Vettel wins German Grand Prix thriller

Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel took a first home Formula 1 win in the German Grand Prix, but was forced to fend off Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean in the closing stages of the race at the Nurburgring.

In high temperatures the Lotus duo soon became Vettel's biggest challengers as they managed to get more from their tyres than most, with polesitter Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) getting demoted to third by the first turn, behind Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber. Webber's challenge then ended at the first pitstps, when he was sent out before his right-rear wheel was fully attached.

Webber's wheel then became detached in the pitlane, and hit a cameraman. The cameraman was taken to hospital for observation, where he remains with suspected broken bones and crush injuries.

Grosjean then looked the likely challenger to Vettel, but a safety car at mid-distance closed things up and brought Raikkonen in to contention. After another round of pitstops Raikkonen sliced up to the back of Vettel, but finished a second adrift.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso drove another canny race to take fourth, while Hamilton ended up fifth, just ahead of former McLaren team-mate Jenson Button, who drove superbly throughout to haul his uncompetitive car so far up the order. Webber recovered to seventh.

German Grand Prix results: 1 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1h41m14.711s; 2 Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus-Renault) +1.008s; 3 Romain Grosjean (Lotus-Renault) +5.830s; 4 Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +7.721s; 5 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) +26.927s; 6 Jenson Button (McLaren-Mercedes) +27.996s; 7 Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +37.562s; 8 Sergio Perez (McLaren-Mercedes) +38.306s; 9 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +46.821s; 10 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber-Ferrari) +49.892s.