Rate the race: 2016 German Grand Prix

2016 German Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the German Grand Prix.

Since 2008, F1 Fanatic has held polls on every F1 race to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2016 German Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (1%)
  • 9 (2%)
  • 8 (9%)
  • 7 (30%)
  • 6 (24%)
  • 5 (16%)
  • 4 (7%)
  • 3 (6%)
  • 2 (3%)
  • 1 (4%)

Total Voters: 592

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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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168 comments on “Rate the race: 2016 German Grand Prix”

  1. Oh, you want to race? Here is a penalty for you.

    1. He did exactly the same irresponsible maneuver that made him and Hamilton run into each other, and he even lied about it afterwards.

      You are allowed to hold your racing line, not to continue straight ahead in a turn to run the other driver of the track. If anything the penalty wasn’t severe enough.

      1. @losd Hamilton Austin 2015

        1. people will be cherry picking that move for years it seems.

          ROS has been running guys off the track left and right this year, he deserves all the credit he is receiving. ROS also crashed in to Lewis at SPA (2014) to avoid running off track.

          1. Duncan Idaho (@)
            1st August 2016, 0:40

            He’s just trying to perfect the move Ham pulled on him.
            Someone send him a AI steward [k] for the simulator.

        2. Both of Hamilton’s moves in Austin and Canada were actually understeer so people cannot claim those as ‘forcing off the track’.

      2. Exactly… same move… same penalty…. you’re allowed to make the turn…you’re not allowed to run the other guy off the track.

      3. Somebody should tell him his got a cockpit cam onboard

        1. @melthom he was probably told or given a manual that says wave your hands in front of it in case you need to lie and the lie to stick :) he probably didnt listen or didnt read :)

      4. Thats racing as it should be! It not a parade, these ridiculous penalties is part of the reason F1 is on the decline. perhaps there should flowers on the cars, they could give points for the prettiest car.

        1. or give points for the best liar ;)
          ROS scores at least some points then.

      5. @losd What happens if you force a driver who’s trying to pass to change direction in the braking zone?

        It takes him more distance to slow the car, that much should be clear. Vestappen’s going to cause a major accident.

        1. look at the images.. there was no moving in the braking zone other then slowing down ;)
          Do not believe ROS fairytales.

    2. I concur, I feel the penalty for Rosberg should have been more severe.

      Overall a good race, a shame the McClaren’s couldn’t hold to both score points.

    3. Shame Nico got the penalty but I think the stewards had to act. If he must make such moves, he has to be very good at it. It has to be fluid and well calculated. Nico’s always look like he is ramming people off tracks. He needs to hone his craft. Such moves are seen a lot during every championship. Problem is Nico has not learnt from top drivers. Interestingly, whenever he does it, you don’t think of “running wide”, what comes to mind is the word “force”. So the penalty would not have come if it was well executed without the clumsiness.

      1. “Running wide” is holding the racing line with a driver on the outside, with the nose of your car in front, meaning the driver on the outside runs out of track. Seen Hamilton do this many times over the years. Nico’s strategy of not turning means he is deliberately leaving the racing line to force another driver off. Should be a more severe penalty.

        1. +1 well described

        2. Yes. Nico usually starts that move with maintaining the racing line and then he just points the car to the egde of the track like he is going straight and then seems to forget to turn. It is so obvious. He should go and watch Button’s old videos cos he is the smoothest at it. You (The contesting driver) wouldn’t know what happened but the point is you lost the position you were struggling for but you lived to fight again in the next corner. Alonso, Ham and Seb are also very good at it. Nico just doesn’t know when to start turning the wheel after having calculated that he had covered enough track space to minimise the other person’s advantage.

        3. +1, well put.

        4. Well I disagree with the sentiment here. For me the inside guy when in front (or at least at equal hight) can go where he wants on track. The guy on the outside needs to worry where to go if the guy on the inside closes the door (goes wide). BTW also Alex Wurz thinks like that!

          Only if you are behind while being on the inside it is stupid to try to force the guy on the outside, who is in front, off track because that means you crash into his side if he holds his line, like Ros did in Austria with Ham. So I think the penalty there was ok. If you are on the inside but slightly behind then you definitely need to go for the close line, at least close enough that the other one has room. But this time he was in front..

          However when they penalized Seb for his overtake in Silverstone, which was completely fine to me I said immediately when Ros made his move today, now the have to penalize him. And also some of Ham’s moves in the past when he forced Ros off track would have had to be penalized as well. Let’s see if they continue on this path. I disagree for me this was racing today.

          1. Well I mean tight line. I guess “closelines” are from a different sport… ;)

        5. +1. Exactly. Not even slightly subtle.

        6. @john-m that’s the most concise and accurate description of this scenario that I’ve come across. This is why HAM Austin 2015, Hungary 2015, Bahrain 2014 etc overtakes are racing and ROS Austria 2016 is not @mashiat

          I have to say that at the time I thought that the penalty to Rosberg was harsh, because of the late braking you have to keep the car straight for longer but when reviewing the replays, I think he held it for longer than he needed, and that’s what the stewards seem to have thought, close call though today, Austria was slam dunk easy penalty

        7. @John-M You are absolutely right, brilliant description. I only think the penalty should be to move down behind the victim of the move, not just 5 sec, which could easily turn out to be no punishment at all, especially for a Mercedes. Good that they also gave him 2 penalty points. But bad that ROS again lost points to HAM, championship seems over now.

