Ferrari's team orders resulted in a fine of $100,000 by the race stewards but avoided further punishment from the FIA World Motor Sport Council in September 2010.

Red Bull slightly reduced the deficit to McLaren in the Constructors' Championship, while Ferrari moved further ahead of Mercedes, with eight races left in the season.

The 2010 German Grand Prix was the eleventh scheduled race of the 2010 Formula One season and was held on 25 July 2010 at the Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

The teams (also known as constructors) were: McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, Williams, Renault, Force India, Toro Rosso, Lotus, Hispania, Sauber and Virgin.

[4][6] Bridgestone selected those compounds in an attempt to improve the excitement of Formula One after a large amount of degradation and graining was observed during the Canadian Grand Prix.

[9] After the previous German Grand Prix (at the Nürburgring) in July 2009, the future of the race was in doubt after the government of Baden-Württemberg and the town of Hockenheim withdrew their funding for the event.

Planned discussions between the owner of Formula One's commercial rights Bernie Ecclestone and the Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg Günther Oettinger to renegotiate the expenses for hosting the event had ended after Ecclestone made controversial comments regarding Adolf Hitler, and the organisers of the Nürburgring circuit announced that they would not hold the race in 2010 because of a commitment to hold the event in 2011.

Alonso had been largely affected by safety car periods in Valencia and Silverstone despite his team having narrowed the performance gap on their championship rivals.

[15] Red Bull introduced minor improvements to their car's F-duct system and both of their drivers used a front wing specification which courted controversy at the preceding British Grand Prix.

Jenson Button was third-fastest despite reporting a handling imbalance, ahead of Rubens Barrichello (who spun at high-speed at turn three after driving into a large amount of standing water) Vitaly Petrov, Rosberg and Sébastien Buemi.

Rosberg was fifth-fastest (despite damaging his front wing after he collided with a kerb bollard), ahead of his Mercedes teammate Michael Schumacher in sixth.

Drivers were initially forced to use intermediate tyres before switching later to dry-weather conditions and the teams worked on car set-up for qualifying.

Sutil was unable to record a lap time when his Force India's driveshaft broke though he managed to return to his garage and lost 45 minutes of running.

Button was happy with his lap whilst Hamilton said his qualifying pace was poor despite the McLaren drivers recording the fastest speeds on the circuit's main straight.

[31] Timo Glock was penalised five positions on the grid twice because his team changed his gearbox and fitted a seventh-gear ratio that was undeclared on Friday.

Liuzzi exited turn 15 to complete his second timed lap, ran over a wet patch of astroturf causing him to lose control of the back-end of his Force India, sending him across the track to make heavy contact with the front of his car.

[33] Ferrari responded to Red Bull's decision by bringing Alonso and Massa in for their stops in quick succession, handing the lead to Button.

[37] Alonso rejoined ahead of Vettel, and was followed by Webber, but he exited the pit lane among a pack of slower cars and was immediately challenged by Kobayashi.

[33] Alonso and Massa had caught up to slower cars by the same lap, which allowed the former to attempt a pass on the Brazilian by driving on the inside line heading into the turn six hairpin.

He was angry and told his team "This is ridiculous" because he saw Massa placing him in danger of being challenged by both the Red Bull cars; it prompted intense discussion regarding the matter on the Ferrari pit wall.

The Ferrari cars began to set faster lap times than the rest of the field as Massa started to pull away from Alonso and held a lead of three seconds over his teammate.

Based on Smedley's tone, commentators surmised that it had been a coded message from engineer to driver telling Massa to move over and allow Alonso through.

Di Grassi, at turn one on the same lap,[36] hit a kerb damaging his car's rear suspension, which rendered him unable to continue in the race.

Petrov was on course to score one point but was told by his team to shift early into seventh gear on lap 58 otherwise his maximum revolutions per minute would be changed to a lower setting.

[34] De La Rosa sustained damage to a section of his front wing while Kovalainen drove to his garage and vacated his car to become the Grand Prix's final retirement on lap 61.

[33] Vettel continued to push hard in his effort to pass Massa for second place, while Hamilton was told he was no longer required to conserve fuel on the 63rd lap.

Kobayashi, Barrichello, Hülkenberg, De La Rosa, Alguersuari, Liuzzi, Sutil, Glock and Senna were the final classified finishers.

[40] Force India's chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer said the confusion resulting in the error of fitting the wrong tyres for both their drivers was an example of cause and effect.

[45] BBC Sport pundit and former team owner Eddie Jordan was more vocal, stating the orders were "unlawful", felt it was "theft", and prevented the chance of having a race-winning battle between the two Ferrari drivers.

[9] McLaren maintained their lead in the Constructors' Championship, although Red Bull's finish of third and sixth meant they reduced the gap by one point.