down to earth and educated as Vettel is, not very common this days on F1. And I’m not an Aussie :)

  15. Great work Mark! Congrats from Adelaide! Will be coming over to Melbourne next year to see you win a home GP!

    Go Ferrari and McLaren! Would really love to see them up there fighting with Brawn and RedBull for wins. And then if Renult can get up there to, would be great for the rest of the season. OK, I am dreaming a bit, but would be great to see!
    What would also be great is more over taking on track. The aero regs for next year are going to have to change! These cars still can not pass eachother on the track!
    Keith, any word if more work is going to be done on the cars for next year so they can actually pass!?

    1. If you relate this to Massa or Kovalainen, it is the KERS on uphill straight at the Nurburg ! Nothing to do with aero, Keith what do you think ?

      1. These cars still can not pass eachother, even when the car behind is much faster. Something needs to be done. They need more mechanical grip and rely less on aero. Webber was much faster than Rubens, but did not bother trying to overtake as it would just ruin his tires. It just really sucks to only see most of the passing on track in the first lap.

        1. Yes, you are right ivz, but only when straights, if you have looked at the superposed films of RBR’s and BGP’s yesterday in the chicanes, the BGP’s where untreatable !

        2. Nonsense, these cars can pass each other. Or rather, a capable driver can pass. There were several passes during the race (For instance Button and Alonso did it).

          It’s supposed to be hard for these cars to pass each other though.

          Go watch touringcar racing if you want to see cars breezing past each other.

  16. An ok race, 7 from me. Rosberg has been over looked – 15th to 4th was a fantastic drive! Massa had a good’n too, and Heikki did pretty well to keep a pre-update McLaren in the points.

    Oh yeah, and apparantly some bloke called Mark Webber drove pretty well. ;)

  17. Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi

    I thought Webber was going to have a coronary on the victory lap! Thank goodness we have that out of the way,lets hope it doesn’t take another 27 years for an Aussie to win. Driver of the day IMHO is Webber but Massa and Rosberg did some good work also. I feel the pulse of racing returning to F1!

  18. Had to give it a 10 just because i’m a Webber fan but to be honest it’s a bit of a relief not seeing Button or Vettel on top of the podium.

  19. I gave it a 7 – it was a decent race, but the strings of cars line-astern at the end (Button/Barrichello/Alonso and Kovalaine/Glock/Heidfeld/Fisichella) was another reminder how the overtaking problem hasn’t been solved yet.

    Webber’s was gigantically impressive though – he beat Vettel emphatically and overcame a questionable penalty. If Hamilton hadn’t got that puncture we might have had a more exciting race.

  20. I rated it a 1, it was a very boring race, and Webber should have been penalized straight away, this is coming from an aussie by the way so not all of us are biased and like webber!

  21. to ivz: You have to be kidding me right? webber win another gp, let alone one in melbourne, hopefully i will be there again next year cheering webber on to get 3 racing laps in 3 years at melbourne :D

  22. 3 for me. MAssive congratulations to the very likable Mark Webber for his first well-deserved win, but overall the race was boring. I’ll just be watching the one-hour highlight shows for the rest of the season now.

  23. Hugely disappointed for Adrian Sutil.
    He drove a brilliant race.

    I think he might even have surprised himself, since it didn’t rain, he wasn’t expecting to be as competitive as he was.

    Points are coming for Force India real soon. Oh yes!

    And well done Mark Webber! :D

  24. Everyone forgets the Alonso’s actions. He never gives-up, does he ?

  25. I rate it a good race !

  26. For me, it was the best race of the season so far!
    Really great perfomances from many drivers:

    Web – well deserved win, final proof of his talent
    always liked him since his Jag times

    Ham – great start, would’ve loved to see him fighting with the top cars

    Mas – almost unrecognised, finally a podium for Ferrari
    good driving, especially when you look at the
    perfomance of Raikkönen

    Sut – again being involved in a accident with points in
    sight, what a shame

    Alo – Near the end he was just beating that Renault
    around the track…
    I really hope that he’s in a top car again next
    year (maybe replacing Rai)

    1. What about Raikkonens performance? Raikkonen was right behind Massa, but his car broke down.

      It was a shame that Alonso messed up his qualy. He looked about as fast as Hamilton. Would have been a lot more fun to have seen him start from the middle of the top 10.

      1. Not quite true. I think Rosberg siddled in between Massa and Raikkonen and later a Brawn did too. But the latter may have been after Kimi started having engine trouble and losing power. Will need to see Keith’s laptime analysis for that.

        Massa did deliver a superior performance today. He kept his nose clean, held off at least two faster cars for pretty long periods, and got an incredible start.

        Raikkonen’s performance was quite unremarkable at best, though that might have more to do with where he ended up after the start than anything else. He didn’t have much opportunity to attack or defend this time out.

        1. Raikkonen was right behind Massa when Sutil rammed into him. Five laps later Raikkonen retired.

          1. Yes. That doesn’t contradict what I wrote.

            But after reading Raikkonen stating that his problem was from debris, I’m now more convinced that his engine trouble started almost immediately after the collision, so both Rosberg and the Brawn slotting in before him may have been because he had already lost some power.

            So your original point stands – i.e. Raikkonen was driving an almost equally good race as Massa. Agreed.