    4. Caution, corner ahead. Don’t forget to turn.

    5. You go wide on the EXIT of the turn not in the middle of it.

  2. I didn’t expect it to be this dreary.

  3. Zero. 0/10.

    Stopped watching after half. I think this is a good display of why F1 is losing viewers fast. And hopefully people can stop accusing the stewards for being biased in favour of Rosberg. The one good thing to happen and it was penalised.

    1. Just another case of a race hyped up so much, just to be an extra two hours of sleeping time. Mercedes dominated, Ferrari are going backwards. This is dull.

      1. And David Croft’s commentary is utterly dire. He just babbles on about sensationalist cr_p in the same voice the entire time. Where’s the excitement in that? Compare it to US or Australian commentary, it may not be as knowledgeable or informative, but it’s exciting to listen to, there’s enthusiasm behind it.

        It doesn’t help when Brundle and Kravits always predict what is going to happen next. It takes away from the excitement and unpredictability.

    2. He was very lucky not to get a harder penalty for yet another dangerous and clumsy maneuver.

      1. @losd People will criticise him if he doesn’t try, they’ll criticise him if he does. It wasn’t a brilliant move but he’s fighting for the championship and he showed that today.

        1. Of course he should try, but you can’t just run another driver off the track like that, and not expect a penalty.

        2. Seems everyone has already forgotten Hamilton his race here two years ago, was full of crazy divebombs.

          1. @xtwl +1, in at least one of them he crashed into somebody (Kimi?) and even then everybody praised him! If that isn’t double standards then please can somebody tell me what is

          2. William Jones
            31st July 2016, 14:55

            @strontium – button too, as I remember

          3. Did we watch different races? That race had all sorts of moves that were borderline and Ham was not the only one who carried out that move on Kimi.
            In fact the one later done by Seb and Alonso on the same Kimi a few laps later, where they literally sandwiched the guy with no place to go leading to him breaking his front wing is more penalty worthy than Hamilton’s earlier move. But I guess you only saw Ham’s move and that of Alo and Seb never happened..
            So let’s not view everything wit only the intent of condemning Hamilton.

          4. @tata…..bloody ‘ell….let’s just distract everyone from the fact that Ham in 2014 was a total prat and his move on Kimi (and JB) should have been heavily penalised and put the focus on other minor incidents instead.

            With all the media articles attempting to defend Ham and trying to figure out why people surveyed (in the UK…imagine the % outside the UK) hate him so much, I would put forth that some of it is the man….but I believe that his frothing at the mouth, borderline obsessed fans have to take a good portion of the blame.

            The average, non partisan F1 fan is simply fed up with the blinders on approach you people have. It’s human nature that most of us who are totally sick of this sort of apologetic at all costs approach would start to despise the guy just as normal gut reaction. Sky TV also deserves a significant portion of the blame, watching their telecasts is more cringe inducing than tuning in to see your mum in a bukaki video.

          5. “I guess you only saw Ham’s move and that of Alo and Seb never happened..”

            Actually Tata, I remember all of these moves and my view is exactly the same on the Alonso Vettel one: wasn’t acceptable either, but they both got away with it.

            You’ve brought up a similar yet separate incident, that I had not mentioned, and somehow come to the assumption that I have a different opinion on that. You are wrong I am afraid.

          6. @richardlamp
            – With all the media articles attempting to defend Ham and trying to figure out why people surveyed (in the UK…imagine the % outside the UK) hate him so much.

            Sources or just wild claims?

            -but I believe that his frothing at the mouth, borderline obsessed fans.

            You are definitely describing yourself. Mirrors, Mr. You must be “frothing at the mouth and borderline obsessed” with Mr. Hamilton to go online to profess that you “hate” him yet you have never even met him. I am yet to see see Hamilton fans fling such vitriol some of you guys have against the man. You sound like you have done business with him and know him personally. Do you?

            – The average, non partisan F1 fan is simply fed up with the blinders on approach you people have.

            Chill, Mr/Mrs. I understand your dislike of the sport because someone you have professed to hate is winning. But don’t hide under “non-partisan F1 fan” because if you are anything minutely relative to your claims, you would have seen that races have generally been quite good this year. I bet you praised F1 when Nico was on a winning streak.
            Relax man, this is just sport.

  4. Rated 7/10 – It was a bit of a strategic race behind HAM, I enjoyed the battle for 2nd – 4th.

    1. +1. 7 for me to, from second down there were some brilliant moves but nothing especially memorable except Rosbergs move of course (which for the record I thought was fine but not very sporting)

    2. 7 for me also. better than average but not in the top 20%, but with these tyres keeping drivers on different strategies it was about as good as it could be. Radio; how many ways do the teams give their drivers a message that could just be “slow down”

  5. 7/10 I enjoyed the strategy with 3 stops. the last stint was kinda dull though.

  6. Gave it an 8 out of ten…

    For more Lewis would need a bad start aswell.

    There was however a major race for second. With three candidates working hard to claim it

    Just excellent given circumstances of Mercedes or should I say Lewis dominating so much.

    1. @jureo Hamilton already ate his share of bad starts early in the season.

      1. Yeah, now he is on top of with Nico loosing out.

  7. It was better than Hungary. I didn’t fall asleep. Those are positives. Also some nice moves.

    However, little to no strategy seemed to play out through the race, and I’m once again absolutely livid with the way the rules are seemingly picked out of a hat, and how penalties are or are not dished out.

