Red Bull, not Mercedes, wins the Mercedes German Grand Prix. Alfa Romeo and Toro Rosso make strides, as Vettel (Ferrari) comes from last place to finish second.
HOCKENHEIM, Germany—July 28th—It was one of the most exciting races to come around the sport in quite a long time. Max Verstappen came through endless rounds of drivers spinning, frequent rain showers, and team strategies to win the German Grand Prix Sunday afternoon at Hockenheim.
Sebastian Vettel came from last place, finding his way through the mess to finish his home race in second. Dani Kvyat took his second career podium in his Toro Rosso in third.
For Verstappen, it was his second victory of the season and seventh of his career. “It was amazing to win. It was really tricky out there to make the right calls. You had to be focused,” he said afterward.
For Vettel, who had to endure problems over the last few weeks, the runner-up position was a huge relief.
“It was a long race at some stage it felt never-ending,” Vettel explained. “It took a while. But at the beginning, I couldn’t get the hang of it. It was good that the afternoon took so long.”
The best quote of the day came from Kvyat, who had become a father on Saturday.
“It was a horror movie with a black comedy. At some point, I thought the race was done, but it was incredible, a rollercoaster, just like my career,” Kvyat remarked
Verstappen led for good on lap 48 when he passed Lance Stroll. Verstappen executed a perfect strategy by coming in earlier for slick tires just before the track finally dried out laps from the end.
The beginning started with the opening laps being run under the safety car in which many drivers complained that the track was dry enough to start. Sixty-four laps would be run instead of the normal 57 because of the safety car on the formation laps. However, race officials decided that there would be a standing start instead of a rolling one, which could have easily favored pole-sitter, Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen got off to a slow start, spinning his tires, but continued and gradually moved up the grid from fourth place. For others, wet conditions made drivers spin off the course. Sergio Perez became the first driver to do so when the Mexican crashed into turn 11, which was the first of four times during the race. Charles Leclerc, who had moved up to challenge the top cars, ended his day by spinning into the wall on lap 29.
Others who did the same thing at what is called “The skating rink” (the final corner of the circuit). It consumed Nico Hulkenberg who, by lap 41, had moved up to fourth with a good chance to put his Renault into a podium position–something that he has never done. Hamilton also slid into this famous corner, but survived, ripping off his front wing on lap 30. But as Hamilton went into the pits for repairs, he went around the wrong side of the pit pylon and had to serve a five-second penalty. That mistake ruined his chance to receive points for the day. To make things worse for Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas became another victim of slick roads, spinning in the final corner on lap 57. His plight gave Mercedes no points in a race for the first time in quite a while.
Pierre Gasly topped things off by slamming into Alexander Albon, damaging the front of his Red Bull and becoming the last of the retirements.
Stroll finished fourth, which was his best since Azerbaijan last season. Carlos Sainz Jr. kept McLaren’s hopes alive with a fifth place, while Albon (despite his incident with Gasly) finished in sixth.
Hamilton still leads the championship over Bottas by 39 points, but Verstappen’s victory now puts the Dutchman 22 points behind Bottas with another race in Hungary only one week away. “I made a nice 360, I enjoyed that,” Verstappen joked. “It was about trying not to make too many mistakes,” he then said with all seriousness.
