The 2011 German Grand Prix, formally the Formula 1 Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland 2011, was a Formula One motor race that was held on 24 July 2011 at the Nürburgring in Nürburg, Germany. It was the tenth round of the 2011 Formula One season. The 60-lap race was won by McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who had started from second position on the grid. Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finished in second place, and Mark Webber, who had started the race from pole position, completed the podium in third position for Red Bull Racing. Webber's teammate and championship leader Sebastian Vettel finished fourth, ending an eleven-race streak of finishing in the podium placings.
As a consequence of the race, Vettel's lead in the World Drivers' Championship was cut by Webber to 77 points. Hamilton's victory allowed him to move into third place in the championship, five points behind Webber in second, and four ahead of Alonso. In the World Constructors' Championship, Red Bull extended their championship lead to 112 points over McLaren, with Ferrari a further 51 points behind in third position.
Report
Background
On the Thursday before the race, Team Lotus announced that Karun Chandhok would replace Jarno Trulli for the race weekend.
The start line was moved closer to Turn 1 than it had been before, for the weekend. This meant that the race start could be less crucial for the drivers as the distance to the first corner was roughly half what it had been before.
Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound as the softer "option" compound.
Before the race, Sebastian Vettel had an 80-point lead in the World Drivers' Championship - at the time, the record for the largest lead. Despite controversial team orders at the previous race in Silverstone, Mark Webber stayed second in the standings - 12 points ahead of Fernando Alonso, who had moved up to third in the standings on 112 points after his victory two weeks previously. McLaren teammates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button both stood on 109 points before the Grand Prix, but Hamilton was fourth through countback because he had one more second place.
As far as the Constructors were concerned, Red Bull Racing were looking good on 328 points - 110 ahead of a McLaren who had faltered somewhat at the last two races. Ferrari were third on 164 points, 54 behind McLaren, but 103 ahead of Mercedes GP who were ahead of Renault for the first time this season, after the deterioration of Renault's form had already begun. Before the race, all teams and all drivers were in Championship contention, but many were not after this race. Also, Red Bull Racing, McLaren or Ferrari couldn't have lost their respective Constructors' Championship placings during this event.
There were six German drivers at this race - including Michael Schumacher, who had won at this track 5 times in his career.
Practice
After Friday's two practice sessions, Lewis Hamilton bleakly summed up his chances of challenging Red Bull and Ferrari saying: "We won't find an answer tomorrow. We definitely can't challenge them for pole." Yet, he ended up marginally behind the pole position time, and on the front row.
In the first free practice session, Fernando Alonso set the fastest time followed by Mark Webber and then Sebastian Vettel. This started speculation that Ferrari would be matching Red Bull Racing's pace in Qualifying. It seemed likely at this point that Alonso would be on the front row of the grid – however, this was eventually not the case. Lewis Hamilton was fifth, and his teammate Button down in 11th after having no KERS for both Friday Practice sessions. With only half a minute left in the session, Sébastien Buemi made a mistake and was flung sideways across the gravel; he later missed the second Friday session because of a fuel pressure problem.
Webber led Alonso in Free Practice 2. This session also featured an extraordinary number of lock-ups and off track excursions. It was in this session Michael Schumacher left the track at Turn 7 whilst exploring the track's limits and waved to his home crowd. Another home driver, Timo Glock, also left the track, spun on the wet grass at the bottom of a hill, and luckily escaped being beached on the high curb.