    1. Exactly. Rosberg penalty ruined podium fight that was maturing at that point…

    2. Gave Hungary a 4, this is a 6 IMHO.

      Some nice overtaking, no Mercedes 1-2, controversy about the stewards decisions… I didn’t fall asleep. :)

      1. @paeschli Interesting. I gave Hungary a 3. This a 5. It looked like it was shaping up to be one of those great slow burners we used to get back in 2014 with many different strategies coming into play but once the two-stop became redundant it became a real damp squib.

    3. @craig-o I didn’t fall asleep, I switched it off, sadly the third time I’ve done that in recent years.

      Just a dreadful case of why F1 is becoming so unpopular. Imagine showing that to somebody who has never seen it before! It would be embarrassing.

      1. @strontium I don’t bother showing it to my non-racing friends. Waste of time. Yet I get incredibly hyped up when I talk about the World Endurance Championship, IndyCar or even some of the junior categories. Funny that.

  8. got bored after lap 30 and according to my friends I saved 45 minutes of my life

    pretty good tbh

    1. @dryyoshi I got bored, and I take it that I too saved a lot of time. Sadly I don’t have any friends that can tell me what happened because they have all stopped watching. I don’t blame them

      1. Man…you guys really must have a low opinion of your choices if you need the affirmation of your friends to enjoy your personal pastimes.

        I gave it a 6.

        1. I don’t need “the affirmation of my friends” to enjoy F1. That’s why I still watch it. I’m not enjoying it at the moment because it isn’t enjoyable.

          1. This may come as a shock to you but as a Lewis Hamilton fan, I am enjoying this era. Since 2010 I’ve attended 9 races(Austin and Montreal) and have been fortunate to witness him winning 6 time including a championship race . During the Vettel domination I commented to friends that I could just imagine how happy his fan are and how much they enjoy the era. It’s Hamilton’s turn to bring joy to his fans so suck it up as I did back then. I never, race after race, complained about the state of F1 and teams dominating, I just waited patiently. Generally, we all think races are boring when our favorite driver/team doesn’t feature, its our nature. I respect your opinion given the circumstances but yours is not the general sentiment of F1 fans.

  9. Gave 6 because there were its moments. Nice to have another fighting point in VES/ROS for 4 week break :)

  10. 3/10 as nothing really happened after the start, Rosberg getting the 5-sec penalty was stupid since looking at the replays his wheels didn’t turn when he steered to the right at the hairpin.

    1. If he turned his steering wheel and the wheels didn’t turn, something’s broke.

    2. Did you really see him turn his wheel? Wow.

  11. 6/10 We had a few good battles but still it was way boring that I was expecting. The championship is over now. Rosberg was fastest all weekend and still can’t beat Hamilton on the start. Really dreadful race by him. Also very very dirty move on Verstappen there.

  12. 6/10 – Not a terrible race, had some OK action and overall and average race from 2015. This season is really going backwards after a good start

  13. Adam (@rocketpanda)
    31st July 2016, 14:39

    Middle of the road really. The race for the win was decided at the first corner. Bit beige.

    I thought Rosberg’s move on Verstappen was naughty, but I wouldn’t have given him a penalty for it as Verstappen didn’t get one for passing off the track at the start.

    Ricciardo though was excellent. Button did well and I was kinda impressed with Magnussen’s driving – shame that Renault’s not very good.

    I wonder what happened to Ferrari and Williams – both were a bit anonymous.

    1. Question was: Did Max go onto the astroturf? I didn’t see him going on to the astroturf….

      1. William Jones
        31st July 2016, 14:57

        No, it was legal, by what they had been instructed – isn’t there something about off track in the first few corners anyway where it’s overlooked?

    2. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      31st July 2016, 17:00

      well Ricciardo pushed Verstappen out of the track .. so why would he get penalized for that?

      1. petebaldwin (@)
        31st July 2016, 17:41

        Because Ricciardo took the racing line.

      2. Keep the flag waving Arnoud. Even though it was the 1st. corner I think MV would have faced an inquiry for leaving the track to gain an advantage had he pulled that trick on a Ferrari or other non-RBR car.

  14. Average race. 5/10. Great job from Hamilton, Ricciardo and Button, they were on fire! Rosberg and the two Ferraris were disappointing.

    1. @ultimateuzair I found Alonso’s pace fairly odd. He was matching (and slightly quicker actually) than Button for about 60 laps, then his he just started losing seconds every lap. I guess his tyres fell of the cliff

  15. Great to see the red bulls on the podium. Nico messed up the start again.

  16. The race will get slated by people who dislike the result and don’t appreciate facets of F1 other than constant passes but it was interesting enough watching the strategies play out. Drivers seemed like they were pushing and fighting even if places weren’t swapped much, and that’s what makes it entertaining over a race they just hold station in 6/10

    1. I gave a +7. Found a lot of intra team battles interesting. Thought Ros set up seemed a touch more on the quali cf Ham; as I could not explain their major pace differences other than dirty air/tyre wear. It is fine details that make F1 fascinating between team drivers and think Toto alluded to that point in one of the interviews .

  17. There was some good racing down the field, especially in the complex into the stadium. Harsh penalty on Rosberg’s block pass I thought, I suppose Emmo & co reckoned Max would have had to come to a complete stop to stay on the track.

  18. 1/10

    Joke circuit, joke stewarding, joke regulations. Shame considering how exciting the season started.

