Emotions are running high at Formula 1. The German Grand Prix will be best remembered for heat, another victory scored by Nico Rosberg, accidents, and fire caught by the Russian driver Daniil Kvyat, who had to record a DNF.
There was an unusually hot weather spell during the German Grand Prix held at the Hockenheimring. This circuit was built in 1932 using roads in the forest. It started hosting F1 events in 1970. The track was cleaved right through the wood but, unfortunately, in 2002, the forested straights section was chopped off due to track redesign. Right now, the track is 4,574 m long and comprises 13 turns. There are no high-speed curves here but the tyres wear out really fast due to constant acceleration.
Track temperature reached 55 degrees during the practice sessions, making the race extremely difficult for the drivers. Hamilton suffered brake failure during qualifying causing him to crash out. The driver was able to clamber from the cockpit of his car but still left the track in a medical vehicle: “'I'm in a little bit of pain, but that's what happens when you have a crash like that. I think I pulled something like 30g. Even if something is broken I will still be racing on Sunday”.
Nico Rosberg had to carry the can for Mercedes team. He claimed pole position (1:16.540), while Williams drivers qualified second and third. Daniil Kvyat completed his best lap at 1:17.965 and had eighth starting position.
Promoters of the German Grand Prix arranged various events to attract as many spectators as possible to visit the viewing stands on Sunday. For instance, KHP Consulting, a company dealing with ticket distribution, offered an 11-euro discount for each goal scored by the German national team at the recent World Cup. Someone was lucky and could get tickets with a 77-euro discount. However, football was much more interesting for the audience than Formula 1. Some viewing stands were practically empty. Ferrari boss was actually right for running out of patience and urging Bernie Ecclestone to start attracting more spectators to Formula 1 events.
Surprising enough, the weather got cooler on the day of the race so the tyre strategy had to be developed on the fly. Hamilton had to start from 20th place as he switched to different brakes as well as a new gearbox after his crash.
The Russian driver Daniil Kvyat was in a confident mood before the race: “I always work hard to do my job in the best way possible. And I feel even more confident now. I’m doing many things on autopilot and it makes the life much easier”.
Time for the race. Rosberg made a good start and kept the lead, so the real competition unfolded behind him. Magnussen (McLaren) and Massa (Williams) made a wheel-to-wheel contact. As a result, Felipe’s car flipped upside bringing out red flags. Here’s how Williams driver described the situation: “For me, Magnussen was too aggressive. He tried to brake, but he tried when he touched me. When he saw that he was going to touch, he braked and that was a problem because I was already on the gas and he braked. And I jumped up in the air when he hit me and came to rest in the safety gravel”.
Rosberg kept the lead after the restart; Hamilton was breaking through, overtaking one competitor after another. On Lap 9, Kvyat attacked Pérez but was spinned off the track due to a wheel-to-wheel contact, sending Daniil to the pits. However, he returned back to the race a bit later.
In the meantime, the drivers were constantly overtaking each other. Jean-Éric Vergne (Toro Rosso) was given a penalty point for leaving the track during his duel with Grosjean (Lotus). However, Romain Grosjean still had to leave his car in the pits and dropped out of the race a bit later.
Rosberg was telling the engineers about some serious problems with the front left wheel, while Hamilton was close on his heels — he was fifth by lap 45. The key moment of the race happened to Daniil Kvyat. His race engineer told him on the team radio to stop the car due to gearbox issues but he didn’t have enough time for that, as fire started coming out of the race car in just a few seconds. However, the Russian driver did not leave it on the track and was able to drive it to the safety area. Daniil was leaving his Toro Rosso car covered in clouds of black smoke. His gestures showed he was upset: “It was really hot… Just an awful day”.
The driver was not hurt and the race was not paused. Four laps later, Adrian Sutil’s car stopped motionless on the start-finish straight. No safety car this time also, marshals were able to move the car away really fast.
By lap 58, Hamilton was able to reach third place with Bottas and Rosberg ahead of him. The race was finished in this order. Nico Rosberg claimed victory: “What a great day after so many great events for me this week! I came here hoping for a win and it worked out perfectly! My Silver Arrow was so dominant, thanks to the team for this fantastic car”.
