Mercedes leave Hockenheim braced for another tough weekend in Hungary, hoping to gain more speed for when Formula 1 regroups at Spa in September. Attempting a different strategy in Germany, Michael Schumacher managed only seventh position.
Schumacher’s race was a strong one, not least as he pulled a pass on Nico Hülkenberg in front of thousands of Mercedes employees, but the seven-time World Champion was unable to make any significant impression after running third in the early stages. Team-mate Nico Rosberg scored the final point from 21st on the starting grid.
“We ran the race as well as we could today, in the knowledge that we would have to make three pit-stops,” explained Team Principal Ross Brawn. “Some of our rivals on two-stop strategies faded towards the end but the drop-off was not sufficient for our drivers to be able to take advantage on fresher tyres.
“Michael and Nico put in consistent performances, pulled off good overtaking moves and we delivered six clean pit-stops. Our strategy enabled Nico to climb 11 positions from his starting place, while Michael finished in seventh place for the second time in two weeks.
“We made the right decisions this afternoon but, after 67 laps, Michael found himself 29 seconds behind the winner. That shows we need to find more pace from the car.”
At the halfway point of the 2012 Formula 1 season, the Mercedes factory squad sits fifth in the Constructors’ Championship and is trailing Red Bull by 125 points.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:31:05.862 |
| 2. | J. Button | McLaren | +6.949 |
| 3. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +16.409 |
| 4. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +21.925 |
| 5. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +23.732 |
| 6. | S. Perez | Sauber | +27.896 |
| 7. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +28.970 |
| 8. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +46.491 |
| 9. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +48.162 |
| 10. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +48.889 |
| Full results | |||
| Michael Schumacher | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Michael Schumacher photos | |||
| Ross Brawn | |||
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| More Ross Brawn photos | |||
| Nico Rosberg | |||
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| More Nico Rosberg photos | |||
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