Lewis Hamilton will head into Formula One’s summer holiday with a smile on his face after extending his lead in the championship to 19 points by winning Sunday’s German Grand Prix.
Advertisement
The Australian’s Dutch teammate Max Verstappen finished third, his fourth top-three result, to give Red Bull its first double rostrum in over a year.
The German Formula One Grand Prix takes place in Hockenheim on Sunday. Victory in Germany means the Brit has now won six of the last seven races and must now be considered a strong favourite to retain his crown this season.
“What a race, what a fantastic start”.
Behind, Rosberg had to settle for fourth, and after his poor start, lost out again following his second stop when he picked up a 5-second penalty after the stewards judged he had forced Verstappen off track as they battled for position.
When asked what he thought about the incident, Lauda told Sky Sports: “Honestly I think it’s OK”. He could not match the two Red Bull’s when the chequered flag flew as Ricciardo took second and was arguably driver of the day. Finishing fourth was down to the penalty. “I was very surprised that I got penalised, I didn’t expect that at all. So I was trying to stay within five seconds to get him back at the pitstop”.
“We’ve talked about it a lot what the effect would be and that hasn’t changed”, said team boss Toto Wolff. One of those days where it all comes together and goes completely wrong.
Nine races to go and unless Rosberg can find something extra, he faces yet another defeat to his team-mate.
“He pushed me off the track”, said Verstappen.
Mr. Rosberg will start ahead of Mr. Hamilton for a 2nd weekend running, but while the Briton beat his team-mate on the run down to Turn 1 in Hungary last Sunday, a shorter start here ensures a repeat scenario is rather less likely. Today I didn’t make any mistakes so in my heart I’m happy.
A disastrous start at the 2016 German Grand Prix cost Nico Rosberg three places right away. Vettel was born and grew up in nearby Heppenheim and considers Hockenheim his home course.
“We might have different tires available for us for the race and hopefully that makes it interesting”, Ricciardo said.
It was another positive day for Red Bull, with Ricciardo qualifying just 0.363 seconds back of Rosberg’s pole time. Verstappen later said he let Ricciardo pass him “to help the team”.
He added: “It’s been a hard slog for everyone in the team for the whole year and obviously with ups and downs and difficulties we’ve had, the real strength, through and through, that they’ve shown these last races has been inspiring for me”.
Advertisement
But as in the controversial race in Austria earlier this month, in which he collided with Hamilton on the final lap, Rosberg appeared to leave little room for the Dutchman. “We’ve had, what, five out of six races wins, so it’s been a good mid-stint of the season, and hopefully tomorrow we get the first or second and that’ll still be great”.