    1. The circuit is outstanding. It’s not the circuit’s fault that there is such a clear difference in performance between the top 5 teams.

      Pretty every race is a Mercedes 1-2, followed by a Red Bull 3-4 and a Ferrari 5-6. Then you have Force India, Williams and McLaren fighting for the lower points.

  19. 6/10. Not very exciting. But Ricciardo is a seriously fast driver. His pace at the start of stints was fantastic and I would place him above Hamilton even in qualifying. Everytime if looks like Max Verstappen is about to get ahead in the Red Bull intra-team battle, he replies in emphatic fashion

  20. I needed a boring race like that after multiple heart attacks during GP2 races.

    1. @albedo I think that’s a fantastic way to put it!

  21. 4/10. Another strategic race with little on-track action and cruising around saving tyres. No fun at all.

  22. I didn’t feel it was as boring as people above me are saying. Maybe because we got to see a lot of wheel to wheel battles for the lower points positions. It wasn’t the best race ever, of course, and Hamilton had such an easy ride to win that we hardly saw him.

    What itches a bit after this race is that now Hamilton’s won 6 races in the last 7, and he goes into summer holidays with a 19 points advantage. And that’s not cool at all in terms of battle for the championship…

    1. Why does this itch? I’m an Alonso fan. Hamilton has taken advatage of his situation, for, that 19 point lead, he has earned it, just like Rosberg in the beginning of the season earned his lead by taking advantage of his situation. Why do some people, not necessarily yourself, (I can’t be sure) want things to happen just for their own enjoyment, “until the very end”. We need constant battles, we need constant passes. Above all, the championship should be decided in the last Grand Prix. It’s not a realistic expectation to have from season to season. Things are what they are and you get what you get.

      I gave the race a 6. I’m not a fan of the track to be honest and it’s where the old Hockenheim was. I loved that track. I’m a bit biased here. The start was exciting to me because Ricciardo and Verstappen started really well. The Ferraris coming out turn two, were trying to pounce on Rosberg, whom got a bad start unfortunately. Rosberg battled with Ricciardo for the 3rd position for a bit. Many teams changed strategies during the race when the tires weren’t performing as they should. Which possibly, brought more pitstops, which if bungled could change the outcome of the teams finish. Rosberg might be an example. Mercedes waited approximately 8 seconds before touching Rosberg’s car. The 3 seconds could have made a difference to the podium. Alonso tried to fight Perez for tenth spot. I think as fans, much of the time, we take too much of what the teams do for granted because they do it so well.

      1. It might not be realistic to have it like that year after year, but there’s absolutely nothing wrong with hoping that it turns out that way.

  23. 3/10 from P1 to P7 no changes after de first lap ….. Give 3 because we have some battles in the midfield ….

    F1 is só bad tha people here are giving grades because of a “estratégico battle for P2” … That’s sad

  24. 5/10 for me. Bit of a procession.

  25. Gave it 5/10 very average race.

    As a Verstappen and a F1 fan I am a bit surprised by the Nico penalty, I thought it was firm but fair, in fact it was nice to see Nico actually show a bit of aggression and passion. It not like Verstappen didn’t show who the better driver in a slower car was ;-)

  26. Gave it a 5…a few observations,
    1: After the 1st pit stops it was possible to walk a block to Starbucks, return and have missed nothing.
    2: Until the word RAIN was mentioned late in the race one could work on the Times Crossword, listen to the audio and miss nothing
    3: Rosberg has become the Draco Malfoy of F1.
    4: Our Lewis is one heck of a driver :)

  27. Same old Mercedes then Red Bull then Ferrari unless Rubens aka Nico messes up which is not hard for him to do, a second rate driver who somehow drives for Mercedes and even got a new contract…sigh.

  28. F1racesteward
    31st July 2016, 14:45

    Golden boy Verstappen moves in breaking zone once again.

    1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      31st July 2016, 17:04

      what is wrong to turn in for the corner in the breaking zone .. that’s what you do when you race .. you should try it .. Nico dive bombed and couldn’t hold the corner .. he dived in way too early .. Max didn’t do anything wrong

  29. The racing was good.
    It was a typical F1 race. You give a great car to a great driver and that’s what you get.
    Some great drives and some great overtakes and encouraging to see that at least Ricciardo beat Rosberg on pace.
    So, a 8.

  30. Gave it a 8….plenty going on throughout the field…Rosberg penalty was fair…he may have been on full lock on the corner as he said…but too far out before he applied out…thought he may have learned that one…and as for vettel over ruling his engineer.no driver is bigger than the team..especially that team..although Seb may be thinking he should have stayed with Red Bull

    1. @jop452 drivers giving info about tyres and ignoring pit requests is pretty common. I don’t even get what Ferrari was trying to go for with thei undercut,…

    2. F1racesteward
      31st July 2016, 15:19

      Are we gonna ignore Maldona-, sorry Verstappen the Golden Boy moving the braking zone again?

      1. Well it’s not against the rules so what do you expect them to do about it?

        I’m sure champagne aficionados were horrified by Ricciardo drinking his from a shoe but that’s not against the rules either.

        1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
          31st July 2016, 17:08

          jezus he was turning in for the corner .. when you drive you always turn in for the corner in the breaking zone .. Nico went in full speed knowing he couldn’t hold the corner and then Max wisely steered away to avoid a collision so Max did nothing wrong. This site is so anti Verstappen it is beyond believe.

