Formula 1 will go into almost a month long summer break following the conclusion of the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim and it will allow fans and the F1 paddock to take stock of how things have changed since the season started way back at Australia in March.
Lewis Hamilton's fourth successive win has seen a 43 point deficit to Mercedes AMG teammate Nico Rosberg turn into a 19 point lead. Ferrari have been rather spectacularly overtaken by Red Bull-Renault (sorry...Tag Heuer) as the Sliver Arrows' closest competitors. Haas-Ferrari's early season form is all but a distant memory and Williams-Mercedes have lost any semblance of competitiveness.
But for now we will focus on Hamilton's 49th career F1 victory that sees him just three wins away from becoming the second-most winningest driver in the sport's history and brings him ever closer to joining Alain Prost and Sebastian Vettel as a four-time champion.
A rocket start and a poor one from Rosberg helped Hamilton overcome losing the qualifying battle to his teammate and assume the lead of the 67 lap race. It was a lead that he did not relinquish as Rosberg's race fell apart.
After falling back to fourth place behind Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen Rosberg attempted to make up ground and appeared to be doing enough to get a podium position until his passing attempt on Verstappen. An aggressive move where he was judged to have forced the Dutch teenager off the circuit lead to a five second time penalty being added to his second pit stop.
In addition to not being able to match the pace of Ricciardo and Verstappen, the penalty dealt a blow to any chances of scoring a podium finish and minimizing the damage to Hamilton in terms of the championship battle.
Behind the top four. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, Force India-Mercedes' Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren-Honda's Jenson Button, Williams-Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas and Hulkenberg's teammate Sergio Perez rounded out the points scoring positions.
Red Bull Racing has shown impressive race pace and it will be worth seeing if the team and their engine supplier can come out of the summer break with enough updates to continue their steady return to the top of the F1 pecking order.
The F1 season will now resume with the Belgian Grand Prix that will be held from 26 to 28 August at the famed Spa-Francorchamp circuit.
Write your Comment