German GP: Rosberg finishes in excellent fourth


Nico in fourth

By Andrew Hooper
July 21 2009

AT&T Williams driver Nico Rosberg would finish in an excellent fourth in the 2009 German GP. Nico would put in a strong race after making a great start that saw him move from 15th to 9th. As the race progressed he would improve his position finally coming home fourth. Kazuki Nakajima's race would be ruined when he was hit at the start dropping to the back of the field, finishing in 12th.

 
 German GP Race Review

 

Having seen their cars qualify in thirteenth and fifteenth the prospects for the AT&T Williams team in the 2009 German Grand Prix. were far from promising. For the second time Kazuki Nakajima had out-qualified his team-mate Nico Rosberg.

RosbergNico would make a great start gaining several places to be in ninth. Kazuki was down in a disappointing seventeenth in the opening stages of the race. He had been hit by Trulli ruining his race.Nico would continue to run in ninth seeing him drop away from the eighth placed runner Sutil. At the front it was Barrichello leading from Webber but Red Bull driver would suffer a drive through penalty for making contact with Barrichello at the start. With pit stops Nico would move up to sixth and was able to set his quickest lap of the race so far.

As the race progressed Nico would move into second but would make his first stop on lap thirty one, returning on hard tyres. He would return in sixth, having started fifteenth. Nico's stop would see him move away from a fight between the likes of Sutil and Alonso.

Kazuki would make his first stop pitting from eleventh while Nico was now fourth as a result of drivers around him, in particular Barrichello suffering problems. Kazuki was now eighth but would stop again resuming in eleventh. At the front the order was Webber leading, despite a drive through penalty, Vettel, and Massa.

With the end of the race Nico would finish in an excellent fourth while Kazuki was in twelfth after having been passed in the closing stages of the race. A great result, given the poor starting positions of the team drivers in particular Nico. A great drive from Nico to make such a big gain at the start and then to show the pace necessary to see him move up to fourth.

 
Pos  Driver  	   Team		  	      Time
 1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1h36:43.310
 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     9.252
 3.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    15.906
 4.  Rosberg       AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  +    21.099
 5.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    23.609
 6.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    24.468
 7.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    24.888
 8.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    58.692
 9.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:01.457
10.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:01.925
11.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1:02.327
12.  Nakajima      AT&T Williams-Toyota  (B)  +  1:02.876
13.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +  1:08.328
14.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:09.555
15.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1:11.941
16.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +  1:30.225
17.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +  1:30.970
18.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:33.365

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)    35
Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    19

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