          1. Anti Verstappen ? No Arnoud we’re just not blinded by love.

          2. This site is so anti Verstappen

            I’m not for in favour of any of the drivers, but before you accuse me of either you might want to try reading what I wrote which was in defence of Verstappen.

    3. @jop452, I too get the impression Seb is falling out of love with Ferrari.

  31. The post-race interviewer’s outfit was the most interesting thing about the race.

  32. 8/10 Satisfying race after Silverstone and Hungary. Good passes from many drivers, weirdly almost everyone who better in practice thru qualifying is beaten in race by their teammates.

    Rosberg though, drive like an amateur starting from bad start, clumsy overtake on Verstappen (if he turn 1 meter sooner it would be fine and still leave little space for Max), and losing all his speed on final stint.

  33. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    31st July 2016, 14:52

    This season’s excitement is gonna deteriorate with immediate effect.

    5/10.

  34. 6/10, Entertaining at times, but too few times

  35. Matt (@hamiltonfan1705)
    31st July 2016, 14:54

    First half of the race was decent. Second half was bore. Shame the first part of the season ends with two dull races

  36. 6 from me.

    Not an overly exciting race but the anticipation of waiting to see what would happen; with strategies playing out, to see if Nico could fight back, could Alonso hold off Perez for long enough.

    Nothing special but better than some we’ve seen this year.

    An okay race.

  37. I’m looking forward to summer break when I won’t have to watch hybrid turbo era F1 and M-B complete and total dominance. It’s becoming a farce.

  38. Not a great race could have been better, but not too bad either.

  39. There was constant fighting going on, which was nice, but the front of the field was determined by strategy, which was ridiculously frustrating. I’m not surprised by the Rosberg penalty, there is a difference between a divebomb and not turning in, see for instance the comparison between this move and Verstappen on Ericsson in China 2015, there he still makes the corner, not goes on straight and pushes off the other driver. That’s the limit, and Rosberg went over it. I was surprised Rosberg couldn’t catch the Red Bulls in the end. I was also surprised that Verstappen let Ricciardo through so easily and then didn’t get the place back, although that may well be because I’m not privy to the information.
    All the fights in the back of the field sort of redeem the race, but no more than 6/10 for me.

    1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      31st July 2016, 17:12

      It was team orders .. he had to let Ric pass .. Ric was faster at that time so he would have passed Max anyway so smart move from Max .. this way it didn’t hurt both drivers and they could stay away from Rosberg

  40. Boring race, only overtakes in the pit or people on 30 laps old tires.

    Max moved again defensive in the braking zone (Rosberg was right on that part in his radio message) but apparently that is now allowed.

    4 at most

  41. 3/10 boring!!! a little better than hungary but boring, im starting to feel that mercedes found a hole in the technical regulations

  42. 8/10 really enjoyed the battles between Rosberg and the Red Bull drivers, shame Rosberg was penalised. Fascinating to see how the various tyre choices impacted race pace.

    Excellent drive from Hamilton and Ricciardo.

    Where are Ferrari…….heading backwards fast……back to 3rd best car.

    1. Is being in Italy hurting Ferrari?

      1. If Vettel’s race engineer thinks there is a chance to win a position by undercut, when the distance to the driver in front is 8 sec, then I better understand why Ferrari is losing out to RB:-)

  43. 6/10- A fairly typical F1 race with slight added interest from the drama of the start and the additional TV coverage of the midfield battles. Nice to have the radio messages back again as well.

  44. Not a bad race…a more typical one. 7/10 from me!

    Some ppl just want excitement every race….guess you must switch sports!

  45. 7 for me. Too bad Max couldn’t get his 2nd stint working. Cost him the 2nd place, very good team decision later on to let RIC pass easily. ROS again shows he is not a champion with his bad start and his stupid move on Max.

  46. 4/10 A boring race. Great job by Lewis Hamilton, I think he will be the champion again this year. He deserves that. Good race also for both Red Bulls.

  47. Boring. Rosberg can’t keep up with Ham over a race distance. On quali he might take a bit more risks and hope that Ham makes a mistake and qualify ahead, but over a race distance he can’t keep up.
    You lot want excitement? Only if Mercedes were to put Alonso, Vettel or Ricciardo on the other car, but this is never going to happen, so there.

    1. +1. Watch Moto Gp for real racing.
      Not this farcical nonsense. How do you people watch this crap any more? Its just a parade where they award trophies. I used to watch it, but even the most die hard fan must be ready to switch off.

      1. not real racing, but more diverse racing because of the new tires for this year. Give it 1 or 2 more years and the satellite teams will be way back and the same guys will be winning and winning and winning, just like 2009 to 2015.

      2. Very true @glenj

  48. For me that was a rather good race! Measured & Controlled drive by Hamilton. Great battle between red bull’s and rosberg.

    do feel bad for rosberg though, what an awful home race :(

  49. A 4. What a rubbish race despite some nice overtakes. And don’t let me even start on the stewards! What a bunch of idiots! Are they babysitting Verstappen? Because while he can do everything, nobody can do to him anything. When Max is driving illegally then it’s hard racing. But when someone really races him hard, borderline illegally but much less than what he does to people then suddenly it’s a penalty?

    So I hate the stewards most of all, but also Verstappen is quickly becoming my most hated driver on the grid in a long time

    1. @montreal95

      while he can do everything, nobody can do to him anything

      On Friday Charlie Whiting gave a clear explanation why Verstappen’s move in Hungary was considered legal. So why should Verstappen stop doing it?

