2014 German Grand Prix grid

2014 German Grand Prix

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Row 11. Nico Rosberg 1’16.540
Mercedes
2. Valtteri Bottas 1’16.759
Williams
Row 23. Felipe Massa 1’17.078
Williams
4. Kevin Magnussen 1’17.214
McLaren
Row 35. Daniel Ricciardo 1’17.273
Red Bull
6. Sebastian Vettel 1’17.577
Red Bull
Row 47. Fernando Alonso 1’17.649
Ferrari
8. Daniil Kvyat 1’17.965
Toro Rosso
Row 59. Nico Hulkenberg 1’18.014
Force India
10. Sergio Perez 1’18.035
Force India
Row 611. Jenson Button 1’18.193
McLaren
12. Kimi Raikkonen 1’18.273
Ferrari
Row 713. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’18.285
Toro Rosso
14. Romain Grosjean 1’18.983
Lotus
Row 815. Adrian Sutil 1’19.142
Sauber
16. Esteban Gutierrez* 1’18.787
Sauber
Row 917. Jules Bianchi 1’19.676
Marussia
18. Pastor Maldonado 1’20.195
Lotus
Row 1019. Kamui Kobayashi 1’20.408
Caterham
20. Lewis Hamilton** No time
Mercedes
Row 1121. Max Chilton 1’20.489
Marussia
22. Marcus Ericsson*** No time
Caterham

*Three-place penalty for causing a collision
**Five-place penalty for gearbox change
***Did not set a time within 107% of the fastest in Q1, granted a dispensation to start the race. Will start from the pit lane and serve a penalty after the race begins due to a violation of parc ferme procedure

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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88 comments on “2014 German Grand Prix grid”

  1. I don’t think Lewis has quite got the hang of the setting-a-flier-bringing-out-flags trick as of yet.

    1. He is practising for Abu Double though.

    2. Haha, good one !

  2. Bottas continues to shine, Hamilton’s qualifying issues continue and Rosberg capitalises, and Vettel continues to lose out when it matters.

    There’s a definite pattern developing.

    1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      19th July 2014, 14:27

      It wasn’t really Hamilton’s fault. His front right brake disc just failed. Nothing he could do about it.
      He was looking pretty strong otherwise, and it would’ve been very close for pole.

      1. I know. “Issues” is an all-encompassing term – if not biased towards reliability (otherwise I would have said “mistakes”).

        1. (@vettel1)

          It’s almost as if Vettel’s being shown up as a fraud who only won due to a dominant car and having a teammate past his prime…

          1. I highly doubt that. A much more likely explanation is that he had a car which suited his driving style and allowed him to realise his full potential.

    2. Autosport Mark Hughes at it again. One of his pointers was that Sebastian was doing better. Actually for a short track being so far off is possibly his 2nd worst showing in qualifying this season. What about the fact that all this late tracks have been relatively high speed? I don’t think this is the order for the 2nd half. I hope that Williams stays strong but as we’ve seen there’s a new threat on the midfield, McLaren really needed to strip FRIC from their competitors and apparently though with according to Mark Hughes support from RedBull Mag fared better than even the RBR…

  3. Vettel’s run ruined by Red Bull.

    He was considerably faster than Ricciardo. Red Bull tell him they’re gonna change his settings et voila, Ricciardo (and many others) manages to improve while Vettel can’t.

    1. I also noticed strange pattern. Not one time this season Vettel was faster than Ricciardo after their first runs, but then Ricciardo improves on the second, while Vettel does not. I’m not creating conspiracy theories, but Red Bull are doing something wrong. Because Vettel is the driver, which always delivered at the last moment.

      1. @osvaldas31 You are saying RBR has “Webbed” Vettel? I think they are indeed doing something wrong with Vettel often their strategy sacrifices the other drivers tactics. Anyhow Vettel was the man on the last generation and he always made sure he was quick even when things weren’t reliable.

    2. I don’t understand it. He hasn’t changed that much over the winter.

    3. Excuses are wearing thin by now my friend every race you say this. For a 4xWC he is being embarassed

      1. “every race you say this”

        Que?

