Maybe it wasn´t Nico´s best race of the season, perhaps it wasn´t the most fought for the German but it surely is a seriously important statistic on F1 history on the writing. He became the first German driver to win on home soil with a German made engine, how about that?!
This weekend´s race was marked by the desicion from the FIA to ban FRIC systems (Front-Rear Interconnected Suspension System) which several teams had developed in the fight for a few extra tenths. The results are difficult to read, who benefited from this is the big question, even though tha Mercedes did not seem so far from the rest of the field in previous races..
Hamilton had a hard time in qualifying, yet again, with brake failure in the first session with an added 5 grid penalty that put him in 20th at the start turning this weekend into an uphill for the British driver. Still he managed to do a lot of overtaking and battled his way up to third to barely miss out on second with the fast straight Williams of Valtteri Bottas who seem to calmly keep the right lines to maintain his 2nd place and his impressive third podium finish in a row.
While the podium is important, comparing overall performances, I would say Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull made Alonso wake up and gave a real fight even though with clear tire disadvantage and managed to finish 6th after getting caught on that first lap collission and rejoining 15th, remarkable race from the Aussie. Several drivers fought hard, mexican Sergio Perez fought hard, and also Vettel and Alonso gave another show as well as they fought for 4th.
First lap saw Massa give a little room to team mate Bottas on the inside but when he moved sharply to the inside he failed to notice Kevin Magnussen´s MacLaren was there and they collided with Massa´s right rear touching Magnussen´s left front flipping the Williams out of the race. So another DNF for Massa that really seems more than missfortunate for the Brazilian while Magnussen managed to finish 9th.
Much was said about the desicion from the stewards about displaying only yellow flags when Sutil´s Sauber spinned into a stall at the main straight entrance completely acrross and sideways and the cars were able to go for almost two laps before the Marshalls were able to move it out of the way. Everyone expected a Safety Car that was never released, in my opinion, to the detriment of a more exciting finish but mainly on safety grounds. Marshalls ran from the exiting point on a blind spot for the drivers, totally dangerous and completely unnecessary. Even Hamilton pitted for fresh tires inmediately as a Safety was inminent coming out in sixth and fighting his way back, could have worked for him but in the end the Safety was not released.
Next stop is the Hungaroring in Budapest next weekend, July 27th. Full results from the race at Hockenheim are as follows:
- Nico Rosberg
- Valterri Bottas
- Lewis Hamilton
- Sebastian Vettel
- Fernando Alonso
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Nico Hulkenberg
- Jenson Button
- Kevin Magnussen
- Sergio Perez
- Kimi Raikkonen
- Pastor Maldonado
- Jean-Eric Vergne
- Esteban Gutierrez
- Jules Bianchi
- Kamui Kobayashi
- Max Chilton
- Marcus Ericcson
- Adrian Sutil (DNF-Mechanical)
- Daniil Kvyat (DNF-Fire-Mechanical)
- Romain Grosjean (DNF-Mechanical)
- Felipe Massa (DNF-Accident)
