VIDEO: Alonso pleased with consistency

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VIDEO: Murray Walker on Fernando Alonso

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Fernando Alonso

By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer

Ferrari started the season with their worst car in nearly 20 years - and yet they are better placed after the first eight races than they have been since 2008.

There is one main reason for this - Fernando Alonso has driven stupendously, underlining why so many of his rivals consider him to be the best driver on the grid.

Alonso has not put a foot wrong, while at the wheel of a car that, at the start of the season at least, was very difficult to drive, and has not let a single point go begging.

Team: Ferrari Team-mate: Felipe Massa Previous teams: Minardi, Renault, McLaren Nationality: Spanish Born: 29/07/1981, Oviedo Grand Prix debut: Australia 2001 World Championships: 2005, 2006 The same cannot quite be said of the team - there is the suggestion that even better results could have been obtained at a few races had the strategy brains on the pit wall been a little more alive.

All the while, the car - and the results Alonso has been delivering with it - have been getting better and better.

If Ferrari can maintain that upward trend in performance, Alonso will be very difficult to beat this season.

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Alonso takes pole at Hockenheim

By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer at Hockenheim Ferrari's Fernando Alonso took pole position in a thrilling wet qualifying session at the German Grand Prix.

Red Bull drivers Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were second and third fastest, although the Australian will be demoted five places after a penalty.

McLaren drivers Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton qualified seventh and eighth but will start a place higher.

Inside F1 - German Grand Prix qualifying

Mercedes' Michael Schumacher was fourth at his home race ahead of Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, also a German.

Williams's Pastor Maldonado was sixth, with Force India's Paul di Resta and Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen in ninth and 10th places and the first drivers not to benefit from Webber's penalty for a gearbox change.

Alonso and Ferrari were in imperious form in the wet conditions - the world championship leader did two laps fast enough for pole position and he ended up 0.405 seconds faster than Vettel.

Before the start of the final session, Alonso had said he felt the conditions were too wet for the cars to run.

He said: "It is good to check the circuit conditions and going into Turn 6 it was not easy for anybody.

"There was a lot of aquaplaning and we are doing 180mph there."

He said he felt he might have owed his pole to a decision to come in and fit fresh tyres for two flying laps at the end of the session.

"We made a good strategy call doing a pit stop in Q3 and having very fresh tyres for the last few minutes and that helped us a lot improve the lap time."

106 - The number of points separating Fernando Alonso from his teammate Felipe Massa. Hamilton leads Button by 42 and Mark Webber is just 16 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel said: "The lap was not completely clean. I think we had the pace to put the car on pole. I think the lap time was possible.

"We have to look at what Fernando said. Maybe that was a better way to do it. We are in the first row which should be good, starting the inside as well so we see what we can do."

At one point in the top 10 shoot-out Vettel was held up behind Webber and he complained on the team radio: "What is Mark doing holding me up?"

Afterwards, he said: "I lost the lap running into him but he had difficulty in these conditions and he probably didn't see me."

Webber said: "It was a very intense, tricky session for the drivers and engineers. It was a challenge for us. Sometimes to be in seventh gear wasn't possible, to use the Kers [power boost] wasn't possible. When you have wheelspin at 180mph it certainly gets your attention.

"But I was happy with my lap, I'm happy to be up here and from eighth we can still have a very good race."

Button complained that McLaren were still having problems getting their wet tyres up to operating temperature, an issue that has afflicted the team all season.

"The thing that really shows it's a weakness we need to improve on is that the pole position guy is three or four seconds ahead so he's obviously getting them [the tyres] working and we're not," he said.

Unlike Alonso, Raikkonen and Button, Hamilton did not come in for a fresh set of wet tyres for a couple of laps at the end of the session.

He had been fastest until three minutes from the end, when he started to slip down the field.

"I'm a bit disappointed with the end result of course," said Hamilton. "But we were looking good in Q1 in the dry and then in Q2 [in the wet] and it was looking OK and then at the end I don't understand how everyone went quite a bit quicker.

"We were a little bit unfortunate. Me and Jenson were the first two out and so we did our last laps first and the track just kept getting better and better.

"I had one lap at the end but I went straight off; it was like driving on ice for us.

"The great thing is we have big DRS down the back straight so hopefully we'll be doing a lot of overtaking [in the race]."

