Fernando Alonso belittled his Formula One world title lead as meaning “nothing” after taking his 30th career victory.
In becoming the first driver to win three races this year, Alonso finished narrowly ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button in his McLaren at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
Vettel, however, was later handed a retrospective drive-through penalty by the stewards that added 20 seconds to his time for exceeding track limits in passing Button on the penultimate lap.
It dropped Vettel back to fifth, with Button elevated to second, whilst Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen took third and Kamui Kobayashi a career-best fourth in his Sauber.
Ferrari star Alonso has now opened up a 34-point gap over Mark Webber in his Red Bull, with Vettel a further 10 points adrift after losing eight in the wake of the stewards' ruling.
HALFWAY POINT
But at the halfway point of the season, and with Alonso extending his consecutive run of points-scoring finishes to 22 - two shy of Michael Schumacher's record of 24 - the 30-year-old Spaniard is far from believing he is in control of the championship situation.
“Before coming here we were not sure about the performance of the car,” said Alonso.
“It's true we were okay in Valencia. Red Bull were quicker than anybody there, but we took advantage of the mechanical problem Sebastian had and we won the race.
“In Silverstone we were okay in wet conditions, but a bit slower than Red Bull in dry conditions. Mark (Webber) won the race and he deserved it because he was the quickest.
GOOD RECOVERY
“We set pole in wet conditions again, which seems to suit our car, but in the dry, we again saw we are still not the quickest.
“Sebastian and Jenson put a lot of pressure on us, also Lewis Hamilton was extremely quick, but he had some problems.
“At halfway through the season we have made a very good recovery when you think of where we started in the Jerez test where we were maybe two seconds off the pace.
“We are very happy with the points we have achieved in the first half, but it means nothing because there are still another 10 races in which we need to improve the car.
“We need to be consistent, to keep finishing all the races.”
Ferrari have now closed the gap on Red Bull in the constructors' championship to 53 points. - Belfast Telegraph