Germany – Qualifying: Dominant Hamilton, Ferrari at a Standstill

While the entire paddock anticipated the arrival of rain for the qualifications, they ultimately took place on a perfectly dry track, albeit in a heavy atmosphere with thick clouds.

The first sensation of Q1 was the worrying radio message from Sebastian Vettel during his first warm-up lap. Indeed, he indicated that he had a loss of power and felt that something had broken on his car. He then dove into the pit lane and his mechanics immediately sprang into action on his single-seater, removing the engine cover. But after ten minutes, the local favorite was forced to retire, without any lap time to his name. The team later revealed it was a problem with his turbo.

The other surprise was seeing the Mercedes far off the pace during their first attempt. On his second fast lap, Valtteri Bottas was behind Kimi Räikkönen’s Alfa Romeo, while Lewis Hamilton set the third-fastest time of the session but was more than six-tenths behind Charles Leclerc’s benchmark.

Racing Point confirmed that the improvements made to their car made the difference as Lance Stroll finally managed to get out of Q1, achieving the 14th fastest time of the session. This is the first time this has happened in 155 qualifying sessions. On the contrary, there was great disappointment at McLaren, seeing Lando Norris fail in 16th position. Pierre Gasly was forced to go back out in the last minutes to get out of a bad spot where he was in 15th position. However, the Frenchman was able to set the 4th fastest time, ahead of a surprising Kimi Räikkönen.

The Q1 eliminations are: Norris, Albon, Russell, Kubica, and Vettel.

For the first stint in Q2, Pierre Gasly was the only driver in the top 3 to start on mediums, while the other four favored mediums with the race in mind. However, this first lap was somewhat complicated as Charles Leclerc was forced to complete a second flying lap to set a significant time.

More serious for Max Verstappen, who reported a loss of power over the radio. The Dutchman was nevertheless able to get back on track quickly. To limit the risks, Red Bull then decided to send him back out with soft tires. This proved sufficient to achieve the 5th fastest time, behind his teammate.

Sergio Perez once again demonstrated his ability to get the best out of his car by making it into Q3, with just 10 thousandths of a second ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi’s Alfa Romeo, while Lance Stroll was relegated to 15th place. To see how tight the midfield battle is, consider that Nico Hülkenberg set the 8th fastest time with only 33 thousandths of a second ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo, 13th. Romain Grosjean also won the battle at Haas by being 9th while Kevin Magnussen settled for 12th place.

The drivers eliminated in Q2 are: Giovinazzi, Magnussen, Ricciardo, Kvyat, and Stroll.

This Q3 session unfolded with eight different teams represented in the top 10! However, not all of them were able to defend their chances in the same way! The disaster continued for Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc this time being forced to step out of his car without setting a time due to a problem with his fuel system.

Mercedes made the most of the situation. Lewis Hamilton set a sensational first lap, over three-tenths ahead of Max Verstappen and nearly half a second ahead of his teammate. He secured his first pole position in Germany since 2008. Mercedes capitalized by completing its retro-themed marketing plan for the weekend.

The performance of the British driver is all the more remarkable given that he was physically compromised by a fever, nearly making him withdraw from the day. Far behind him, the battle was extremely tight, with only 16 thousandths of a second separating Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas after their second attempt.

Kimi Räikkönen confirmed his good form to the end by being the best of the rest, in 5th position, just 16 thousandths of a second behind Pierre Gasly. Romain Grosjean could smile with his 6th place. Carlos Sainz was able to make the most of his car to finish 7th, ahead of Sergio Perez’s Racing Point and Nico Hülkenberg’s Renault.

From our special correspondent in Hockenheim