2011 - Mark Webber 2010 - Sebastian Vettel 2009 - Mark Webber 2008 - Lewis Hamilton 2006 - Kimi Raikkonen Rain hit before the start of second qualifying, leading to a mad scramble for all the drivers to get out and set a time before the conditions deteriorated.

The big losers among the top teams were Ferrari's Felipe Massa, Lotus's Romain Grosjean and Mercedes' Nico Rosberg.

All failed to get into the top 10 shoot-out, which was particularly bad news for Grosjean and Rosberg.

They qualified 15th and 17th but will both drop five further places as a result of penalties for changing their gearboxes.

Sergio Perez also drops five places after stewards ruled that he had impeded other cars in qualifying.

The Sauber driver had qualified 12th, but was found guilty of blocking both Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso in Q2.

Saturday, 21 July: Third practice 09:55-11:05 BST; BBC Sport website and BBC Radio 5 live sports extra. Qualifying 13:00; BBC Sport website and BBC Radio 5 live. Highlights 17:00 BBC Two and BBC HDSunday, 22 July: Race 13:00 BST; BBC Sport website and BBC Radio 5 live. Race highlights 17:30 BBC Two and BBC HD. Race highlights repeat 23:40 BBC One and BBC HD

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Title race wide open says Alonso

By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer at Hockenheim Ferrari's Fernando Alonso believes his growing world championship lead "means nothing" and that the title race is still wide open.

The Spaniard won in Germany to move 34 points clear of Red Bull's Mark Webber at the season's halfway point.

"We are very happy with the positions we got in the first half of the season but it means nothing because there are still 10 races to go," Alonso said.

"We saw again today that we are still not the quickest [car]."

Alonso fought a race-long fight with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Jenson Button in Hockenheim.

Vettel crossed the line second, with Button third, but the German was demoted to fifth place for passing the Englishman by going off the track on the penultimate lap.

Alonso not resting on laurels

Alonso's lead was less than a second for most of the race, in which he drove astutely to ensure his rivals were never quite close enough to try to pass.

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali said: "It's true [we don't have the fastest car]. If we did, it would be easier to win.

"We need to improve the car. We need to make sure our car is good in all the different conditions - wet, dry, different kind of tyres and so on. It is such a tight championship you need to make sure you can develop the car race by race."

Alonso is 44 points ahead of Vettel, with Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen fourth, 56 behind.

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said: "Fernando has finished all the races in the points - he has a 34-point lead, but that isn't insurmountable with 25 points for a win.

"It's important we get both of our guys beating him. He's been driving incredibly well, he's hit a purple patch of form. But we'll be looking to put as much pressure on as we can in the second half of the year.

"The [Ferrari] car has come on in leaps and bounds, but there is an awful lot of racing to be done between now and the chequered flag in Brazil [at the final race of the season]."

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton has slipped to fifth in the championship, 62 points behind Alonso, after retiring from the German Grand Prix with a gearbox problem caused by an early puncture.

Button is seventh, 86 points behind, but Horner said even he could not be ruled out.

1) Fernando Alonso - 154

2) Mark Webber - 120

3) Sebastian Vettel - 110

4) Kimi Raikkonen - 98

5) Lewis Hamilton - 92

6) Nico Rosberg - 76

7) Jenson Button - 68

8) Romain Grosjean - 61

"I don't think you can write off anybody in this championship," Horner said.

"People were saying Jenson's had a bad run; he drove a great race today.

"I think it would be unwise to write off any of the top six guys at the moment.

"It only takes a couple of DNFs for Fernando or any of the front guys and the picture can change quickly if you hit a bit of form."

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said: "We're at the halfway point and we have a lot of racing ahead of us, and they can both do it.

"This season is going to be right to the very end. I believe we will be sat on the edge of our seats in the last few laps of the Brazilian Grand Prix and I hope I am in deep agony on those laps because it means we are in contention to win.

"Fernando is doing a great job and so are Ferrari. They are difficult to beat but it's doable. We are a motor racing team, we are fighters and we have to concentrate on, race by race, trying to maximise points and see if we can erode that situation.

"It's going to be a great, great season. It already has been a great season.

"Coming out of [the first race in] Melbourne you'd have said we were on a roll and they [Ferrari] were in trouble.

"You've got congratulate them. We're on the pace now, we just have to keep pushing, keep the faith, keep focused, don't make mistakes and I think both our drivers are capable of winning races and they are both still capable of winning the world championship."

