Lewis Hamilton will be looking to retain his German GP crown from last season after his win in the Silverstone GP a couple of weeks ago. His tactical pit stop during a safety car period guided the Brit to victory for Mercedes in that British Grand Prix.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
What? German Grand Prix
Where? Hockenheim, Baden-Wurttemberg
When? Sunday 28th July 2019 (14:10)
PREVIOUS GERMAN GP FORMER WINNERS:
2018 – Lewis Hamilton
2016 – Lewis Hamilton
2014 – Nico Rosberg
2013 – Sebastian Vettel
2012 – Fernando Alonsa
LAST GP REVIEW: SILVERSTONE
Despite being in contention to win, Max Verstappen of Red Bull experienced problems before the Grand Prix even started, having to have a change of endplate from previous wear and tear in the qualifiers.
Bottas retained his lead in the first few laps under pressure from Hamilton until lap four, when both Mercedes drivers overtook each other. Another close rivalry in the early stages came in the middle back between Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and British McClaren driver Lando Norris. Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen both struggled at the start, falling five and four places respectively.
Going in to the tenth lap, the gap between 6th placed Gasly and 7th placed Norris extended to over nine seconds, separating the top six from the rest. However, the Mercedes duo of Bottas and Hamilton opened up a six second gap between themselves and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari in third place. Meanwhile, Haas’ drivers Magnussen and Grosjean were both out of the race early on.
With pit stops from Leclerc, Verstappen and Gasly, Sebastian Vettel took third place. Gasly ended up falling to seventh place after that stop. Carlos Sainz, who started the day in 13th, moved up to sixth ahead of the Frenchman. Bottas fell to over 17 seconds behind leader Hamilton in third place after a pit stop before the 20th lap.
The safety car was in use just after the 20th lap after Antonio Giovinazzi skidded off the track, which Lewis Hamilton and many other drivers used as a chance to make a pit stop. The safety car period ended going in to the 24th lap. The stop from Hamilton was a smart one and he managed to retained the lead ahead of Bottas and Vettel. Sergio Perez fell to last place, trailing well behind the rest of the drivers.
Hamilton gave himself a tiny bit of breathing space in the 30th lap, taking just shy of a two second lead over Bottas. Meanwhile, Gasly and Leclerc were competing fiercely for fifth spot, with the former just about maintaining that advantage.
Vettel and Verstappen collided in lap 38, which led to the Ferrari driver being off the track for just under a minute, before having to make a pit stop because of damage to his car. Verstappen suffered the least damage and managed to recover to fifth position. Sebastian Vettel fell behind even further when he was given a ten second penalty for causing that collision.
Whilst the drama between Ferrari and Red Bull was happening, the gap between 2nd and 3rd increased to nearly 20 seconds. It looked like team mates Hamilton and Bottas were in a two horse race for a British GP win.
During the 44th lap, Kimi Raikkonen moved up to eighth place ahead of Kvyat and Albon. Bottas just about managed to remain ahead of Leclerc after making a pit stop for a tyre change. Hamilton was out in front by over 20 seconds after taking the decision not to make another pit stop.
That refusal to stop paid off for Hamilton who won the Grand Prix comfortably. You can find the full results of the Silverstone GP below.
Final classification:
1st – Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
2nd – Valeri Bottas (Mercedes)
3rd – Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
4th – Pierre Gasly (Red Bull)
5th – Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
6th – Carlos Sainz (McLaren)
7th – Daniel Ricciardo (Renault)
8th – Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)
9th – Daniil Kvyat (Scuderia Toro Rosso)
10th – Nico Hulkenberg (Renault)
11th – Lando Norris (McLaren)
12th – Alexander Albon (Scuderia Toro Rosso)
13th – Lance Stroll (Racing Point)
14th – George Russell (Williams)
15th – Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
16th – Robert Kubica (Williams)
17th – Sergio Perez (Racing Point)
DNF – Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
DNF – Romain Grosjean (Haas)
DNF – Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
REMAINING GRAND PRIX 2019 EVENTS AFTER GERMAN GP:
4th August – Hungarian GP, Mogyorod
1st September – Belgian GP, Stavelot
8th September – Italian GP, Monza
22nd September – Singapore GP
29th September – Russian GP, Sochi
13th October – Japanese GP, Suzuka
27th October – Mexican GP, Mexico City
3rd November – US Grand Prix, Texas
17th November – Brazilian GP, Sao Paulo
1st December – Abu Dhabi GP
