Germany – Race: Renaissance for Hamilton, Disaster for Vettel!

The twenty protagonists of this German weekend found themselves in joyful uncertainty! Shortly before the start, the heat made its comeback above the drivers’ heads. But unlike Friday, a thunderstorm was threatening at the time of grid formation. The first surprise came with Pierre Gasly’s engine change last night. The Toro Rosso driver took a twenty-place penalty and joined Daniel Ricciardo on the back row. A grid where the heavy hitters were scattered everywhere, with Lewis Hamilton starting from fourteenth place after a much-discussed hydraulic failure at the end of Q1. Meanwhile, his rival made the best of it, with Sebastian Vettel starting from pole. Beside him was the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas, while Kimi Räikkönen and Max Verstappen occupied the second row. The two Haas cars of Magnussen and Grosjean led the “others” from the third row.

Hamilton gains eleven positions in fourteen laps!

It was therefore in front of packed grandstands (120,000 seats!) that the Scuderia Ferrari driver led the pack during the formation lap. We then discovered the tire choices of the competitors beyond the tenth place. The majority of the field started on softs, like Alonso, Hamilton, or Gasly. Ocon, on the other hand, started on ultra-softs while Ricciardo opted for the hardest compound, the medium.

Two minutes later, the start of the eleventh race of the season was given! A cautious start, the top 3 remained the same. However, changes occurred behind: Grosjean had been pushed off the trajectory and lost a position to Hülkenberg. Hamilton advanced to 12th on the first lap, with Sirotkin and Ocon not putting up resistance. The four-time world champion then passed Alonso and moved into the top 10, knocking Leclerc out on the 4th lap.

LAP 4/67

Hamilton cuts past Leclerc to move up into the points 👍#GermanGP 🇩🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/m8WjBNfZAH

— Formula 1 (@F1) 22 juillet /f1/actualite/22845-erreur-humaine-erreur-mecanique-quelle-est-la-cause-de-labandon-dhamilton-.html

Not impressed, Vettel delighted his spectators by pulling away from Valtteri Bottas, with a gap of 2.5 seconds after 5 laps, securing the fastest lap.

Moving back up to this level, Hamilton witnessed Pérez overtaking Grosjean on the eighth lap. The Mexican executed a robust maneuver and the Frenchman was pushed beyond the curb again, this time at the sixth corner. The Haas driver was already reporting significant degradation on his rear tires, victims of blistering.

Obviously, Hamilton made short work of it a few moments later. The Force India driver and Nico Hülkenberg were his next victims. Kévin Magnussen completed the list, overtaken with DRS: Hamilton became fifth! However, Kimi Räikkönen slipped just in front of him during his first stop on lap 15. Vettel’s teammate opted for soft tires.

On his medium tires, Daniel Ricciardo was progressing more slowly. He only entered the top 10 on the 20th lap, as the Red Bull driver got rid of Leclerc.

“Kimi, Seb is faster than you”

The unfolding of the race then depended on the pit stops. A strong leader, Vettel made his tire change on the 26th lap, switching to soft tires. Good timing from Scuderia Ferrari, as they brought their driver out just ahead of Hamilton. Mercedes pitted Valtteri Bottas on the 29th lap, who also switched to soft tires. The Finn emerged ten seconds behind Vettel, with Hamilton sandwiched in between. However, the leader was… Räikkönen, a good second ahead of Vettel. “Iceman” had started his second stint with a bang!

In the aftermath, the race lost a competitor: Daniel Ricciardo stopped on the grass, a victim of a power loss. Already the fourth retirement of the season for the Australian driver, the third due to a mechanical problem.

The Red Bull driver did not have the chance to experience the Ferrari dilemma. Behind Räikkönen, Vettel was destroying his rear tires!

Disguised, the order was finally given on the 39th lap: Vettel passed his teammate without opposition on the straight leading to the hairpin at the sixth corner. A funny remake, eight years after the Alonso-Massa incident, on the same circuit! A few seconds behind this internal duel, Hamilton made his first pit stop on the 43rd lap to switch to ultra-soft tires. Rejoining in fifth place, the four-time world champion could face the arrival of the rain more calmly, which started to wet the track from the 44th lap, beginning at the hairpin of the sixth corner.