      2. maybe Ricciardo is just a better driver? Vettel is better then Hamilton and Rosberg as proven in past 5 seasons, but now we have a new worthy champion who is maybe better still? This happens often in motorsport when a new young talent comes onboard – look at marquez in motogp, and valentino rossi cant keep up with him, or anyone else. Vettel is still a 4x champion no matter what happens, just like valentino is the great in motogp. Bottas and Ricciardo are the best in F1 at the moment, and probably still Alonso, he gets the best out of whatever car he has.

        1. Danny hasn’t won any championships yet. Its too early to declare “better driver” awards.

          1. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            19th July 2014, 18:50

            Yes, but given how Ricciardo is dominating Vettel (sorry @vettel1, but it’s the truth) , one starts to wonder “what if Ricciardo had been called to Red Bull a year earlier (I mean last year), when RB was the almighty monster?” Maybe we would have Vettel 3 – Ricciardo 1.
            It’s a what if, but stll valid. so Bruce, we can’t measure them by championships this time, but we can use the measurement of intra-team battle. And Ricciardo is winning.

          2. Vettel is better then Hamilton and Rosberg as proven in past 5 seasons,Hamilton and Rosberg have never drove the same car as Vettel, so this is at best, wild speculation.

          3. Ricciardo is winning, I accept that. But it isn’t as bad as the Räikkönen Alonso situation, for example. And Vettel has taken the brunt of the reliability issues and stargety errors, so the picture is slightly skewed.

        2. pastaman (@)
          19th July 2014, 16:57

          Rossi is in inferior machinery

    4. Not really.
      Ricciardo was faster than him everytime on the session and used old tyres for his 1st attempt on Q3.
      With new ones he was quicker than Vettel.

      OR you can believe on your theory thad Red Bull is ruining Vettel’s chances on purpose, and this, even he don’t buy.

      1. Ik seems my comment was deleted for no valid reason.
        Luckily my memory is fine as opposed to some others here so I’ll post it again.

        There was nothing between the two in Q1 and Vettel’s Q2 Lap was faster than both of Ricciardo’s laps.
        But thanks for pretending you watched it.

    5. Looks to me like he just left time on the circuit in the middle sector as compared to Ricciardo. His S2 was poor, only 0.05 ahead of Kvyat at that point on the circuit.

    6. Looks to me like he just left time on the circuit in the middle sector as compared to Ricciardo. His S2 was poor, only 0.05 ahead of Kvyat at that point on the circuit. Or – he has more downforce in his setup; his S3 was faster than Ricciardo and comparable to Magnussen (who aced S3), second behind Rosberg by 1.5 tenths. But he’s losing almost 4 tenths to Danny in S1/S2, so it seems slower overall and less likely to pass anyone to boot.

      1. His S2 was fine compared to Ricciardo before Red Bull told him they were gonna change his settings.

    7. Ricciardo is doing better job, but I think RedBull is playing some kind of tricks on Vettel with setting, strategy etc…. Cleary they don’t want to support him as much as in previous seasons. I wouldn’t be suprised if they wanted him to get out of the team in order tu put Kvat there.

      1. Yeah, because the guy never make mistake.
        Never miss his marks for half a meter, never brakes earlier than he should.

        What varies is the car and the team.
        Tomorrow will show if Vettel has the pace or not. All the time we see drivers failing to top their Q2 laps on Q3 by making mistakes or simply failing, but with Vettel, nah, it can’t be. It’s not his fault.

        Ok.

      2. Red Bull intentionally mistreating the guy that won them four consecutive WDC and WCC? What have you been smoking?

        1. It’s a ridiculous suggestion, but nor have they been doing him many favours of late @raceprouk.

          1. True; Vettel has been struggling a lot more than Ricciardo

          2. @raceprouk

            True, Vettel is struggling more. But Vettel has also done far less milage thanks to the problems he’s had.
            Despite that Vettel showed better pace in Malaysia, Spain (although they were of course on totally different strategies there), Canada and Silverstone.
            He lost a certain win at Canada and a podium at Silverstone thanks to his team.

  4. Oh man, Bottas was soo close to pole, was under Rosberg’s time in 2nd sector. Hopefully he’ll get a blitz start tomorrow.

