German Race Round 12

Lewis Hamilton wins the German grand prix and extends his championship advantage to 19 points over team-mate Nico Rosberg in 4th behind the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.


Tyre choice

The strategy today is between a 2 or 3 stop. Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez is the only car starting on the Soft tyre with everyone else starting on the Supersoft tyre.


The lights go green and away we go and Nico Rosberg gets a horrible start and loses the lead to Lewis Hamilton and also gets jumped by both Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton leads ahead of Verstappen, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Further back, Williams Felipe Massa is complaining that someone hit the rear of his car and it was Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and he pits at the end of lap 1. Lap 6, Fernando Alonso overtakes Massa into the hairpin at turn 6 and up into 10th place.

Lap 7, Daniil Kvyat and Felipe Nasr pit and go onto the Soft and Supersoft tyre with Sergio Perez following them on the next lap and putting on the Soft tyre. Lap 9, Carlos Sainz overtakes Felipe Massa into turn 6 and up into 11th place with Kevin Magnussen overtaking Massa at turn 7 and up into 12th place. Massa drops to 13th place and follows Sainz into the pits at the end of the lap with Sainz changing to the Supersoft tyre and Massa onto the Soft tyre.

Lap 11, max Verstappen and Nico Rosberg pit from 2nd and 4th and they go onto the Supersoft tyre. Lap 12, Daniel Ricciardo, Valterri Bottas and Nico Hulkenberg pit and they all go onto the Soft tyre. Lap 13, Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button pit and they also put on the Soft tyre. Lap 14, Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso pit and they also put on the Soft tyre. Lap 16, Bottas overtakes Romain Grosjean into turn 6 and up into 7th place. Lap 18, Button overtakes Esteban Gutierrez into turn 6 and up into 9th place.

Lap 21, Carlos Sainz again overtakes Felipe Massa into turn 6 with Romain Grosjean right behind and overtakes Massa into turn 7. Sainz moves up to 14th place with Grosjean behind in 15th. Lap 26, Gutierrez pits for the first time as Jolyon Palmer pits as well and changes his nose cone as he damaged it in the collision with Massa at the start. Lap 27, Massa pits and goes onto the Soft tyre with Nico Rosberg also pitting and puts on the Soft tyre in the hope of undercutting Max Verstappen.

Lap 28, Verstappen reacts to Rosberg’s pit and he pits for the Soft tyre and emerges just ahead of Rosberg. Lap 29, Rosberg has the momentum and an extra lap of these tyres and goes to the inside of Verstappen at turn 6. A feisty move by Rosberg and he gets the overtake done but Verstappen had to go off the track. Will that result in a penalty for Rosberg? Rosberg is under investigation for the move. Sebastian Vettel pits on lap 31 and puts on the Supersoft tyre. Lap 32, Vettel’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also pits and puts on the Supersoft tyre. Lap 33, the stewards have declared that Nico Rosberg’s move on Max Verstappen was too aggressive and have given Rosberg a 5 second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track as Daniel Ricciardo pits and goes onto Supersoft tyre.

Lap 34, Lewis Hamilton pits from the lead and goes onto the Soft tyre. Lap 37, Williams retire Felipe Massa from the race. Lap 39, Daniel Ricciardo is right behind team-mate Max Verstappen and on lap 40 overtakes him into turn 6 and up into 3nd place. Lap 43, Hamilton leads ahead of Rosberg, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Lap 44, Vettel is told on the team radio to pit but he questions the decision and says that the tyres are in good condition as Rosberg pits and takes the 5 second penalty before the mechanics change the tyres onto his final set of Soft tyres. Lap 45, Vettel is told to stay out as Ferrari think they have a chance to undercut Max Verstappen 8 seconds ahead of them. This plan won’t work as Verstappen pits on the same lap that Vettel is told to stay out and he goes onto the Supersoft tyres till the end of the race.

Lap 46, Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel pit for the Supersoft and Soft tyre. Lap 47, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen pit and both go onto the Soft tyre. Lap 61, Felipe Nasr climbs out of the car at the pit entry and that is his race over. Lap 62, Valterri Bottas’s 2 stop strategy has not worked and has been caught at a rapid rate by Nico Hulkenberg and Hulkenberg overtakes Bottas into turn 8. Lap 65, Sergio Perez overtakes Fernando Alonso into turn 7 and up into 10th place. Lap 66, Jenson Button has now caught Bottas and passes him into turn 8 and up into 8th place. Lewis Hamilton wins ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

Race result

1.Hamilton  2.Ricciardo  3.Verstappen  4.Rosberg  5.Vettel  6.Raikkonen  7.Hulkenberg  8.Button  9.Bottas  10.Perez  11.Gutierrez  12.Alonso  13.Grosjean  14.Sainz  15.Kvyat  16.Magnussen  17.Wehrlein  18.Ericsson  19.Palmer  20.Haryanto  DNF Nasr and Massa

Race stats

  • Daniel Ricciardo celebrated his 100th f1 start with 2nd place and the fastest lap of the race.
  • Lewis Hamilton’s win was his 49th overall and is only 2 wins behind Alain Prost in the all time winners list.
  • With Ricciardo and Max Verstappen finishing 2nd and 3rd and collecting a point haul of 33 points, they overtake Ferrari in the Constructors championship.

Drivers Championship

  1. Lewis Hamilton 217 points
  2. Nico Rosberg 198 points
  3. Daniel Ricciardo 133 points
  4. Kimi Raikkonen 122 points
  5. Sebastian Vettel 120 points
  6. Max Verstappen 115 points
  7. Valterri Bottas 58 points
  8. Sergio Perez 48 points
  9. Felipe Massa 38 points
  10. Nico Hulkenberg 33 points

Constructors Championship

  1. Mercedes 415 points
  2. Red Bull 256 points
  3. Ferrari 242 points
  4. Williams 96 points
  5. Force India 81 points
  6. Torro Rosso 45 points
  7. McLaren 42 points
  8. Haas 28 points
  9. Renault 6 points
  10. Manor 1 point
  11. Sauber 0 points



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