Up till now the Mercedes formula one team has managed to completely dominate the competition by finishing in the top five positions in just about every single races. However, this past weekend at the German GP, things seem to have taken a turn for the worse as neither of the Mercedes drivers managed to finish in the top five! Hamilton had the best finish of the team with a rather unexpected ninth place. Sure, this still does not have a significant impact on the points, but since they have had such a high season, you can’t help but wonder what went wrong. Let’s get into some of the highlights and see how things shaped up.
The German GP
The race started with a wet track, and we saw both the Mercedes drivers get off to a great start. As per usual, it seemed as if they are once again the leaders of the race till the end as they claim first and second position by the first corner.
By the time we got to lap 27, we’ve already seen loads of cars go off the track. Some managed to get back on, including Max Verstappen. At the same time, we see as Charles Leclerc finds his way to the second position, splitting the two Mercedes drivers. However, it didn’t last long as by he went off the track after having some understeer going into one of the corners. He ended up just touching the barrier but got stuck at turn 16 and lost his second-place finish for good.
Just a few minutes later, Hamilton found himself going off the track as well. He managed to recover but damaged the front wing. Luckily, he was near the pit entrance, but it certainly meant he would be losing the first place he managed the entire race. By Lap 34, Verstappen had made his way to the first-place position, and the highest-ranking Mercedes was in third place, driven by Bottas. Hamilton was set back to fifth place after getting through the tips, and Vettel was way back in ninth place. In the same lap, Hamilton went off the track and got a five-second penalty as well.
Impressively, Hamilton made his way back up to third place by lap 41, which had to do with Nico Hulkenberg going off the track and losing the third-place position. By lap 48, Hamilton found himself in 12th position after going through the pits to serve the penalty. Just a few laps before the end of the race, Bottas lost his seat by sliding out and hitting the barrier. Within the last few laps, Vettel managed to impress the Ferrari fans by making his way to higher positions. In fact, by lap 63 (second last lap), he managed to make it up to the second place.
Crossing the line first was Max Verstappen, followed by Sebastian Vettel, Daniil Kvyat, Lance Stroll and Carlos Sainz.