      I don’t think there’s good reason to “hate” any of the drivers but this reasoning strikes me as completely illogical.

      1. @keithcollantine Clear explanation that I completely disagree with it. What he was doing in Hungary was much more deserving of a penalty than what Rosberg did here which was borderline illegal, true, but moving from side to side in the braking zone is far worse, BTW MV has moved at the last moment in the braking zone in the incident with Rosberg as well, contributing to the outcome. And if they would’ve collided because MV moved, then it would’ve been his fault. Not that I have any doubt who the stewards would’ve blamed. You can’t touch the wonderkid, right?

        I feel that at the moment there’s one rule for Verstappen and another rule for everyone else. That’s what I meant in the comment above. And as exciting as MV is to watch I’m a fan of fair racing and his dirty tactics are not real racing in my eyes. That’s why I disliked Schumacher once and MV is turning quickly into the new MSC, and not in a good way IMO. And that’s why he’s an object of my sportive hate. Sportive hate is a very common thing among sports fans, Keith, Whether you like that or not. Sportive hate doesn’t mean that I want him to be hurt or anything, but I’d like very much so see him beaten as much as possible. Go DR!

        1. @montreal95

          I feel that at the moment there’s one rule for Verstappen and another rule for everyone else.

          No drivers have been penalised for changing their lines in a braking zone this year so that isn’t true.

          And to the best of my recollection this was the first occasion any driver has been penalised for an incident involving Verstappen since he arrived in F1. So there’s no evidence to support your insistence that the stewards come down hard on those he races with.

          I’m not sure what the lecture on hate is about other than that you appear to have a great passion for hating people.

          1. @keithcollantine
            If no drivers have been penalized as you say, for moving in the breaking zones, we need to ask oureslves, are any other drivers are moving in the braking zones as Max clearly does, and did before 2016, also in 2015? To bring an analogy, if no one in a group of people is a thief except one, but others are doing other crimes, shouldn’t a thief be penalized anyway? And if he isn’t penalized isn’t that one rule for him and another for the others even if it’s not the same crime?

            I don’t have time to research whether anyone was ever penalized while fighting MV. But did anyone ever overtake him in a borderline illegal way? Or in other words, gave Verstappen the taste of his own medicine? Although I’ve rarely had any problems with MV’s overtaking. It’s his dirty defensive tactics that are a problem

            The “lecture on hate” was because you’ve insisted on bringing the subject in an above post in a patronizing way. And yes I’m a passionate person both in a positive and a negative way, I don’t keep my feelings bottled in and boiling under the surface. If I don’t like something or somebody, I say it so, publicly. Sorry(not sorry) if you have a problem with that

    2. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      31st July 2016, 17:16

      OMG .. so whether you agree with the stewards or not how is it Max fault the decisions stewards make?? The last 1,5 year arguably Max made F1 more exciting with him the without him .. why would you hate him???

      1. Arnoud, see my reply to Keith above, for the full explanation, but basically MV’s dirty tactics are not the type of excitement I’m looking for. I like fair racing, and so far MV is a dirty driver. Plus, he gets the babysitting from the stewards which only contributes to my dislike of him

        1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
          31st July 2016, 22:13

          a very knowledgable f1 journalist Peter Windsor also says in his analysis that Rosberg pushed Max deliberately wide and that Max did nothing wrong .. at 5:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CMKThLWLgo .. so who is a dirty driver here??

          1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
            31st July 2016, 22:16

            and BTW Max doesn’t need the babysitting .. did you remember the ridiculous penalty points max get in Abu Dhabi from the stewards last year .. that was a joke!! Max got penalty points last year in Monaca when he crashed with Grosjean but Alonso did exactly the same thing with Guttierrez this year and he doesn’t get penalty points!!

          2. Arnoud, I’m sorry to say but I’ve been watching F1 for 22 years, and during that time Peter Windsor was wrong more often than not. Him being respected is also debatable. Some respect him, some don’t. I respect him but I’m not always agreeing with him. Also, I respect Keith Collantine much much more than Windsor, but in this instance and quite a few others I disagree with him. I feel that having watched every F1 race for 22 years, and many taped races from earlier than that, and being a disciple of F1 history I’ve earned a right to my own vision of things

            That penalty in Abu Dhabi wasn’t a joke. He overtook Button off track what did he expect? I was pleasantly surprised by that penalty btw, as I was sure the stewards would give the wonderkid a free out of jail card

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-olVBsSeww

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ce4r2nSnmyU

            I suggest you watch again both crashes and look for differences between them. There are two! It’s not the same at all

  50. 6/10

    Didn’t love the race, didn’t hate the race. Rosberg showing why he doesn’t have the capacity to be world champion yet again. Hamilton may as well start celebrations over the summer break.

  51. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
    31st July 2016, 16:00

    Not a bad race 6/10 for me. As for Rosberg penalty, a little harsh, there’s nothing wrong with late braking lunges but you have to try and steer into the normal racing line, if you over rotate and understeer wide then that’s fine but Rosberg does this weird line where he won’t start steering until he’s scrubbed off all his speed, knowing fine well it blatantly blocks the other driver from turning. It’s a little too underhand.

