Eifel Grand Prix: The Editorial Team’s Top/Flop

1. Nico Hülkenberg – the super substitute of F1:

You can’t get more “Just in Time” than Nico Hülkenberg this weekend. While at 11 a.m. on Saturday he was having a coffee in Cologne, he found himself in the Racing Point seat less than four hours later, ready to line up for qualifying!

Yes, there was no miracle in qualifying, and he could do no better than last. But how could it have been any different when he hadn’t driven at all since Silverstone and especially since he had never driven an F1 car at the Nürburgring? Being only a second behind his teammate in these conditions was already very commendable.

During the race, he had the merit of making no mistakes and seizing opportunities. After the safety car intervention, he showed opportunism by snatching eighth place from Romain Grosjean. Although he indeed benefited from the five retirements, his race was nonetheless remarkable, and the points he brought back could prove valuable at the end of the season for gaining (or not) third place in the Constructors’ Championship. Thanks to him, only Racing Point was able to score points with both cars yesterday.

2. Pierre Gasly – still as consistent and solid:

There was an almost palpable sense of relief that he hadn’t made it to Q3 and wouldn’t be starting from the top 10. The reason? He would be free with his tire strategy. This proved to be advantageous on Sunday as Pierre Gasly climbed from twelfth on the grid to finish in sixth place. He made no mistakes throughout the race and executed some impressive overtakes, notably on his childhood friend Charles Leclerc.

From an accounting point of view, he finds himself in tenth place in the championship, with almost four times as many points as his teammate. He is thus only eleven points behind Alex Albon, who is with Red Bull.

3. Lewis Hamilton – further into the legend of F1:

Certainly, Lewis Hamilton did not have the most thrilling or memorable race of his career. Nevertheless, it still goes down in the history books by allowing him to equal the previously deemed unreachable record of Michael Schumacher, with 91 victories.

He achieved it with style, without making any mistakes. Although he was clearly outpaced by his teammate in the qualifiers (by more than two-tenths), he showed aggression at the start, though without taking the lead. Later, he capitalized on Valtteri Bottas’s driving error to take first place, and was never threatened by Max Verstappen.

1. Kimi Räikkönen – rough and grumpy:

This weekend, Kimi Räikkönen became the driver with the most starts in F1. The least one can say is that it didn’t warm the heart of Iceman, who didn’t even deign to respond to his engineer who reminded him at the end of the race.

It must be said that his weekend was not the easiest since he was in 19th position on the grid, having only beaten Nico Hülkenberg, who was called in as an emergency that very day… During the race, it was hardly more brilliant as he nearly flipped George Russell after completely missing his braking in a three-way battle with Sebastian Vettel and the Williams driver, which earned him a penalty.

Dominated on Saturday and Sunday by his teammate, Antonio Giovinazzi, who is expected to leave, the Finn has not clearly stated his intentions to continue in F1 next season.

2. Alex Albon – still far from the mark:

To say that Alex Albon’s 2020 season is complicated is an understatement. Once again, Max Verstappen relegated him to more than half a second in qualifying. A chasm on the scale of F1.

In the race, it was hardly more brilliant as he was outpaced by Daniel Ricciardo and chose to opt for a very early pit stop rather than trying to regain his position on the track while the Australian was desperately trying to overtake Charles Leclerc.

But the risk of ending up in the middle of the pack is that you expose yourself to on-track battles. Thus, he complained that Pierre Gasly’s defense was too tough for him while the Frenchman was merely defending his position, by the book. Then, when he overtook Daniil Kvyat, he acted as if the Russian was no longer there and moved sharply in front of the AlphaTauri driver, breaking the latter’s front wing in the process. Ultimately, his reliability issue ended his last hopes and brought his race, once again, to a disappointing conclusion.

3. The weather – unfulfilled promises:

With the planning of a race in early October in the Eifel mountains, one could expect a race disrupted by the weather, possibly with alternating wet/dry track conditions, capable of shuffling all the cards like last year in Hockenheim. Friday looked promising with both sessions canceled due to persistent fog.

But by Saturday, the sun was shining again and never left the Nürburgring. Mother Nature missed an opportunity to make headlines, which is a real shame!