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Fans of Formula One were treated to a nail biting standoff at the 2012 German Grand Prix on Sunday. It saw a Spanish trail blazer in a duel with a re surging British racer and a local hero who somewhat courted controversy, while fighting for the finish line. There was a hot time at Hockenheim this weekend.

The German Grand Prix was considered something of a close contest. Fernando Alonso set off from pole and kept a steady pace, just staying in front of his rivals. He managed to hold on to his lead till the finish line, securing his third win of the season.

Sebastian Vettel, with Red Bull, looked set to finish second. He lost his place at the second pit stop though, when Jenson Button passed him. The German later reclaimed the upper hand, overtaking Button in the second last lap. This did not sit well with the stewards moreover, who gave him a 20 second penalty. Vettel may have finished the race in second place and Button came third, but, thanks to the penalty, the Brit leapfrogged the German and ended up taking the number two spot.

This led to a ripple effect, where the Finn Kimi Raikkonen, with Lotus-Renault, jumped to third place. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi, from Japan, was now in fourth spot and Vettel was demoted to fifth. However, the home crowd still had a German hero to cheer for, with Michael Schumacher of Mercedes, having the fastest lap of the race, clocking in at 1:18.725. He finished in seventh spot, ahead of Mark Webber in eighth. Lewis Hamilton, however, who won the race in 2011, celebrated his 100th Grand Prix meet by suffering an early puncture. This was before being forced to retire because of a busted gearbox. This didn’t change the popular belief though that the McLaren team improved somewhat from their performance at British Grand Prix.

It is now onto the next race of the season, in Hungary, in a week’s time.