Behind The Headlines – Germany
The German Grand Prix was one of the best wet dry races I’ve ever seen. There was so much drama from the start we saw the conditions throw all kinds of variables and that became one of the stories of the race, weather, tyres and strategy.
But the race reminded me of the chaos we had at the Nürburgring in 2007 when we saw many drivers were caught up in the chaos. We knew on paper this was a race for Mercedes to lose and they were arguably the biggest losers.
That really was a surprise as we normally see Hamilton as the man to beat in the wet. But the Mercedes driver made so many mistakes as did teammate Valtteri Bottas, as well as strategy finishing out of the points only to gain points from the technical infringements by Alfa Romeo.
We also know now that Hamilton wasn’t well, that wouldn’t have helped as he was fighting his own body and that is what might of lead to the mistakes.
Hamilton knows that last years race was the defining moment of the championship, when Sebastian Vettel crashed out from the lead at Sachs arguably losing the championship. He knows that going to Budapest, and then into the second half of the season he should bounce back as he is normally the best driver in these races.
Vettel’s error a year ago was the defining moment of his past twelve months, but to return to Hockenheim and finish on the podium will be a boost. It was a race which saw many drivers have moments when they went off and were forced to recover.
In another cruel twist, Charles Leclerc he was the second Ferrari in two races to crash out of the race at Sachs exactly where Vettel binned it last season. He ran onto the drag strip as did many drivers which held the water like many drivers.
That proved to be a key moment in the race, as it allowed Verstappen to make a free stop and switch to a fresh set of inters. But Ferrari’s gamble of switching him to the soft tyres to jump Bottas and Verstappen was in hindsight to bigger gamble.
Vettel’s gamble. Paid off allowing him to take second from last, but if he had started further up could he have won? The answer will never be known, because while the Ferrari has shown
But the FIA say they have no concerns following a post-race inspection of the area, but he insisted it was no different to run-off areas at other tracks. Drivers shouldn’t be there as it’s a runoff area, the governing body believes that it is no different to other areas of the track
There are so many different stories from Hockenheim. The race reminded me of the 2007 ‘Grand Prix of Europe’ at the Nürburgring, that was another wet race where Hamilton made a mistake and finished out of the points.
After Hamilton, you have to say that Max Verstappen is the most inform driver at the moment. Like the five-times champion we know that Verstappen can be one of the feared drivers in the wet as well as the dry, we all wanted that race-long battle
Daniil Kvyat scored his first podium since the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix. This came the day after his partner Kelly Piquet, daughter of three times champion Nelson, gave birth to there daughter. The Russian, who was fired by Red Bull a race later and then dropped after Japan 2017 has really matured during his year at Ferrari as test driver.
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