    1. Yeah another Silverstone style opening lap I hope, and Rosberg has had a few suspect starts, perhaps… Hopefully Lewis will get a podium finish, with another retirement for Rosberg. I am getting frustrated with Hamilton’s continuing woes, there’s a reason why these keep happening to him and not as much to Rosberg. He’s naturally demanding on the car, and he hasn’t changed his style to be more conservative for the fragile WO5.

    2. Does anyone know why Hockenheim was still so empty? Yes, there were a few more taken seats, but there were areas completely vacated by fans. It looks even like the golf Open was home to more spectators than Hockenheim in qualifying when the weather is worse at Hoylake. Is it due to disdain from the Germans for the new rules, the lack of success with Vettel or a lack of support for Nico? It is really baffling.

      1. The main cause may be the ticket-prizes. But yes, the lack of success of Vettel may also play a role, also the overall saturation with success for german drivers in the past two decades means that any success wouldn´t be that special anymore. Rosberg isn´t really popular at all, he is regarded as slimey, and his interviews are felt to be most awkwardly over-the-top-PRish.
        Then there´s the thing with people being distracted through that football-event, so not much attention for the upcoming race in the weeks before. And maybe some people that were actually there and had tickets just went to some place where the sun wasn´t directly burning down on them ^^

        I don´t think it has got anything to do with the new rules.

        1. It most likely has everything to do with the new rules. Casual F1 watchers won’t get excited by these vacuum cleaner engines. It is a lot easier(and cheaper) for them to watch it on TV instead of barely seeing and hearing anything at the circuit. Face it, new engines are anything but great to the average viewer.

      2. OmarR-Pepper (@)
        19th July 2014, 18:52

        @williamstuart maybe Germans spent all their money going to and celebrating the World Cup (soccer)

      3. Don’t forget the Austrian GP leaching a few people.

    3. I can see Bottas (or even Massa, possibly) taking the lead at the start.
      I’m less certain that they’ll stay there, as I’m sure Rosberg and the Mercedes can wrestle back to the front.

  5. Oh dear yet again, haha you could not make this comedy show up. The one race things go Hamilton’s way and after boom he gets problems. Just crown Nico champion. Even more embarrasing that they were new for P3

    1. Or we could watch then remaining races and see how silly that comment sounds in November. There’s a long way to go yet. Rosberg could have problems tomorrow and actually end up behind Hamilton in the championship. Even if Hamilton doesn’t get any points and Rosberg wins, the championship is by no means over.

      1. @f190

        It is just frustrating mate. As a Ham fan i want him to get another WC. I despised Alonso but who can say he does not deserve another. An argment can be made he deserves one more than Hamilton even. I know folks will say you get what you deserve but no way the 2 drivers i mentioned have the talent of 1XWC and 2xWC. Ham has great stats just not the WC to back them up. You can not deny he as been the unlucky driver of the two and he should be leading the WC.

        1. Hamilton isn’t a worthy champion, he thinks he is the reincarnation of Ayrton Senna, but is barely a Gerhard Berger (from that era), he cant even dominate Nico Rosberg – who is no Alain Prost, but merely a Ralf Schumacher Jr. Hamilton fluffed it in 07, so nearly fluffed it in 08. fluffed it in 10 when the championship was on, by crashing at such vital points. this year he will no doubt fluff it again – watch this space. So you call it a comedy show, I call it motorsport, Hamilton even with retirements should be ahead of rosberg easily but isn’t. I think Bottas and Ricciardo are more worthy champions this year, shame they do not have the car.

          1. Every driver who wins a World Championship is worthy of doing so. Hamilton didn’t fluff it in 2007 as such, McLaren made a poor strategic error in China and he suffered a gearbox issue in Brazil. One could argue Alonso fluffed it with his terrible race in Canada and his crash at Fuji. All of the championship contenders made a catalogue of errors in 2010, not just Hamilton. How do you know that he will fluff it again this year? Rosberg could suffer two retirements in a row and suddenly Hamilton would be 46 points to the good.

          2. Berger was and is way more fun than Hamilton. I´m really looking forward to Gerhard co-commentating on tommorrow´s race on austrian-TV, that´s got me more excited than anything happening in the HamRos-battle ever could.

          3. With two retirements you expect Hamilton to still be comfortably ahead of Rosberg? Sounds like you need a lesson in arithmetic.

