Five talking points from the German Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg led an action-packed German Grand Prix from start to finish, thus achieving a win for himself and his team at their home race. Valtteri Bottas came second, while the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton finished third.Here is a brief review of the race with five talking points a race that will last long in memory.

#1 Drama on Lap 1

Felipe Massa just does not have any luck on his side. Having made a good start off the line and gotten right on the tail of team-mate Valtteri Bottas, Massa hadn’t realized that Kevin Magnussen in the McLaren had made a better start behind him. Magnussen was diving inside into turn 1, and the Brazilian didn’t give him much room going into the corner.

This led to the McLaren’s front left tyre clipping the rear right of the Williams and launching the latter into the air. Massa’s car overturned and slid across upside down for a good few metres, before coming to a halt in the correct horizontal position.

The Brazilian walking off unscathed bore testament to how the safety of Formula One cars has improved over the years.

Successive retirements for no absolutely fault of his own – what should poor Felipe do to complete a race without incident?

#2 Kvyat on fire, literally, while it\'s another DNF for Sutil

On Lap 46, Daniil Kvyat must have got the shock of his life when his car’s backside caught fire going into the hairpin. It did make for scary viewing though, as the Russian fought against the fire and tried to stop the car at the same time. Credit to him for keeping calm, and to the marshals for dousing out the fire quickly. A battery pack failure seems to have been the cause of the unfortunate incident.

Later on Lap 51, Adrian Sutil lost the rear of his Sauber entering the start finish straight and spun across. He tried to get going again, but the car stalled. The anti-stall system failed to kick in, and Sutil was at a standstill. Thankfully, the car had not stopped in the way of the racing line, in what was a blind corner to enter into. Sutil’s car stayed there for a good two minutes before marshals arrived to push it away.

Sauber are yet to score a point this season – what a disastrous season it has been for them!

#3 Lewis Hamilton\'s drive to remember

If Saturday was a day to forget for Lewis Hamilton, Sunday was a day to remember. Forced to start 20th, Lewis was up to 13th by Lap 6. By Lap 10, he was into the top 10, and four laps later, running 5th.

Mercedes changed his strategy midway from a two-stop to a three-stop, the reasoning being the slight damage on the left side of his front wing due to a clash with Jenson Button earlier. Hamilton wanted it inspected urgently. Also, the pit lane time loss isn’t as significant at Hockenheim as other tracks, and the Mercedes had flying pace.

Hamilton’s race was full of overtaking, with a majority taking place while going into the hairpin at turn 4 – for instance, Raikkonen on lap 11, Ricciardo on lap 30, Button a lap later.

Had it not been for the damage to his front wing, maybe Lewis would have come home in second place. To cap it off, Lewis recorded the fastest lap of the race, on the final lap (1:19.9 seconds).

#4 Good battles all day, especially towards the end

This German Grand Prix was one you could not take your eyes off, especially because of the numerous overtaking manoeuvres.

Among all the battles, the one between Fernando Alonso and Daniel Ricciardo takes the cake. Fighting for fifth place, both cars were on the same three-stop strategy. Alonso had the speed on the straights, while the Red Bull was at least a second quicker in the final sector.

Lap 62 onwards there was some brilliant attacking from Alonso, as he filled the Red Bull’s mirrors and switched lanes. He once overtook the Red Bull at the hairpin, only for the latter to snatch fifth place back at the next turn.

A lap later, Alonso sold the lane dummy to Ricciardo at turn 6, going round the outside, and getting the inside line at turn 7 and making it stick. From then on, all he had to do was hold on for fifth.

The Aussie would have been hoping for a higher finish. He had to take evasive action during Massa’s crash on lap 1, which compromised his entire race.

Meanwhile, a couple of positions ahead, Hamilton had been making 1.5 seconds per lap on Bottas. But once he caught the Williams, it was akin to hitting a roadblock. Bottas had to battle hard for three laps, keeping behind what was clearly a faster car. What probably saved him was straight line speed.

Valtteri Bottas is a driver on the rise. Another second place, another faultless race, keeping calm under pressure and staying ahead of a flying Mercedes – if only Williams could make it sweeter with some good luck for Massa!

#5 Rain or no rain, Mercedes are here to dominate

The weathermen had predicted rain for the GP2 race eariler, and for the last few laps of the F1 race as well.

Strategies were planned keeping that in mind. Some played safe with a three-stopper while the rest tried to stretch it on two stops, gambling on rain and a safety car at the end. The commentary team (Star Sports India) were worried about it all along, and discussing some drivers’ strategy with respect to rain.

According to Kimi Raikkonen’s team radio on lap 64, rain was due in a minute’s time. Other team radio transcripts weren’t much different – Hamilton reporting some drops of rain, for example. For all the talk though, the rain didn’t show up; not even a good few minutes after the chequered flag. In a race full of overtaking and freak retirements, a bit of rain at the end would have spiced it up even more!

In the Mercedes camp meanwhile, things have swung in Rosberg’s favor again. Hamilton’s crash in qualifying due to brake failure handicapped his challenge for the win, and the German took full advantage, much to the delight of the fans. Rosberg now has a 14-point lead over his team-mate in the championship.