Max Verstappen Wins A Wet Weather Thriller In Germany!

• It was predicted that it would rain on Sunday and the rain gods delivered - the race started in wet weather conditions.
• Sebastian Vettel recovered from 20th to 2nd place after being knocked out from qualifying altogether.
• Scuderia Toro Rosso scored their 2nd ever podium in Formula One with Daniil Kvyat finishing 3rd.
• Max Verstappen closes up to Valtteri Bottas in drivers standings.

After some thrilling races in Austria and Silverstone, the streak continues with a cracker of a 2019 German Grand Prix. Wet weather conditions at the start and a drying track by the end played havoc all over the grid. In the end, Max Verstappen took a brilliant win for Red Bull Honda, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel recovering from a disastrous qualifying position of 20th place to finish 2nd. That’s not the only surprise as Toro Rosso’s Danill Kvyat took a surprise, but well deserved, podium in 3rd place. 

The race was set to be a chaotic one from the offset with wet weather conditions. Lewis Hamilton took  pole for Mercedes in his special liveried car celebrating 125 years of motorsport, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in 2nd and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in 3rd. Both Mercedes had a flying start with Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly dropping down the group due to excessive wheelspin. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikonnen took advantage of the slow getaway by Max and took 3rd for a few laps but was eventually passed by Verstappen. Lower down, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was also affected by engine issues in qualifying, started slicing his way up the field from 10th place.  

As the track started drying out, there were gambles galore starting with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, Charles Leclerc and Lance Stroll opting for dry weather tires which were paying off brilliantly. The top three eventually pitted for dries shortly after. But there was a twist in the weather as rain started picking up once again. Chaos ensued, with Leclerc crashing out of a potential race winning position at Turn 16. He was not the only victim of the treacherous turn 16, Lewis Hamilton also hit the barriers but was fortunate to make it back to the pits. Shortly after, everyone switched back on to the intermediate compound tyres and once the smoke cleared, Max Verstappen inherited the lead with Bottas 2nd and Hamilton all the way down in 5th place after a horrific 50+ second pitstop from Mercedes to change his tires and front wing. 

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Once the race got underway again, Hamilton sliced through the midfield but his efforts were about to go up in smoke as he was handed a 5-second time penalty for unsafe entry into the pitlane. In the meantime, Verstappen looked well under control out front, with Bottas struggling to match the Dutchman. The race took another twist as Renault’s Nico Hulkenburg was the next Turn 16 victim by crashing out of a potential podium spot. Another safety car was called which caused teams and racers to take even more gambles.

Racing Point’s Lance Stroll took a bold and strategic gamble of the race with an early switch to dry tires that sprung him up the field to be leading the race for a short period after the safety car ended. He wasn’t the only big winner as Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat jumped up to 3rd position. The biggest loser was Hamiton as due to his 5 second time penalty he dropped to dead last behind the Williams. 

As the race got underway again, Verstappen wasted no time to speed past the Canadian in his Racing Point (formerly Force India) and take back control of the race. The real fun however was brewing behind as Kvyat, Bottas, Sainz, Albon, and Vettel were catching Stroll for 2nd place. Kvyat’s Toro Rosso came alive in these conditions and dispatched Stroll for 2nd quickly with Bottas struggling to find a way past into 3rd . Mercedes’s bad weekend took the final nail in the coffin as Bottas crashed into Turn 1 trying to overtake Stroll which brought out the final safety car of the race.

With only 5 laps to go, there was a proper fight for 2nd place. Vettel seems to have found incredible pace in his Ferrari, passing Albon, Sainz, Stroll and then Kvyat to take 2nd place in the end from 20th on the grid. He was too far to challenge Max though, who took Red Bull Honda’s 2nd win of the season. Daniil Kvyat scored a miracle podium for Toro Rosso, its second ever in Formula 1 - the first one was scored by Sebastian Vettel back in 2008! Interestingly, this is the first double podium for Honda-powered cars since the 1992 Portugese Grand Prix, where Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna finished 2nd and 3rd racing their McLaren Honda MP4/7A.

Lower down, Lance Stroll finished a strong 4th for Racing Point with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz in 5th, Alex Albon in 6th, Raikkonen and Giovinazzi in 7th and 8th for Alfa Romeo, with the two Haas boys of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean in 9th and 10th. Hamilton had finished 11th, with the 2 Williams of Robert Kubica and George Russell rounding off the finishers of a chaotic race. However there was a controversial post-race twist as both Alfa Romeos were given a 30 second time penalty for technical infringements. This meant that Haas got 7th and 8th, Hamilton scored points in 9th and Robert Kubica scored Williams’ first point of the season in 10th to cap off a topsy-turvy race at Hockenheim, Germany.

This result oddly enough increased Lewis Hamilton’s lead in the drivers standings to 41 points over his teammate Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen is now only 22 points off Bottas with this win and is looking to be a wildcard competitor for the title. Both Ferrari and Red Bull made some inroads into Mercedes’s constructor's points advantage but they still have a long way to go.

Formula One will now head to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix, which is scheduled to be held between August 02-04.

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 Image Source: Formula One