The 2019 German Grand Prix, One year on…
It's been almost one year since one of the best races F1 has seen this decade. The 2019 German Grand Prix. The wet race is one that will go down in history. For most of the weekend the spotlight had been on Mercedes, who had been celebrating 125 years in motorsport. The team had gone all out, with a new livery for the weekend and the team all wearing fun old-fashioned uniforms. Instead of the weekend being one Mercedes would remember forever, it ended up being one they would rather forget. The wet raced cursed their celebrations and left the team collecting a total of 0 points by the end of it. The race was a dramatic masterpiece with 7 DNF’s, pit stop nightmares, an almost podium for Nico Hulkenburg (still crying about this), a point for Williams, slipping, sliding and lots of crashing. Luckily, Sacha was lucky enough to witness this unbelievable Grand Prix in action. Sacha is going to give us some insight into the dramatics of the race as I break it down.
The Race Start
Pic: motorsportmagazine.com
All 20 cars were obligated to start on wet tyres due to the relentless rain. The Formation Lap and an additional 3 laps under the safety car took place, leaving fans baffled as to when the racing would start. After the 4 laps, officially scored as formation laps, ended the race director decided to begin the GP from a standing start (so much more exciting) and the race distance was set to 64 laps.
At the start both Red Bulls were very slow off the starting grid and fell behind several places on the grid. Thanks to the Bulls falling behind Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo made his way up to 3rd position by the end of the first lap. Both Ferarri drivers got a good start which saw them move up the grid in the first lap. Charles Leclerc moved up to 6th after starting in 10th position and Sebastian Vettel improved to 14th after starting 20th.
After a poor start Max Verstappen managed to get past Raikkonen for 3rd just in time before the first crash of the race. Sergio Perez was the first of the 7 unlucky DNF’s after spinning off the track coming out of turn one to unfortunately take him out of the race. A safety car was released but ended on lap 5.
The second DNF of the day came to us from Daniel Ricciardo on lap 14 after suffering and exhaust failure, causing a virtual safety car. On lap 18, we seen Carlos Sainz lose control of his McLaren at turn 16, running wide on to the slippery drag strip area of the track but luckily avoided the barriers and gained back the control of his car under a local yellow flag. I was sat right across from the McLaren garage and could see them panicking when Carlos spun.
Mid-Race
Lap 22 and the track had dried slightly, causing teams further down the order to risk taking the option of slick tyres. Not long after, those further up the grid followed with Verstappen and Bottas fitting mediums onto their cars. Almost right after Bottas pitted, we seen Verstappen lose control of his car and spinning in turn 14 but luckily recovered to which you could hear the roar of the Orange Army.
The third DNF of the race came on lap 26 with Lando Norris losing power and causing the second virtual safety car of the race. Many teams took this opportunity to pit their drivers for slicks. As Hamilton left the pits on soft tyres, Leclerc spun into the tyre barrier at turn 17. The Ferrari driver tried to get himself out of the gravel but failed, causing another DNF for the race. We were surrounded by Ferrari fans and it was a very upset and angry atmosphere at this point! This prompted the second full safety car of the race. At the end of the lap, now in the lead, Hamilton also lost control of his car at turn 17 damaging his front wing but luckily managed to keep driving. Hamilton returned to the pitlane by cutting across the track, which would gain him a 5-second time penalty in the future, but his Mercedes pit crew were not ready for him. This caused Hamilton to have a massive 50.3 second pitstop after changing his front wing and his tyres to intermediates. This pit-stop seemed to last forever, I had never felt so stressed in my life! After these incidents most teams deemed the track unsafe for slicks and changed into intermediates by the end of the safety car period on lap 34.
Pic: formula1.com
On lap 34 we seen Nico Hulkenburg running in 2nd position which would've been his first podium, just 6 laps later we seen the Renault driver slide into the gravel trap at the treacherous turn 17 bringing his hopes of a first podium for himself to an end. The DNF of Nico mean the third safety car for the race was deployed and returned on lap 46.
Lap 46 and the rain had stopped! A dry and clear line had formed on the track causing half of the field to pit for dry weather tyres, including Verstappen and Bottas causing Hamilton to snatch the lead of the race. Hamilton pitted for dry weather tyres on lap 47 but due to his time penalty returned to the grid in 12th position. Stroll being the only drive to take slicks on the previous safety car, inherited the lead of the race. This lead ended after Stroll was passed by Verstappen and Kvyat, leaving him in 3rd position.
The next few laps saw Max Verstappen extended his race lead by more than 10 seconds! Sebastian Vettel in 8th, started showing pace on dry tyres and moved his way up through the midfield.
On lap 53 we see Hamilton spin out at turn one causing him to drop down to 13th! The nightmare for Mercedes didn’t end there with Bottas, who was running in 4th, slid off the track into a tyre barrier in lap 56 causing suspension damage that would end his race and add to the several DNF’s this race had already seen. The 10 second lead of Verstappen came to an end as the 4th full safety car of the race came out after the spin of Bottas. At this point Sebastian Vettel had managed to reach 5th place and was in a good position to attack the frontrunners of the race.
Pic: autosport.com
The Finish
The safety car from Bottas’s spin ended on lap 60. Two laps later, Gasly’s car suffers damage after a collision with Albon.
Verstappen once again extended his race lead to over 7 seconds by the final lap. Vettel, after being in a favourable position, was able to pass Sainz, Stroll and Kvyat to finish 2nd after starting last. Kvyat, finishing 3rd (the same weekend he became a father), achieved Toro Rosso’s first podium since 2008.
Overall, this race was insane and one I and many other F1 fans will remember forever. I will never forget the German GP of 2019 and I’m very grateful I got to see this craziness in person!
Below are a few more pics from the weekend!
