Alonso wins at Hockenheim

Fernando Alonso has won the German Grand Prix, following a thrilling three-way battle with Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button.

The Spaniard becomes the first driver to win three races so far this season - following victories in Malaysia and the European Grand Prix at Valencia - and he now has 154 points at the head of the drivers' championship table, ahead of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel with 120 and 110 respectively.

Alonso started the race from pole and was first into turn one ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, who was busy fending off an attack from Michael Schumacher.

Further back, Jenson Button made a strong start from sixth on the grid. He overtook Pastor Maldonado on the first lap, squeezed past Nico Hulkenberg shortly afterwards and by lap 11, he'd passed Schumacher for third.

Alonso battled to stay ahead of Vettel and Button until the final few laps of the race, when fresher tyres and use of DRS allowed him to finish the race three seconds ahead of Vettel.

Vettel had managed to overtake Button on the penultimate lap to take second but, in doing so, he was forced to use the run-off area at the exit of the corner. The stewards decided this gave him an unfair advantage and he was handed a drive-through penalty. Because it was awarded after the race, this became a 20-second penalty, and Vettel was demoted to fifth.

Kimi Raikkonen inherited third place for Lotus, ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Sergio Perez in fourth and sixth respectively for Sauber. Michael Schumacher finished seventh having lost a few places for a third pit stop, while Mark Webber finished where he started in eighth place. Nico Hulkenberg and Nico Rosberg took the final few points in their home race.

The biggest casualty of the day was Lewis Hamilton, who was the only driver not to finish the race. He qualified seventh but lost a place to Mark Webber at the start, and then picked up a puncture just a few laps later.

Following his second pit stop, the McLaren driver had been lapped by the race leaders but he managed to unlap himself from Vettel, who was struggling with a KERS problem. The Red Bull driver wasn't amused, and later said: “I don’t see the point in him trying to race us. It is a bit stupid to race the leaders.” Hamilton eventually retired from the race with a gearbox problem.

2012 German Grand Prix result

*20-second penalty for overtaking off the track