Sebastian Vettel celebrates after winning the German Grand Prix for the first time.

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Sebastian Vettel wins German Grand Prix for first time

Kimi Raikkonen finishes second ahead of Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean

Red Bull's Vettel now 34 points clear in title race

CNN  — 

Sebastian Vettel thrilled his home fans by winning the German Grand Prix for the very first time in his career.

The triple world champion finished ahead of Lotus pair Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean to claim his fourth win of the season and 30th overall at the Nurburgring.

Victory places the Red Bull driver 36 points clear of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who finished fourth, ahead of polesitter Lewis Hamilton and McLaren’s Jenson Button.

“It’s unbelievable,” Vettel, who lost Kers during part of the race, told reporters.

“I am very, very happy. Kimi was pushing very close in the end but I was pushing in every lap, except from the ones with the safety car.

“I enjoyed today and I could feel Kimi coming and it was quite close with Romain too, but we recovered and I am very happy the race ended after 60 laps and not 61 or 62 laps.”

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The safety car was enforced following a moment of comedy after 24 laps when Jules Bianchi’s parked Marussia began to roll backwards across the track.

With Bianchi having jumped out of his vehicle following an engine problem and small fire, the car ran backwards before hitting an advertising hoarding on the other side of the track.

Earlier, Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber was involved in a moment of controversy during a pit stop when his wheel flew off and hit a cameraman.

Read: Drivers threaten boycott

Allen was treated by medics immediately with the FIA issuing a statement following the accident.

It read: “He was treated at the circuit medical center and then transported by helicopter to Koblenz Hospital. The Briton has been kept there, under observation. Further information from the hospital will be provided as soon as it becomes available.”

Christian Horner, the team principle of Red Bull also confirmed to reporters that Allen had not “suffered serious injury”.

“It’s a timely reminder that working in the pit lane is dangerous,” he said.

“Everyone reacted incredibly quickly and the most important thing is to hear that he seems to be fundamentally OK.”

Tire trouble

After the six blowouts at Silverstone last weekend and the threat of a boycott by the Grand Prix Drivers Association should similar happen again, Formula One’s official tire supplier Pirelli modified its rear tires with a Kevlar strip to help prevent punctures.

It appeared to do the trick, although there was still stinging criticism from Hamilton, who finished fifth.

“I have nothing positive to say about these tires,” the Mercedes driver told reporters.

“I don’t understand why we struggle so much on them. But the team is working hard and we need to keep pushing.

“We didn’t have any blowouts this weekend, but I don’t particularly like the tires. But everyone else is getting on with them, so we have to work harder.”

Meanwhile, Raikkonen has now recorded points in his past 26 races and revealed he suffered communication problems as the afternoon wore on.

“My radio only worked in one part of the circuit and unfortunately today there was quite a lot to discuss,” he told reporters.

“It wasn’t ideal. We did well but we didn’t have the speed. Maybe the race could have been a little longer. The result wasn’t ideal for us but we are getting back to where we should be.”