Germany – Race: Rosberg wins and Bottas prevents Mercedes double

The conditions have clearly changed since the beginning of the weekend. The sweltering heat has given way to a more acceptable temperature, and rain threatens to fall during the race.

At the start, Felipe Massa is once again the victim of a collision, the Brazilian is definitely cursed: a contact with Kevin Magnussen led the Williams driver to roll over, before sliding a few dozen meters on the roof of his car. Daniel Ricciardo narrowly avoids contact but loses many places in the process; the safety car is on the track, while Felipe Massa manages to get out of his car without assistance: reassuring news.

In the third lap, the race is on again! Nico Rosberg is leading ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel. Jenson Button made a great start, climbing to sixth place, while Lewis Hamilton begins his comeback. The English driver is on soft tires, yet he overtakes opponent after opponent. At McLaren, Kevin Magnussen makes his first pit stop, while his collision with Felipe Massa is under investigation, which will result in no penalty.

On the eighth lap, Daniel Ricciardo is threatened by Lewis Hamilton as they make their way up the pack, and as Adrian Sutil is overtaken by both men, the German swerves into the Mercedes, causing a minor contact that appears harmless. Meanwhile, at the front, Nico Rosberg sets fastest lap after fastest lap, allowing him to widen the gap on Valtteri Bottas. The battle between Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat is on the brink of disaster, with the Russian misjudging the width of his car and forcing Sergio Perez into contact: the Toro Rosso driver spins, with no apparent harm. On the other side of the Toro Rosso garage, Jean-Eric Vergne is overtaken back-to-back by the charging Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton.

As the two men find themselves behind Kimi Räikkönen, the Mercedes driver attacks the Red Bull driver but gets hindered by the Finn! The Australian manages to pass the Ferrari, unlike the 2008 world champion: the number 3 driver gains some breathing space.

On the thirteenth lap, the pit stop dance seems to begin: Fernando Alonso stops in the pits. And another contact for Lewis Hamilton! As he and Kimi Räikkönen gained on Daniel Ricciardo, the Briton overtakes both men, but when turning, the Mercedes locks its tires and cannot avoid contact with the Finnish driver’s front wing. This doesn’t seem to harm Lewis Hamilton, who overtakes Sergio Perez right after for fifth place.

It’s Sebastian Vettel’s turn to go through the pit lane, and the German exits between the two Ferraris, blocking the door on Fernando Alonso. He then manages to overtake Kimi Räikkönen with a daring move, sandwiching the Finn between the Red Bull and the number 14 Ferrari, causing a double contact.

In the pits, it’s Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas’ turn to stop, which puts Lewis Hamilton in 2nd position thanks to a start on soft tires, which are more durable.

On the nineteenth lap, a few raindrops appear on the drivers’ visors, while Valtteri Bottas closes in on Lewis Hamilton. Lewis Hamilton is asked not to fight in order to preserve his tires: they are aiming to extend the duration of the Briton’s first stint. His front-left tire is excessively worn, so it’s uncertain if he can continue like this.

It’s a battle on every level in this Grand Prix, and the field is tearing apart for the slightest position. An overtaking move between Romain Grosjean and Jean-Eric Vergne is under investigation: one of the drivers allegedly gained an advantage by leaving the track limits. The Toro Rosso driver receives a 5-second penalty at the next pit stop. And the Lotus driver is struggling badly with worn tires. His team eventually calls him back to the pits, leaving Lewis Hamilton as the only driver not to have stopped.

In the twenty-fifth lap, Fernando Alonso is on the attack to get closer to Sebastian Vettel. The Ferrari driver’s teammate is on fire with new super-soft tires, overtakes are piling up on the Finnish side. And he continues by overtaking Kevin Magnussen, a great battle between the two men.

It’s Lewis Hamilton’s turn to make a pit stop, which drops him back to eighth position! The Englishman goes out again on soft tires, which will force him to make a second stop on super-softs. Romain Grosjean retires while Nico Hülkenberg’s Force India seems to have an issue. His engineer asks him to manipulate the buttons on his steering wheel multiple times to clear the alert.

