The 2018 Formula 1 German Grand Prix was nothing short of drama especially at the end stages as rain changed the game to help Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton win from Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen after Sebastian Vettel crashed out of the race.
The start was clean for Vettel as he led the way from Bottas and Raikkonen in the opening sequence, while Hamilton was already on charge to get inside the Top 10. There were couple of changes in the midfield though.
Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg passed Haas’ Romain Grosjean for sixth as Force India’s Sergio Perez got ahead of Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Sauber’s Charles Leclerc inside the Top 10. From then, it stayed pretty much intact until the end stages of the race.
Strategically, Raikkonen pitted early on Lap 17 to undercut Bottas which he managed to do so, as Vettel did his tyre change on Lap 26 to come out behind Raikkonen. Hamilton and Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, made it up to the Top 6 by then.
But it was disaster soon for Ricciardo who had to retire on Lap 29 with a suspected engine issue. However, the drama was yet to come as the race turned upside-down when it started to rain on Lap 45 in Turn 6. By that time, Vettel had a comfortable lead from Raikkonen.
Raikkonen was ahead of Vettel after his pit stop but Ferrari asked him to move aside to give Vettel the lead on Lap 40. Few laps later on Lap 43, Hamilton pitted for his first stop to change tyres, which happened to be two laps before it started to rain.
Only a handful of drivers pitted though with the top runners staying out. The rain subsided for the time being, but it returned in Turn 1 a few laps later when chaos hit on the track. The drivers barely had any grip as they moved all around the track.
It was on Lap 52 when the bad luck shifted from Mercedes end to Ferrari’s as Vettel binned it after running wide in the left-hander. The German lost control and went straight onto the tyre barrier – much to the frustration to him and the team.
The safety car was deployed which created further drama as Mercedes pitted Bottas but weren’t ready with the tyres. Replays showed they had total miss-communication which nearly collected Hamilton as he started to dive into the pits but bailed out last moment.
It was crucial for Hamilton to stay out as he took the lead when Ferrari pitted Raikkonen as well. Even with the pit disaster, Bottas was still second ahead of Raikkonen with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen right behind – he had the extra stop for changing to intermediate.
On re-start, Hamilton and Bottas went at each other in the hairpin as the rain stopped with the track also drying out. But Mercedes were quick to ask Bottas to hold station as Hamilton took the victory, with Bottas making it a Mercedes 1-2 in its home grand prix.
With Vettel not finishing, Hamilton now once again has the lead of the drivers’ championship with 188 points to Vettel’s 171. Even with Raikkonen in third, Mercedes have taken over the constructors’ lead as well with 310 points to Ferrari’s 302.
One of the biggest casualty in the race was Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who pitted for a tyre change a lap after Hulkenberg which was enough for the Dane to lose out completely in terms of track position.
The German still had track position under the safety car with Magnussen dropping outside the points. They changed back to dry tyres but the margin was enough to help Hulkenberg secure a fine fifth place in his home grand prix.
The day for Haas was salvaged by Grosjean though after he was able to fight into the points positions. He was at the fag end of the Top 10 when he started to clear the cars ahead one by one.
He made a quick work of Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson as he tucked on to the tail of the Force India’s Perez and Esteban Ocon – the duo having decided to stay out even with the rain falling.
But their tyres were nowhere there against Grosjean’s fresh ones as the Frenchman passed them at ease in the last two laps to finish a fine sixth. Perez eventually finished seventh with Ocon in eighth which moves them ahead of Haas despite both are on same points.
While Leclerc was undone by strategy, teammate Marcus Ericsson idea of staying out helped the Swede as he managed to take another point finish in ninth with Hartley scoring his second-ever point in F1.
The Kiwi was helped by a penalty to Renault’s Carlos Sainz after he was handed a 10-second time penalty for overtaking under the safety car. Missing out hugely was Magnussen who finished in 11th.
Sainz ended up 12th ahead of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne – the Belgian still able to see-through the race after an early scare of retiring the car. Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was another one like Leclerc to attempt a gamble which didn’t work.
The Frencham finished 14th with Leclerc in 15th as the last finishers. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was also the one to pit initially for intermediate tyres but it failed. The Spaniard didn’t finish the race even though he was classified in 16th.
Like McLaren, it was disaster for Williams as well with a double retirement for Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll – even with such chaotic race, the teams were just able to get the job done. They joined Vettel and Ricciardo in the retirement list.