          4. OmarR-Pepper (@)
            19th July 2014, 18:59

            seven when I can’t agree with the “deserving part” (as much as I don’t like the way Ham clinched it, he DID clinch it), I agree when you say that Rosberg is not an all-time-great talent, so Hamilton, if he were a real all-time-great (which I disagree) should be demolishing Rosberg, as when Senna demolished all his other teammates whose surname wasn’t Prost.

          5. Yeah so basically all Alonso’s teammates are average except Hamilton, as Ham was as good it is a fact. People bring up favoured what about first race 1 tenth off his double WC teammate. And Berger lol(the guy beat by every teammate virtually). You just hate fact how Hamilton is probably going to be a top 3 driver in statisitics. He is close to Alo wins and is younger with a better car. So in wins Ham and Vet from this era will be behind Schumi. And you say he is not great lol?.

            You are very funny you are. Fluffed it in 07 as a rookie? Yeh sure it was his fault his gearbox failed. Hamilton best season by a rookie ever FACT. And Ros is well underrated dude by you. Every driver peaks at different times. You’re a hater, you said Vet is better than them as he as shown last 5 years? Here is Hamilton the 1 xWC edging his teammate and their is the 4XWC i repeat 4XWC getting beat lol. How silly you look now.

            Hamilton 29 years old 27 wins yeah he is so average he is in top 10 already i think, and 35 poles man how silly do you feel again? He will basically be top2-3 in poles and he is avg.

            This is a guy who said Bottas who is 6-4 with Felipe would destroy the merc drivers. The same Bottas who surely would destroy Maldanado, no? I mean who is tougher as a teammate Alonso or Pastor?. Case closed.

    2. Michael Brown (@)
      19th July 2014, 14:26

      And people said the championship was over when Alonso won here two years ago.

      1. the engine manufacturers didn’t have as much power disparity as this year though, so know matter how much any team makes up in aero (maybe Williams can), then Merc look to have any easy run to the end. Redbull made up heaps 2 years ago, but this year if they do the same job, they will still lose because of the engine homologation

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          19th July 2014, 18:12

          I talking about Rosberg vs Hamilton

  6. Bottas at two tenths, Magnussen fourth, quite impressive from those boys :)

    1. Agree. Very strong by both.

    2. Kevin Magnussen was outstanding. When The season is over The majority of F1 insiders who understand The impact of different cars and systems like FRIC will agree that he had a great rookie season and that he is a top 6 driver together with Rosberg, Hamilton, Alonso, Ricciardo and Bottas.

      1. And Vettel? Where does he stand? With Gutierrez and Ericsson, perhaps?

        1. No he is number 7.

  7. Tomorrow will see an interesting battle behind Rosberg, but looks like a non-contest at the front. Mind you, I said that after Silverstone qualifying, hopefully I’ll be proven wrong again.

    1. Hamilton will pass all but the Williamses during the first 3 laps, then during the next 3 or so laps, he’s passed the Williams, so don’t worry, they will fight for win.

      1. Can you tell me tonight’s lottery numbers whilst you’re at it, please?

        There are some fast cars and exceptional drivers between Lewis and both Williams machines his team-mate: Alonso, Kimi, Button, both Red Bull pilots, Hulkenberg, Perez and so on. Lewis is in amongst drivers like Grosjean, Gutierrez and the like who tend to treat their steeds like bumper cars. And the white cars are, once more, the fastest in a straight line. They’ll be hard to overtake and Bottas hasn’t made any real mistakes this year, other than his brush with the wall in Melbourne.

        1. It was same with last race, eventhough this isn’t that high-speed circuit, Mercs just have that much bigger advantage still over the rest of the field. You’ll see it tomorrow.

      2. If the top-4 remain in position then I suspect Magnussen will be leading a train of Redbull’s and a Ferrari. The Williams some time ahead in a world of the own and Rosberg “managing the gap”.

        Having seen the gap the Merc’s pulled out at Silverstone before Rosberg’s problem I don’t doubt even from the pit-lane Lewis would be in this train by the first pit-stop.

        Getting past the Williams duo – no chance.
        He would be looking to close ~10sec gap between the first and second pit-stops.

        And if he gets near the Williams Rosberg will just expand the gap.

        That said if the Williams get past Rosberg on the opening lap they could hold him back to make things interesting.