    2. Kimi was on the podium at Monaco.

  27. Good for
    – Webber winning.
    – Button finishing sufficiently farf down that a sizeable chunk of his lead was removed.

    Bad for
    – yet more appalling stewarding. The start racing incident, was just that. No harm done and no penalty required. Sutil/Raikonnen was also a racing incident with no penalty, but it should’ve been resolved then, and not after the race. It’s not as if they were busy or even vaguely near the end.
    – Long trains of cars. (With no Trulli in sight)
    – Poor Sutil. Again.
    – That puncture, ensuring a possible three horse race was reduced to two.

    It also showed, once again, how weak the KERS cars are on the first lap after the start.

    1. Actually, if you ignore Hamilton, the KERS cars gained an average of two places each on the first lap:

      KOV(+2), MAS(+3), RAI(+1)

      1. Yes, all off the start. The point I was making was that after the start, they were weak up until the second corner of the 2nd lap.

        1. Weak? Maybe because they just passed cars that were about half a second faster than them?

  28. I liked Sutil’s comment:

    “Overall I think we’ve learnt a lot; it’s the first time starting in the top 10 and it’s a different race up there!”

    1. And on German tele he said about the touching with Kimi “It was a race accident, I had cold tyres, and Kimi going on the outside, I could not avoid to touch him w/ my front wing”. Nice & fair the Adrian !

    2. I didn’t see that quote, nice one!

  29. I agree with those who say 7 or 8, although I lean to the 8 – Probably one of the better races of the season.

    Although am I right by saying that in the recent races there is more ‘excitement’ in the failed attempts at strategy rather then the strategies that actually work? :)

  30. StrFerrari4Ever
    12th July 2009, 17:06

    Haha brilliant stuff Webber great win after the drive through i thought oh not a bit of bad luck again but Brawn weren’t fast enough & and they effed themselves in the ass. I knew from then on it was going to be his day well deserved 3 way horse in the championship anyone :P oh and Monsieur Bourdais is seemingly on his way out but good news for STR major upgrade in Hungary can’t wait.

  31. I enjoyed the race, far more entertaining than the last two. Great to see Mark Webber winning, and great to see the Brawn Gp cars losing some points, although Button still enjoys a big lead despite today’s results.
    Another driver who impressed me today was Nico Rosberg, by far the best performance from a German driver at the Nurburgring this time out. I would love to see Nico win in Hungary, its great to see guys who have always been the bridesmaid but never the bride finally come up trumps.
    Read a good piece on Rosberg recently, inwhich he was asked who his best friend at the racetrack is. He reply was his dog, if he ever decided to bring his dog. Second to the mutt, Rosberg chose Lewis Hamilton!
    For my friends in Spain, they would chose a mutt as a mate over Hamilton too!

  32. Thumbs up for Webber – Good win

    And well done Rosberg

    And hard luck Sutil

  33. Good race and congratulations to Webber, he deserves the win because he is a very good driver and of course his car now is good enough.
    Good race fro Vettel also, for Massa, Rosberg, Kovalainen, and Sutil who did a fantastic race and with his words after the incident with Kimi (again!) he show he is a gentleman also.

  34. Good Race.

    BMW, what happened?

    Congratulations to Webber and RBR. I was hoping for Force India and Lewis Hamiliton to pick up some much needed points. Still all in all a good race.

    If anyone can link me sites that would have old races from 85 to 95 a big thank you from me. School and work took me away from the sport. I missed most of the Schumacher, Senna years. Tragedy with Senna. Brilliant driver that can never be replaced.

  35. Forgot 1 thing,

    BBC coverage must be great. Fox Sports here in the states is horrible.

    Heres hoping USF1 makes it in 2010.

    F1 fan back after many years
    take care all
    Mark

  36. Great race, fantastic result for Webber. If Alonso had’ve been able to translate his speed into a result I would have said perfect. Something to aim for, although I doubt that will come at Hungary ;)

  37. 7 – Plenty of early action, dull in the middle, but another uplifting result. 9/10 if you include the interview with Rubens…

    Promising races that quite happen this time for Alonso, Rosberg, Hamilton and Sutil…and only 8 more races until we bury the phrase “fuel adjusted” and dance on its grave.

    1. that didn’t quite happen – sorry

  38. I thought the race was good, it was nice to see a new winner. If the rain had come as some had forecast I think it would have been better though.

  39. what a start by hamilton…shame about the puncture. i don’t like webber but it’s good that he finally won. fairly interesting race and good result for rosberg even if a little lucky. i think a few people must have said thanks to kovi after the race. lol

  40. Hello everyone,

    Unfortunately, I don’t have a comment or question about the race (except that it was awesome), I’m just gagging to know what music was playing (with a little piano riff) on the hour-long pre-race programme on the BBC – it kicks in at around the 16mins 20secs mark…It’s doin’ my head in, as I’ve heard it somewhere before but can’t put my finger on it!

  41. Great drive from Webber. Right from the time he brought the Minardi home for a point-finish in his first GP start, i was his fan. This first victory took a long time coming, though.

  42. The cool part for me was that I was in Montreal for the weekend, so I watched qualifying on the French-language feed, then caught the BBC feed for much of the race on Sunday. In between, I got to walk around CGV on Saturday, and even caught the Sprint Cup race in French on Saturday evening. All in all, quite a unique motorsport weekend :)

Comments are closed.