On the thirtieth lap, a new battle begins between Daniel Ricciardo and Lewis Hamilton, but this one ends quickly: the Mercedes driver overtakes the Red Bull without much trouble. But Lewis Hamilton, in his series of overtakes, catches up to Jenson Button. Believing that the McLaren driver is giving way, the 2008 world champion begins his overtake, but his front-left wheel hits the sidepod of the McLaren. A few seconds later, the Mercedes driver apologizes with a hand gesture during his overtake: his front wing is nevertheless damaged, but this does not stop him from attacking Nico Hülkenberg for fifth place.

At the thirty-sixth lap, Sebastian Vettel returns to the pits and opts for surprising super-soft tires. The German emerges ahead of Fernando Alonso but fails to hold him off in the DRS straight. Mid-race has passed, and Kimi Räikkönen expresses his dissatisfaction over the radio: the Finn wishes to change tires. Nico Hülkenberg is overtaken within a few meters by Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel: the Red Bull driver gradually gains ground thanks to his super-soft tires.

At Mercedes, they decide not to change Lewis Hamilton’s front wing: they prefer to be slightly less fast rather than risk a problem in the pits. On the other side of the garage, Nico Rosberg is complaining about a front-left tire in very poor condition.

On the forty-first lap, it was Valtteri Bottas who was the first among the top three to stop, attempting to complete all sixty-seven laps. He was followed by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. The German and the Finn were on soft tires, the Englishman on super-soft tires: with twenty-five laps to go, a third stop would be necessary for driver number 44. Intense battle between Sergio Perez and Adrian Sutil, with the German initially pushing the Mexican hard, but the Force India driver came back a few laps later, allowing him to get past the Sauber. Daniel Ricciardo and Jenson Button were also engaged in a duel, but the McLaren driver did not give in.

And while Sebastian Vettel made another pit stop, Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso stopped on the track, engulfed in large flames: the Russian quickly escaped in time to avoid injury. A yellow flag was deployed at the end of the pit straight, but no safety car. Daniel Ricciardo also took advantage to make his final stop as the latest weather forecast was announced to Nico Rosberg: no rain expected.

On the forty-ninth lap, Fernando Alonso, with worn tires, is passed by Lewis Hamilton, but the Englishman still has to stop once more. A few meters further, Sebastian Vettel overtakes Jenson Button thanks to new soft tires.

Adrian Sutil spins and comes to a stop right in the middle of the pit straight after the corner. However, the safety car is not deployed, despite the danger. It took several long minutes before the marshals could move the car. Anticipating a safety car deployment, Lewis Hamilton decided to pit… but the gamble didn’t pay off. The Englishman comes out 4th but has to do 17 laps on super-soft tires while Kevin Magnussen and Kimi Räikkönen pit again. Fernando Alonso gets overtaken by Lewis Hamilton as his tires degrade before Ferrari finally calls him back to the pits. The Spaniard comes out seventh behind Jenson Button and Daniel Ricciardo, before the Australian gets past the McLaren driver. He can’t hold off Fernando Alonso for another lap, as Alonso is on super-soft tires.

On the fifty-eighth lap, Lewis Hamilton takes advantage of his super-soft tires to catch up like a Silver Arrow to Valtteri Bottas! And the Finn is asked not to resist the Mercedes driver to preserve his tires until the end. New battle for fifth place! If Fernando Alonso manages to overtake Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian responds aggressively each time and regains his position in the next corner multiple times. Sebastian Vettel can rely on his teammate to slow down Fernando Alonso.

Change of mind at Williams: Valtteri Bottas can defend himself but must watch his tires. With Lewis Hamilton’s tires being quite worn, the Finn has his chances! And despite a top speed exceeding 340km/h, Lewis Hamilton struggles to find an opening, while Fernando Alonso manages to overtake Daniel Ricciardo after a high-level battle!

In the final laps, Lewis Hamilton is unable to find an opening on Valtteri Bottas’s Williams despite trying everything.

Ultimately, it was Nico Rosberg who claimed victory with Mercedes for a home win for both him and his team. Valtteri Bottas enabled Williams to spoil the Mercedes party by taking second place ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who made a fantastic comeback. Sebastian Vettel finished just outside the podium. Unfortunately for Williams, Felipe Massa was out of the race from the very first corner.