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Lewis Hamilton branded Sebastian Vettel immature as the German Grand Prix exploded in a public row.

Tempers boiled over when the world champion’s six-year quest to win his home race went ­unfulfilled once again.

Worse still he was demoted from second place to fifth for an illegal overtaking move on Jenson Button in a dramatic penultimate lap at Hockenheim.

Earlier the Red Bull racer waved an arm in frustration at Button’s team-mate as Hamilton tried to unlap himself and started mixing it with the race leaders.

“It’s a bit stupid to disturb the leaders,” said Vettel. “He was a lap down so I don’t see the point. That potentially lost us the position to Jenson. That wasn’t nice of him.”

If Hamilton wanted to race after suffering a puncture on the opening lap and falling to the back of the field, Vettel said ­effectively that he should go and play with the other also-rans.

(Image: Reuters)

He added: “Why was he trying to race us? If he wants to go fast he can drop back find a gap and go faster there.

Hamilton was in no mood to concede the point as his landmark 100th grand prix had a far from glorious ending with his name alongside the only retirement of the day.

A punctured tyre resulted in a broken rear diffuser and differential.

“It doesn’t really bother me what he says,” said Hamilton. “I guess. It shows his maturity.

“I don’t think I’ve made any silly decisions throughout the race. I had nothing to gain apart from staying out of the way of my team-mate.

“I never give up, so I’m not going to back off and let everyone past me when I’ve got the pace to go past the guy in front.”

If Vettel was unhappy just after the race he did not have to wait long for things to get substantially worse.

Having taken a run at Button on the penultimate lap he only managed to get past because he could use the run-off area to carry the speed out of the corner.

His reasoning, though, was undiluted Michael Schumacher: “Clearly it’s not an advantage if you try to accelerate on the paint rather than the circuit.

“The last thing you want at that stage of the race is to crash so I tried to give him enough room .”

(Image: Reuters)

The stewards did not buy it and gave Vettel a 20 second drive-through penalty for “gaining an advantage”.

He would have been less worried about the time penalty than the extra six points it distanced him in the title race from team-mate Mark Webber and winner Alonso.

“We’re not saying Lewis did anything wrong,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

“But it was nip and tuck between Fernando, Jenson and Seb. Seb probably dropped one second when Lewis unlapped himself and when you’re fighting over tenths and hundredths it’s frustrating.”

Vettel’s frustration was unleashed partly because he lost second place to Button by little more than a car’s length – hundredths of a second – as he roared out from his second stop.

But the split times of sector two of lap 35 show Vettel lost 0.6s to Button and 0.4s to Alonso as he was overtaken by Hamilton.

In a season this close, such ­fractions could turn out to be the price of shattered dreams.

Red Bull’s day ended, as it begun, in the stewards office after they were cleared for fielding an illegal car for qualifying.

Vettel, Hamilton and Button made the headlines but it was Ferrari’s Alonso who notched up a hat-trick of wins for the season in remarkably impressive fashion.

He continues to build on his reputation as the stand-out driver of his generation and is the only man to have scored points in every race so far this campaign.

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