Sebastian Vettel Eager To Win First Home Race

Sebastian Vettel will be striving to take his first ever home victory of his career this weekend, as the reigning World Champion returns home in preparation for the German Grand Prix around the legendary Hockenheimring. Although the 25-year-old has enjoyed unparalleled success in recent years, he has never yet won a German Grand Prix.

The 2012 season has not followed in the tradition of last season, with Sebastian Vettel only winning one race in Bahrain. This time last season, the German driver had utterly dominated proceedings with six race victories and a stunning 80 point lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

“Hockenheim is only half an hour away from my home town, so I have a lot of friends and family there and it’s always a special crowd to race in front of.” Explained Sebastian Vettel, “I’ve driven on that circuit in different series and it’s always been great. The campsites near the new circuit are fun and it’s special to meet the fans there. I haven’t won the German GP before and of course, I would like to!”

Apart from the Schumacher brothers, the last German driver to win the German Grand Prix was Rudolf Caracciola back in 1939, racing for Mercedes-Benz. The German legend currently holds the most amount of victories at the German Grand Prix, with six. Caracciola won the first ever German Grand Prix held in 1926 at AVUS Berlin.

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Romain Grosjean Becomes 200th Different Driver On The Podium

Romain Grosjean made Formula 1 history in Bahrain, becoming the 200th different driver to step onto the podium since the sports inaugural season in 1950. With Grosjean joining his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel on the podium, it was all change once again on the top step of the F1 rostrum.

For Grosjean, it was his first step on an F1 podium in only his 11th start. The Frenchman began his career in 2009 with Renault, however he was replaced by Vitaly Petrov for the 2010 season. Grosjean then returned to the GP2 Series and in 2011 won both the GP2 and GP2 Asia Series’.

In 2012, Grosjean has returned to the top tier of motorsport along with his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, and the two have already shown high amounts of competitiveness in only the first four races of the season. Although Grosjean failed to complete more than seven laps in the first two races due to two DNF’s, he seems to have made up for his errors with two points finishes in China and Bahrain.

The last Frenchman to step onto the podium was 14 years ago, when Jean Alesi did so in unforgettable circumstances at the crazy 1998 Belgian Grand Prix for Sauber. The French veteran was joined by the Jordan duo of Damon Hill and Ralf Schumacher, who had memorably achieved Jordan’s first F1 victory with a 1-2 finish in the rain at Spa.

Romain Grosjean has ended this drought for France and has returned the French flag to the podium once again, becoming the 21st Frenchman on the podium. He now joins the likes of Jean Alesi, Rene Arnoux, Alain Prost, Didier Pironi and Olivier Panis as French drivers’ who have reached the podium in their career. 

With Grosjean only several races into 2012, his aim now will naturally be to become the first French winner since 1996, when Olivier Panis won the Monaco Grand Prix for Ligier in a race which amazingly saw only three cars eventually cross the finish line at the end of the race, the least amount in F1 history.

Lotus showed promising pace in pre-season testing at both Jerez and Barcelona, with Raikkonen and Grosjean both setting the fastest times throughout the testing period. It now seems that Lotus are beginning to show that pace once again, when it all counts during the race on Sunday. Both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean know how to win races, and they will undoubtedly be striving to do so in 2012.

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