Results of the German stage of the Formula 1 have become a real cold shower for Rosberg fans. This result of the «native» pilot Mercedes certainly no one expected. And the right to Nico lost only Lewis — it is possible to understand and accept — but he even missed the podium, finishing only fourth. This is not in any frame...
Most offensive of all the fact that it was «his» race. And not so much because of the fact that the son of Finnish Formula 1 driver Keijo «Keke» Rosberg German citizenship, but because in the course of the weekend, Nico was fastest — and in each of the three training and qualification. He stumbled only once, but it was enough to let down the drain the entire stage.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. In Germany it was ever interesting to observe the progress of the preliminary sessions. No intrigue in the distribution of the results of the first two, of course, was not — Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton repeatedly punched the best of times. But behind a pair of Mercedes turned serious battle of the two Ferrari and the two Red Bull.
In the first training Scuderia drivers were faster — Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen showed the third and fourth time respectively. And Max Verstappen and Daniel Riccardo — only the fifth and sixth.
The second training has ended differently — Vettel has retained the third position, but Verstappen and Ricardo walked Raikkonen. On Saturday at the training situation was compounded by Ferrari — Ricardo has climbed to third place, Vettel and Raikkonen rounded out the top five, pushing Verstappen to sixth place.
Qualifications also summed up the interim this duel — after the winner of the qualifying session Nico Rosberg and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton on the grid are two Red Bull Daniel Riccardo and Max Verstappen. Representatives of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen lost all of its major counterparts, showing the fifth and sixth time.
Closed the same destyatku best in qualifying two more pairs of pilots of the two teams, but in a staggered manner — Nico and Sergio Perez of Force India became the seventh and ninth, and Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa — the eighth and tenth, respectively.
Unfortunately, it continued a series of setbacks for the Russian Daniil Kvyat — ufimets shown only 19 results, retiring from the qualification on the basis of the first session.
And in a moment after the start of the Grand Prix of Germany-launch all classifications have been forgotten. Nico Rosberg made a mistake and the rear wheel of his Mercedes in a left spin. He was immediately ahead of Lewis Hamilton and a couple of Red Bull — while Max Verstappen also bypassed his teammate Daniel Riccardo. There was an exchange of positions and in a pair of Ferrari — Sebastian Vettel to the delight of their fans went Kimi Raikkonen.
Later in the race for pole position holder Nico Rosberg it became worse. At the first pit stop mechanics long take with the left rear wheel. The second pit stop the Germans went even worse — right after he drove into the pits Max Verstappen, who went back in front of the German. He rushed to the attack and actually repeated what happened between him and Lewis Hamilton in Austria. But this time, the accident did not happen — Rosberg drove the Dutch out of the track, and thus won the position.
However, the judges had a look at the legality of the actions of the German racer Mercedes. They considered the incident a violation of the rules and punished Nico five-second penalty. But the troubles were not over Rosberg. He stopped at the next pit stop, where before the mechanics started to work, the driver has left the penalty laid. Timekeeping was carried out at an ordinary stopwatch, which as luck would have broken down, and the team had to hold reinsurance Nico longer — not five, but seven seconds.
It eventually stabilized the situation — Rosberg was fourth behind the three leaders, which made Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Riccardo and Max Verstappen.
Red Bull riders swapped positions during the race on the orders from the bridge. Riccardo was much faster and Verstappen management asked Max to miss Daniel, which he did. Dutchman in front of becoming a full-fledged team player!
For racers Ferrari weekend ended with a failure in Germany. Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished the race only the fifth and sixth — the struggle for victory in the championship, they obviously finished. Perhaps because people think all but team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.
The seventh place finish in the race won Nico. The German team of Force India ahead of McLaren driver Jenson Button, Williams Valtteri Bottas representative and his colleague Sergio Perez.
The Russian Daniil Kvyat finished only 15 positions immediately after his comrade-in-arms Carlos Sainz — the racers Toro Rosso race obviously did not work.
Now members of the Formula 1 are big summer vacation. The next stage of the series will take place on August 28 in Belgium at the Spa-Francorchamps track.
Photo: f1fanatic.co.uk / XPB Images