  52. ColdFly F1 (@)
    31st July 2016, 16:02

    I really enjoyed it, and actually gave it a 9/10 (maybe a bit over the top to counter the negative views here).
    The 21 cars racing each other after turn 1 made it an interesting fight throughout the field.
    Great strategy and partnering for RBR.
    Ferrari stumbling all over themselves strategically.
    Great moves by Alonso, and then let it all slip, and for Button to show how to reel in the points.
    And many more moves and overtakes, and not just at the end of the DRS straight.

  53. What F1 misses the most is Pastor Maldonado. There are hardly any crashes this year.

  54. Robert McKay
    31st July 2016, 16:27

    The easiest way to improve F1 right now would be to paint the GP2 cars in F1 liveries and change the logo at the top of their press releases to “F1”.

    GP2 has been phenomenally exciting this season. F1 has mainly been “well, that was ok, more or less, I suppose”.

    1. I agree that GP2 race with Sirotkin winning was a cracker! Today’s F1 race was ‘ok’. Compare Sirotkin racing flat out to the end with Hamilton in cruise control managing the gap to Ric. I heard at the end of the race a number of team principals saying their driver ‘managed’ a good race. Drivers shouldn’t be managing a race, they should be driving flat out balls to the wall type of racing!

  55. How can you people can rate a race like that with “7”???, my eyes bleed each time I see what happened to Hockenheim, not to mention the boring emotionless Pirelli race we had…

    1. we really got used to this low level F1 racing, impressive to see a lot of people saying even “6”…

    2. Robert McKay
      31st July 2016, 16:46

      It’s kind of a shame because if Tilke came along and gave you new-Hockenheim today, from scratch, people would probably go “that’s one of his better efforts”. But because we only got the circuit by neutering one of the last truly unique, individual F1 events then it just makes you a bit depressed.

  56. After the first corner there was pretty much nothing to watch, only a few scraps for the teen positions, beyond the points. And too many pitstops.
    Would have been a 3 without the ridiculous penalty for NR. As it is, 1.

    1. Arnoud van Houwelingen
      31st July 2016, 22:18

      a very knowledgable f1 journalist Peter Windsor also says in his analysis that Rosberg pushed Max deliberately wide and that Max did nothing wrong .. at 5:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CMKThLWLgo

      1. Well of course Rosberg pushed Max wide deliberately. The point is, he had the racing line, he was entitled to it, and the penalty was ridiculous.

        About Max doing nothing wrong, yes we know, Max is God and cannot do nothing wrong.

  57. Turned it off with 12 Laps to go, so boring. Only one outcome once Rosberg screwed up the start and everyone went on the same strategy. Once Rosberg got penalised for a perfectly fine overtake that was it. Anyone who rates this race above a 5 needs to watch the GP2 and GP3 races from this weekend

  58. Neil (@neilosjames)
    31st July 2016, 19:12

    I thought it was a pretty good race… some good action, occasional wheel-to-wheel stuff, overtaking away from the DRS zones and it was fun seeing the Red Bulls actually racing against Mercedes.

    Yeah, there was no fight for the lead, but that aside I’m not sure why the race is getting so much hate. Although, I appreciate a fight for 14th as much as a fight for the lead – maybe others don’t.

  59. A repeat of Hungary, with the start basically spoiling much of the race as the fastest guy in the fastest car managed to get into the lead and just had to cruise to win.

    On lap 4 I really realised how bad the tyre management issue seemed to be again: every was just holding stationary with some 1.5 seconds between the cars. Then when the cars started pitting, those on newer tyres just usually cruised past those with older rubber.

    Yes, there were some nice wheel-to-wheel dices (Hockenheim has definitely one of the best pieces of tarmac in F1 for action from T2 to the stadium) but overall, once again, the race lacked that bit of excitement that would glue me to the screen.

  60. There was dribs and drabs of decent racing with some impressive overtaking moves, but on the whole it wasn’t the best of races. It’s likely to be highly significant for the championship though.

  61. I gave this a 6/10. Pretty average I thought. I only watched the highlights on C4 and at half way I thought it was really quite dull. There seemed to be a bit more of a battle towards the end with a few changes of position.

    My lowest score this year was a 4 for Baku. Didn’t see Hungary as I was away.

    No objections to Nico’s penalty. I think he has been in this business long enough now to know when a move is within the rules or not. It was very virtually identical to the one with Hamilton a few races ago.

    Thought Button did well to look after her tyres and fule better than Alonso.

  62. The race would have been 8/10, but I’m deducting one point for the Verstappen-Rosberg incident. Verstappen should have been penalised.

  63. It deserves just 5, it was very boring.

  64. Gave it a 7, nothing more, better than some races we’ve had, yet not great.
    Disagreed with the penalty for Rosberg for the two points, but agreed with the 5 sec penalty.
    It was a calculated act that forced Verstrappen off the track instead of racing him thru the corner, etc

    The last stint was a bit lacking, yet I enjoyed the strategies that played out surrounding the 2 stop/3 stop, etc

    The start was good, Rosberg really buggered 3rd gear or the car had some issue, Ham took off, but the rest of field enjoy some good racing.

    After having the DE Grand Prix missing last year, it was nice to see fairly good fan support on race day…lacking for the practice sessions for sure as it seemed lonely in those empty grandstands, but good to have the De race back on the calendar.

  65. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    1st August 2016, 3:34

    I gave it a 6.

    There were some fairly exciting parts to it. I thought the split strategies by Mercedes and RBR were really interesting. Brilliant drives from Ricciardo and Vestappen, but once Lewis got past Nico off the line it was a foregone conclusion.