  8. Could anyone explain to me how Williams are performing so well since the past few races ? Any upgrades ?

  9. Great showing by the young guns today. Bottas, Ricciardo, Magnussen and Kvyat all did a brilliant job.

    On the other hand, two of the most experienced and oldest drivers on the grid – Raikkonen and Button – both had a pretty disappointing performance.

    I look forward to the day this hot new generation of drivers get their turn at the top.

    1. Probably 2016, I can see those two retiring and Massa on his last legs.. Alonso probably soon to follow. This could promote Hulk, Bianchi etc. and bring Nasr, Vandoorne and Marciello into F1 after a GP2 title battle next year.

    2. As a Button fan, I was pretty disappointed with his performance today, especially off the back of a decent quali/race in Silverstone.
      But I’m glad to see Kevin delivering a fine performance again!

    3. Raikkonen is over the Hill in terms of top positions – especially now that it has gotten so Technical and datadriven.

  10. Let’s just hope Lewis can escape the first lap, then we might just have a great race. Maybe throw in some changeable conditions?

    1. On that subject, anyone know how the weather will be? I heard something about cooler conditions, any rain or such?

  11. Nico has 1 time beaten Hamilton in Bahrain for pole in a straigght fight. Hilarious really. I give the guy stick but i liked his comments in press saying it would have been good to have a fight. Very good sportsmanship.

    1. the only thing hiralious is you thinking Rosberg has only won one pole in a straight fight. so everytime Hamilton has made an error he is excused from the equation???

      1. Kp i mean on genuine pace. Sorry i was wrong 2 times. Bahrain and Canada. You can not deny Ham was unfortuante in Silversone. People gained seconds in 1 sector. I suppose you though Ham made a mistake today aswell? Funny thing with you i seen when Ham was winning you back Ros and talk Ham down then before Silverstone i seen you say Ham is still faster driver. Like you’re comment about Vet proving better last 5 years. Perish the thought of a 1 xWC like Hamilton being beaten as much as a 4xWC? Fact is is as never happen’d to Hamilton.

    2. In Canada, Austria and Great Britian, he’s beaten Hamilton too. I say Austria, because it was Hamilton himself who ruined his first lap and the second one too – no brake failure or anything similar. In Great Britian, he took the wrong decision which is also down to him. Decision making is also important in F1.

      It’s not everything about pure speed. It’s one of many key qualities you must have for being a championship contender.

  12. Williams are going to overtake Red Bull in the championship at this rate.

    1. Gideon Hadi (@)
      19th July 2014, 14:37

      And if Williams able to match Merc race pace, and capitalized Nico or Lewis mistake, we may see Williams win several races in second half of 2014.

    2. Wolff’s domination will be complete..

    3. I am certain Massa will do his best for that not to happen. :)

  13. Hamilton should remember 08. Though there is no Kovalainen to step aside for him now.

    Also quite knapp for Rosberg. Maybe Bottas has something for him tomorrow. If there is some dicing at the front it gives Hamilton some hope.

  14. Wow, Williams are really improving. Only two tenths from Mercedes and half a second on Red Bull in a very short track. They’re doing really well in the last few races.

  15. So close for Bottas, I hope both Williams cars will have a good start tomorrow.

  16. put Bottas in the Mercedes, I think he would beat both the 2 pretenders to the crown. Ricciardo also is on fire.

    1. Wolff is probably gonna use that on Hamilton to not raise his salary, especially if Rosberg wins the WDC. He can then always replace Lewis with Bottas, and get a management fee gain for himself!

      1. So you’d get rid of a proven champion whose won five of the nine races this year (and 27 throughout his career) and still has a year left of his contract.

        Right…

    2. Yeah I’m sure Bottas can overcome a brake failure to take pole, he’s that good !

    3. lol yeah im sure 6-4 vs Massa in qually has them shaking in their boots. I mean same Massa destroyed by FA is constantly out qualifying Alsonso. Must mean the car is not that great…

  17. What is the reason Williams is doing so well all of a sudden ? A F1 novice here :)

    1. Because they can…..

  18. Looking at Friday’s LONG RUN pace…both the FORCE INDIA’s are looking good for tomorrows race..With better tyre management FI can climb up the grid very quickly..#FeelTheForce

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