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Alonso wins tense race in Germany

By Andrew Benson Chief F1 writer at Hockenheim Ferrari's Fernando Alonso beat Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Jenson Button in a close fight to win the German Grand Prix.

The Spaniard became the only man to win three times so far this season.

He drove a controlled race and stayed just far enough ahead of his pursuers to maintain the lead.

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“Great strategy calls from the team to keep me ahead through the pit stops. I knew it would be a long race to the end”

Fernando Alonso Button climbed up from sixth on the grid to pass Vettel at the second pit stops but was re-passed with two laps to go.

However, the Englishman was promoted to second place after race stewards gave Vettel a 20-second penalty for his overtake of Button on the penultimate lap.

Lewis Hamilton retired with gearbox damage after running well down the field following an early puncture. But he will not incur any penalty for a gearbox change because of his retirement.

The result extends Alonso's championship lead to 34 points ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber who had a low-key race to eighth place, never showing any real pace.

Alonso said: "It was tough, not an easy race. Maybe we were not the quickest in dry conditions but we were competitive and it was enough to maintain the lead.

"Great strategy calls from the team to keep me ahead through the pit stops. I knew it would be a long race to the end, with Jenson putting pressure.

"But the car was feeling good on top speed and traction and that was enough to keep the lead into Turn 6, and after that overtaking is not so easy."

Puncture leaves Hamilton frustrated

The only consolation for Hamilton on the occasion of his 100th grand prix was that the McLaren showed encouraging pace following a major performance upgrade.

At one stage, Hamilton unlapped himself on Vettel - although not Alonso - as he attempted vainly to recover from his early set-back. A move which angered the double world champion.

Alonso was never very far in front but was always able to stay just far enough ahead of first Vettel and then Button to ensure they could not use their DRS overtaking aids to pass him into the hairpin at Turn 6.

It led to a tense grand prix in which the identity of the winner was always in doubt until Alonso took the chequered flag.

The Ferrari made a lightning start from pole position and although Vettel quickly closed up the initial gap Alonso had built on the first lap, the Spaniard was able to pull clear before their first pit stops to ensure he held the lead into the second stint.

Meanwhile, Button was fighting past Hulkenberg and then Schumacher, to move quietly into third place.

Vettel emerged from his first pit stop five seconds ahead of Button but the McLaren closed remorselessly on the Red Bull and passed the German by making his second stop a lap earlier.

Vettel emerged from the pits to find Button on his outside on the run to Turn 2, and the McLaren easily took the position.

2011 - Lewis Hamilton 2010 - Fernando Alonso 2009 - Mark Webber 2008 - Lewis Hamilton Button was rarely more than a second behind Alonso from then until the end of the race but the Ferrari driver was always in control and in the closing laps he stretched away as Button began to lose grip in his rear tyres.

Rather than try to take the lead, Button had to spend the closing laps fighting off a late challenge from Vettel, who passed him at the Turn 6 hairpin on the penultimate lap.

Vettel said: "The pace was there but it was extremely difficult when I was close to Fernando and Jenson we seemed to lose a lot and not be able to stay close enough to try to something under braking.

"I am not entirely happy, it could have been a bit better if it was clean air most of the race but that was not the case. Second place was the best we could get today and I am happy with that."

Button said: "It was a close race and I couldn't quite get Fernando at the end.

"When you are in the middle of three you really have to fight and I was pushing a little bit more in the early part of the stint, whereas when you're in front you can coast a bit in the bits where you don't need to push.

"It was close but Fernando knows as we all do where to use Kers to keep someone behind you. I ran out of steam at the end of the straight and the gap was a little bit too big to get back.

21 - Ferrari 9 - Williams 8 - McLaren "But it was a fun race and it's nice to be on the podium again. I've had my feeling back the last two races but the pace hasn't been there [in the car], but today it was. We're there or thereabouts at the front, still a little way to go."

Raikkonen provided some exciting racing as he moved up from 10th on the grid.

On the way, Raikkonen engaged in top-class racing with Mercedes driver Michael Schumacher and the Force Indias of Nico Hulkenberg and Paul di Resta.

Schumacher finished seventh behind Sauber drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez. Hulkenberg and Di Resta took the final points positions in ninth and 10th.

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