Ahead the German GP dark clouds were lurking over the Hockenheim Ring, and the weather forecast predicted 60 % chance of rain during the race. All top ten drivers started to the race on the softest compound. Red Bull's Ricciardo in P20, instead, was the only driver to start to the race on the white-walled medium compound. Hamilton in P14 opted for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. The start was very smooth this time. Home hero Sebastian confidently held on to his lead and was followed by Mercedes' Bottas and teammate Kimi. Verstappen, who had started from P4, tried to attack Kimi in the first corners, but Kimi defended his position excellently. Hamilton immediately started a battle of his own, storming through the field. To the Briton's delight the Hockenheim Ring offered many chances for overtaking moves.
The top four drivers -Sebastian, Bottas, Kimi and Verstappen- were speed-wise in a class of their own, and Haas' Magnussen in P5 was totally unable to match their pace. By lap 14 Hamilton had made his way through the field, and overtaking the Dane made him move 5th already. Hamilton had definitely made overtaking look easy, but that wasn't the case for Ricciardo, who had started to the race from the back of the pack. The medium tyres and lacking straight line speed made overtaking much harder for the Australian.
Kimi was the driver, who opened the pit stop roulette on lap 15. The Iceman switched to the middle compound, which anticipated a possible two-stop strategy for the Finn. Kimi re-joined the track right ahead of Hamilton. At this point Sebastian had a 4.5-second gap to the other Finn Bottas, and Verstappen, on the other hand, was 6 seconds behind Bottas. Race leader Sebastian pitted on lap 25, also for a fresh set of soft Pirellis. The German re-joined the track in P4, just barely ahead of Hamilton, who hadn't pitted yet.
The red cars' pace was absolutely convincing, Sebastian and Kimi being the fastest men on track on their fresh tyres. As Bottas and Verstappen pitted on the sequential laps, both for soft Pirellis, Kimi was now leading the race. Meanwhile, Ricciardo's race came to a premature end, as his RB14 was hit with a power unit failure and stopped on the track. Once again Red Bull was hit with a reliability issue!
Around the halfway point of the race, Sebastian was right at his teammate's tail on his fresher tyres. Sebastian was complaining on the team radio, that his tyres were overheating and that he would be able to set faster lap times, had he been let to take the lead. A few laps later Kimi let his teammate past, so it was a clear team order. However, Sebastian was a man of his words, and started immediately to set lap times, that were half-a-second faster than Kimi's.
Hamilton pitted finally on lap 43, for a fresh set of ultra-soft Pirellis, which meant an aggressive strategy for the Briton. Hamilton re-joined the track in P5. But on the following lap the predicted rain came! It was a very local shower, as it was raining only around Turn 6. It threw a serious challenge for all teams; which would be the right tyre choice? Sauber immediately called Leclerc in, and the Monegasque switched to the intermediate tyres. Also Verstappen was called in for the intermediates, but the other top drivers stayed out on the slicks. However, the rain started to decrease very soon, and the intermediate tyres turned out to be a wrong call. So both Leclerc and Verstappen were called in again, and they switched back to slicks. Verstappen´s P4 was already secured, so an extra pit stop didn't cost the Dutchman any positions.
By lap 50 Bottas had closed the gap to his compatriot Kimi. They were hitting traffic, and Kimi made a small mistake, which Bottas used right away and passed the Iceman, claiming P2. Lap 52 was a dramatic turning point in the race. The conditions were challenging and slippery, and Sebastian paid an extremely high price for that. Sebastian had a 6-second lead, but he simply braked too late and a lock-up made him lose control of his SF71-H. It all happened in quite low speed, but Sebastian ended up sliding inevitably in the tyre wall, and his race was over! What a heart-breaking disappointment for him in front of his home crowd! He had had the most perfect weekend until that moment! A mistake of his own turned victory into a DNF in only a few seconds. I felt absolutely heart-broken for Sebastian!
Safety car was deployed due to Sebastian's crash. The mixed conditions and the safety car episode caused a messy situation at Mercedes. First Hamilton was called in, and Hamilton was already heading to the pit entry. However, he saw Kimi staying out, so he took his FW09 to the grass and headed back to the track. Teammate Bottas drove in the pits, but the team didn't have the ultra-soft tyres ready for the Finn! This caused Bottas some valuable time. Kimi, too had to pit for a fresh set of ultra-softs, and the Iceman re-joined the track in P3. Against all odds Hamilton was now leading the race, having started from P14!
With ten laps to go, the safety car came in, and the race was back on. What a stunning re-start Bottas took! He was right at his teammate's tail, hungry to snatch the lead. However, after an intense wheel-to-wheel battle there was a team order at Mercedes as well. Bottas was told on the team radio, that they should hold their positions. There was some light drizzle on the closing laps, but no more dramatics. Hamilton made a true miracle and won the German GP. Bottas made it a very satisfying 1-2 for the Silver Arrows. Kimi continued his impressive streak of podium finishes. Verstappen finished fourth after driving a strong race. The other home hero Hulkenberg finished 5th for Renault and Grosjean crossed the finish line in P6 for Haas. Perez and Ocon in their pink cars claimed P7 and P8. This time Ericsson got the upper hand on teammate Leclerc, finishing 9th. Finally Toro Rosso's Hartley managed to put together a solid race, and the New Zealander was very happy for scoring the one point by finishing 10th.
Sebastian's mistake had costly consequences. His 8-point lead in the championship standings slipped through his fingers, and now Hamilton is leading the standings by 17 points! The Red Team also lost their lead in the constructors' standings, and now Mercedes have an 8-point gap to the Scuderia. Luckily the next race is just round the corner, as the Hungarian GP takes place already next week. I'm confident, that Sebastian knows, how to turn this difficult time into success again! Forza Ferrari always!
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti