Two home races for Mercedes’ drivers, and two home victories for Mercedes’ drivers.
The British Grand Prix two weeks ago was headlined by Lewis Hamilton’s victory and Nico Rosberg’s retirement, however Sunday night’s German Grand Prix was headlined by Rosberg’s victory in front of the German faithful.
Rosberg capped off what was a dream week for him, with a victory from pole at Hockenheim coming a week after Germany won the FIFA World Cup in Brazil.
On top of that, Rosberg signed a contract extension with Mercedes, ensuring his place at the Silver Arrows for a few years to come.
He also signed a lengthier contract, as he tied the knot with his long-time fiancé Vivian Sibold during the week.
“The honeymoon is here, at Hockenheim,” joked Rosberg to Sky Sports on Friday.
Rosberg dominated the weekend, although he was pushed to pole position by both Felipe Massa and Valteri Bottas’ Williams.
Rosberg has a quiet yet solid race, controlling the race from the front of the pack yet again.
Hamilton was hampered from the outset after a brake failure during qualifying led to a crash early on Saturday, condemning him to 20th on the grid following a gearbox change after the shunt.
However, Hamilton produced a great drive to finish in third, and now sits 14 points behind his teammate on the championship standings.
During the race though, he collided with Jenson Button’s McLaren, damaging his front wing, which caused him to lose some control on his car throughout the race, with Mercedes making an off-the-cuff call to change him to a three stop strategy, and limit time lost in the pits changing his wing, with speed on the track.
Williams again suffered a weekend of mixed fortune, after a great qualifying session on Saturday.
Massa was again caught up in an opening lap crash, as he was distracted by his teammate’s getaway off the grid, and tangled up with Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren on the opening corner, rolling his car over, and forcing himself to another early exit, and the safety car being deployed.
Bottas though, was able to keep his Williams ahead of a quick Hamilton, and secured second position, his third consecutive podium finish.
This means Bottas has become the first Williams driver since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2003 to do so.
Despite Rosberg keeping a comfortable lead throughout the race, there was plenty of on-track action, particularly between Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso in the closing stages, with Alonso holding on for fifth place, while Ricciardo’s teammate Sebastian Vettel was able to finish in fourth in front of his home crowd.
The final gap between Alonso and Ricciardo was just 0.082 seconds across the finish line.
Rain was expected at some stage through the weekend, although with only showers prior to the GP2 and GP3 races in the morning, there was to be no dramatic mid-race showers to change the structure of the race.
There was plenty of talk about FRIC suspension, or the lack of it, impacting on the race results, although it seemed to be more of what has been expected throughout the season.
The teams now head straight to Budapest for next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, before the month long lay-off over the summer.
Looking for great odds on racing and sport? Get into the action with PlayUp today. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
Five-years is a long time in motorsport, let alone the general state of the world – especially given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic…
Red Bull and Max Verstappen vaulted right back to the top of the charts with a win in Suzuka, after his DNF in Melbourne.
Japan Grand Prix has been the most entertaining of the season to date, but Max Verstappen was back to his winning ways.
This season is only four races old, but Fernando Alonso needs to decide on his future beyond this year sooner rather than later. Formula…
It’s a pretty good time to be a Tasmanian sports fan right now. After years in the sporting wilderness with not much to celebrate,…
The question remains where the Australian Grand Prix winner will be in 2025 and whether it’ll be somewhere his value can truly be appreciated.