The rain changes everything!

From the 45th lap, Leclerc and Alonso switched to intermediate tires, followed by Verstappen at the end of the 47th lap. Vettel, on the other hand, had a scare when he broke a piece of his front wing on the curb of the last corner. The rain didn’t worry him yet: the drivers who had switched to wet tires went back to the pits to put on slicks again. In fourth place, Hamilton was attacking at maximum pace, closing in quickly on Bottas, who was 1.5 seconds behind Räikkönen. For the 2007 world champion, the traffic ahead of him caused him to lose his second place: Magnussen inadvertently boxed him in, and Bottas took advantage!

The rain continued to spice up the race, and this time it hit… the leader! On lap 53, Sebastian Vettel ended up in the wall at turn thirteen, in front of the Stadium fans. The race plunged into confusion: Valtteri Bottas rushed to the pits, but his team was not ready. The Finn lost an eternity of seconds and fell behind Hamilton. Jackpot for the Briton, who took the lead on lap 54, after Räikkönen’s stop. But the four-time world champion had a close call, hesitating on his strategy and cutting through the grass before the pit lane.

⚠️ SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED (LAP 52/67) ⚠️

VETTEL CRASHES OUT OF THE LEAD IN GERMANY 😱 #GermanGP 🇩🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/8RVdIKoptZ

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 22

LAP 53/67

Hamilton looks to come into the pits…

But instead stays out, and leads under Safety Car#GermanGP 🇩🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/lHBfioSng8

— Formula 1 (@F1) 22 juillet /f1/actualite/22845-erreur-humaine-erreur-mecanique-quelle-est-la-cause-de-labandon-dhamilton-.html

The Safety Car released the drivers with 10 laps remaining. The top 5 was as follows: Hamilton-Bottas-Räikkönen-Verstappen-Hülkenberg. Completing the top 10: Pérez, Ocon, Ericsson, Hartley, Grosjean. All had switched to dry tires. Bottas tried to attack Hamilton, but the Mercedes pit wall calmed the enthusiasm of driver #77, asking him to hold the positions. The race concluded in this order, at least for the top 5.

Lewis Hamilton defies all expectations to win the German Grand Prix. A jackpot for the Mercedes team: Bottas secures the second double of the season! Ferrari only manages a simple third place with Kimi Räikkönen.

What can we say… Now that… that’s what @F1 is all about! @LewisHamilton WINS an absolutely MENTAL #GermanGP! VB makes it a 1-2!

GET INNNNNNNNNNNN!!!! 💪💪💪 pic.twitter.com/C9rdaoBghl

— Mercedes-AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) July 22</f1/actualite/22845-erreur-humaine-erreur-mecanique-quelle-est-la-cause-de-labandon-dhamilton.html

Behind, the satisfactions are on the side of Nico Hülkenberg and Romain Grosjean, respectively fifth and sixth. The French driver achieves his second top 10 in /f1/actualite/22845-erreur-humaine-erreur-mecanique-quelle-est-la-cause-de-labandon-dhamilton-.html, after gaining four places in the final laps! The podium was celebrated under a true downpour that waited until the end of the race to burst. Lewis Hamilton received his trophy, and boos were perceptible, coming from a German audience frustrated by the withdrawal of their hero.

Win number 44 driving car #44!#GermanGP 🇩🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/vpfmOqHlw9

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 22 /f1/actualite/22845-erreur-humaine-erreur-mecanique-quelle-est-la-cause-de-labandon-dhamilton-.html

Here is the final ranking of this epic race!

🏁 RACE CLASSIFICATION (Chequered flag) 🏁

Hamilton weathers the storm to take win number four of /f1/actualite/22845-erreur-humaine-erreur-mecanique-quelle-est-la-cause-de-labandon-dhamilton-.html!#GermanGP 🇩🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/48pO4PnPw1

— Formula 1 (@F1) 22 juillet /f1/actualite/22845-erreur-humaine-erreur-mecanique-quelle-est-la-cause-de-labandon-dhamilton-.html

Overall, the British driver regains the lead in the drivers’ standings, with a 17-point advantage over Vettel. His team does the same in the constructors’ standings, by eight points. Sebastian Vettel will be kicking himself…