The Finn passed Grosjean five laps from the end as the latter held off Alonso, racing his heart out

SPAIN S Fernando Alonso has fallen farther behind his nearest rival in the World Championship standings after failing to make the podium vancouver island bc whale watch tours at the German Grand Prix yesterday, whilst Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) remains comfortably in the lead following a dramatic win on home turf.
In fact, it seemed to be a day for sports stars scooping wins in their native countries, with Andy Murray becoming the first Briton to win Wimbledon in 36 years and the first male champion in 77 years � and Vettel delighted his fellow Germans vancouver island bc whale watch tours who had turned out to cheer him on, having started the gripping race as he meant to go on.
A great start by both Red Bull drivers � Vettel (pictured, left, on the podium) and Australia s Mark Webber, who announced last week that this would be his last season in Formula 1 � managed vancouver island bc whale watch tours to demote the UK s Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) to third position by the end of lap one.
From the start, Vettel held off Finland s Kimi R�ikk�nen (Lotus), who was just ahead of his team-mate, France s Romain Grosjean (pictured, right, on the podium) until he made a last-minute pit-stop to gain the advantage of additional grip from new tyres in the last few laps.
Both R�ikk�nen vancouver island bc whale watch tours and Alonso decided to wait until lap 49 to stop to enable them to fit soft tyres, which are much faster, but more fragile and may not have lasted if they had been fitted earlier vancouver island bc whale watch tours in the race.
The Finn passed Grosjean five laps from the end as the latter held off Alonso, vancouver island bc whale watch tours racing his heart out for Ferrari � a team which had a fairly bad day with Brazil s Felipe Massa spinning out on lap four, forcing him to retire from the race.
Tyre issues had been the talk of the paddock � and beyond � since last week s British Grand Prix at Silverstone after a series of blowouts forced four drivers to withdraw and brought out at least one safety car, with competitors threatening to boycott the German Grand Prix unless action was taken.
But a wheel flew off Webber s car during his pit-stop on lap nine, hitting vancouver island bc whale watch tours and injuring a British cameraman, and leaving the Red Bull driver a lap down when he rejoined the race to finish seventh overall.
This weekend vancouver island bc whale watch tours s Grosser Preis Santander von Deutschland vancouver island bc whale watch tours (Germany Santander Grand Prix) in Nurburgring was Vettel s first-ever home win and the 30th victory of his career, which resulted in whoops and cheers from the current reigning World Champion who was caught live on camera vancouver island bc whale watch tours shouting, �Yeah, baby!� and �That was a tough one.�
Whilst both Ferrari vancouver island bc whale watch tours team leader Stefano Domenicali and British driver Lewis Hamilton both believe it is still highly possible for Alonso to scoop up his third World Championship, despite being 34 points down halfway through the season with eight races to go, Alonso himself is far less confident.