GERMAN F1 GP – THE RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES

One just has to look at the results to know that the 2019 German Grand Prix was truly something out of the ordinary. While Max Verstappen’s win was a welcome change to the dominance of the Mercedes team, it was not totally unexpected given the manner in which the Honda powered Red Bull cars have reduced the gap to the all conquering Mercedes.

On the other hand, the sight of Danirel Kvyat in a battle with Lance Stroll for the final place the podium was the last thing we would have expected to see as the cars lined up on the grid. A combination of early rain and then changable grip levels as the track gradually dried led to a significant number of driver errors, accidents and Safety Car interventions.

What was meant to be a celebration of Mercedes at their home Grand Prix turned into a nightmare as both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas slipped off the track and into the barriers after having led the field during the opening laps of the race.

Hamilton was able to continue only to be delayed by a lengthy pitstop as the team were totally unprepared to replace the front wing that was damaged in the incident and were running around trying figure out which tyres where what, slicks or intermediates, and which car they belonged too. Hamilton finished outside the top 10. Bottas took over the reigns and held the hopes of the Silver Arrows, only to become yet another statistic when he crashed into the barriers at turn 1. The accident left team boss Toto Wolff seething as he smashed his fist down heavily on a table.

“It doesn’t make it any easier when you have a day like this,” Wolff explained to Sky Sport. “We had a decent start to the race, with good pace but then obviously you add incidents, cars crashing out in tricky conditions, making the wrong calls, and this is where it can all start to go wrong. Many others made the mistake, (Charles) Leclerc crashed, but overall for us it was a bad day for the drivers. Simply, it cannot have gone much worse. It (the Hamilton pitstop delay) was unfortunate because he crashed right at the entry of the box of the pit lane and you’re not prepared and we made the wrong calls afterwards.”

Lewis Hamilton summed up the mood well. “It’s been a bad day, a bad weekend. Probably the worst day in the office for a long time.“I don’t really know what happened today to be honest, but I’m glad that it’s over.”

There was a similar feeling in the Renault garage after Nico Hulkenberg surrended the possibility of a career first F1 podium when he also crashed out of the race.

“I’m upset for myself, the team and for Renault because they deserved an excellent result today,

” Hulkenberg was quoted as saying in the team’s press release. “It’s one of those days where you have to make it stick, and I’m just gutted with how it ended especially in front of the home crowd. The final corner was very tricky as it was damp. I lost the rear a bit, went into a spin so I opened the steering and went onto the black tarmac. It was like ice there and by that point I couldn’t stop the car. We were doing a phenomenal job, strategy was very difficult so it hurts and it will hurt even more tomorrow.”

Daniel Riccardo had seen his prayers answered when rain fell across the circuit but hardly had the chance to impress before his race ended in a plume of smoke with an exhaust failure. A team decision to run an older power unit perhaps cost the Australian the opportunity to prove his mettle in potentially difficult conditions.

It many ways it was a race scripted for the underdog. As Riccardo himself eluded to in the pre-race round of press conferences, the prospect of rain gave the opportunity for others to shine in cars less proficient in engine and chassis refinements. Robert Kubica’s 10th place finish brought Williams their first points in F1 for some time and provided a glimmer of hope for the team as they struggle to climb from the bottom of the grid.

Charles Leclerc’s run of success came to a sudden end in Germany while teammate Sebastian Vettel stayed on track in 2019 to claim 2nd place at the finish. Leclerc was highly critical of the track conditions at the time of his accident, but also ultimately accepted his mistake.

“It doesn’t make anything better for my mistake but, first of all, I think the tarmac in the last two corners — it’s just unacceptable we have that on a Formula 1 track when it’s wet,” Leclerc said. “We can’t have so much low grip. We’ve seen other drivers (go off), maybe I was the only one on slicks but I was at 60kph and had absolutely no grip. There’s something there. But overall that does not forgive my mistake. I’m completely at fault today and it’s a huge shame. I’m very sorry for the fans and the team.”

Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi had both finished in the points for the Allfa Romeo Racing Ferrari Team, only to drop to 11th and 12th as the last to finish after a post race penalty was applied. The final results saw Lewis Hamilton elevated to 9th place and Kubica 10th.

Results

1. Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing Honda
2. Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari
3. Daniil Kvyat  Scuderia Torro Rosso Honda
4. Lance Stroll Racing Point BWT Mercedes
5. Carlos Sainz McLaren Renault
6. Alex Albon  Scuderia Torro Rosso Honda
7. Romain Grosjean Haas Ferrari
8. Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari
9. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
10. Robert Kubica Williams Mercedes

Main Image: F1 Media

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