    Good to see Kvyat have a semi-decent result to lay some sort of foundation. Still a long way to go.

  66. geoffgroom44 (@)
    1st August 2016, 7:27

    A fascinating race and so good to see Red Bulls up there again.As an LH fan I am happy about the outcome,sheer unadulterated dominance. Notwithstanding, it is somewhat sad to see Nico fragmenting. His skills are needed if we are really to coax the best out of Lewis in the coming years,but maybe Max or Daniel are now on schedule for that job.It seems that Nico is not able to restrain his over-optimism/questionable decisions on the track in the moments when it is most important to him. I actually would have liked to see him win on his ‘home circuit’ for sentimental reasons.It was his for the taking,but he couldn’t deliver. That is now two races where Nico had 60+ laps to come back at Lewis and wasn’t able to manage it. ‘Manage’ seems to be the key word for success in F1 today,huh?

    1. Sir Ding Dong
      1st August 2016, 9:58

      Its easy to dominate when you cruise to victory in the fastest, most reliable car!

  67. 7/10 for me. Hockenheim was a microcosm of the 2016 season, with Hamilton flying when avoiding mechanical errors, Rosberg clumsy in traffic, exciting drivers at an improving Red Bull, Ferrari’s race pace disappearing as fast as that of Williams, McLaren’s improvements finally becoming evident and Force India as always seeming to maximise their opportunities. I enjoyed it.

  68. It’s like the stewards don’t want the drivers to race against each other. Penalty this, penalty that. Come on, they’re racing drivers, not sock puppets. This is what they do. Couldn’t rate it higher than a 4, really not enjoying the over-penalising nature of F1 at the moment.

  69. Watched the race from the Mercedes grandstand and was able to see pretty much every overtake in the race from up there. It wasn’t a very eventful race, especially compared to the GP2 main race, but it had its moments. Liked the battle between the Red Bulls and Nico. It was nice to witness a podium finish for my compatriot Max (thanks to a overly aggressive Rosberg and a faulty Mercedes stopwatch). Unfortunately there never was a real battle for the lead. Lewis had it in the bag after turn 1. 6/10 for the race. 9/10 for the views from the Mercedes grandstand.

  70. Absolute snoozer. I had more fun reading old webcomics during the race than watching the race itself. Oh well, here’s hoping for next time.

  71. 3/10. Once I saw Nico blow the start I knew it was over. Ferrari are fading back to the Red Bulls and neither are making real gains on Mercedes. Hockenheim is a shadow of itself. In all these years since they eliminated the forest section of the track you would think they could widen the stadium section and modify it so there are some areas to pass. I’ve seen wider paths on golf courses. With all of the races in Europe to chose from, it is no wonder attendance is always poor in Germany. For me, Spa starts at an 8/10 just for the circuit……

  72. 1/10. The “race” essentially ended when it started, nothing happened other than the stupid penalty for Rosberg for “forcing” a car off the circuit (but of course it is okay for Ricciardo to force Rosberg off before that) despite the fact that Verstappen’s change of direction in the braking area (2 races in a row, since when was this allowed?) meant Rosberg had to take a tighter corner and therefore a deeper entry so it’s hardly Rosbery’s fault that Verstappen was on the wrong side of him. Poor racing on a boring circuit and ridiculous stewarding, I feel like I’m losing the will to watch this “sport”, it is fast becoming a nonsense.

  73. I thought the German GP was similar to the previous one in Hungary so I decided to give it the same rating of 5.5.

    It was another case of once a Mercedes was in the lead after the first lap only reliability problems would realistically prevent them from winning. This time Hamilton made a great start while Rosberg made a poor start, dropping down behind the Red Bulls.

    It is easier to overtake at Hockenheim than it is at some over circuits so at first I thought with the pace advantage Mercedes had that Rosberg would easily get past the Red Bulls into second and as he had seemed faster than Hamilton this weekend that he may even manage to close up on Hamilton to set up an exciting finish to the race.

    However that was not the case and when he did overtake Verstappen on track it was a clumsy move which earned him a penalty. But again I thought with his pace he would pull enough of a gap so the 5 second penalty would not affect his finishing position, but that didn’t happen either, even without the Mercedes stopwatch problems at the stop I don’t think Rosberg would have got a podium.

    I was surprised with how Rosberg’s race developed, maybe there is something in the opinion from some fans I have read earlier in the year that although the Mercedes is the fastest car it suffers more than others when following in the dirty air of another car.

    For races that are not shown live I always try to avoid any news before I see the highlights show, this weekend I went out on the Sunday afternoon and I found myself standing in a queue next to some people discussing the race, I assume they must have been checking the latest news on their phones, I tried to ignore them as best I could but I heard them say that the race wasn’t finished yet and that Ricciardo was in second, from what else I heard for some reason I thought that there had been another clash between the Mercedes drivers or that Hamilton had had other problems in the race.

    Because of this when I watched the highlights, until almost the end I thought there was going to be some major drama, so although the race itself was a case of Hamilton leading and controlling the pace the whole time to make sure he did just enough to win, I thought that that wasn’t going to be the case.

    This meant when I was watching it I probably enjoyed this race more than Hungary as I had the anticipation that something was going to happen and not that the winner was a foregone conclusion and so may have given it a higher rating, but without that I thought the race itself was similar to Hungary so I should give it the same rating.

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