2013 German Grand Prix

Championship standings

After Silverstone, Sebastian Vettel leads the Drivers’ Championship. Alonso closed to within 21 points after finishing third at the British Grand Prix, while Räikkönen holds third. Red Bull leads the constructors, with Mercedes having overtaken Ferrari for second place.

Previous race

Nico Rosberg won at Silverstone for Mercedes after Sebastian Vettel — who had led from pole — retired with a gearbox failure on lap 41, promoting Rosberg to a lead he held to the finish. Mark Webber was second, Alonso third. Six tyre failures occurred during the race, including explosive punctures suffered by Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Jean-Éric Vergne while running at full speed. Pirelli deployed safety car conditions to clear debris from the track on two separate occasions.

Between-race developments

Following the British Grand Prix tyre failures, Pirelli has replaced the steel belts in the rear tyres with Kevlar, which reduces operating temperature by up to 10 °C and lessens the risk of sudden punctures. This is a stop-gap solution ahead of a new tyre specification to be introduced at the next race in Hungary.

The FIA has banned teams from swapping left- and right-side tyres to extend their lifespan — a practice that was found to contribute to unexpected tyre behaviour. The FIA is also moving to make Pirelli’s recommendations on tyre pressure and camber settings mandatory, after discovering teams were running settings outside those guidelines to maximise performance.