Rosberg takes home win as Hamilton battles to third

2014 German Grand Prix summary

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Nico Rosberg has led from start to finish at today’s German Grand Prix to claim his first home race win and his fourth victory of the season after a frantic race filled with action and overtaking.

Rosberg’s team mate and rival Lewis Hamilton fought a hard race-long battle to recover to third place, meaning the gap between the two championship contenders has widened to 14 points. Valtteri Bottas took the second step on the podium for the second consecutive race after holding off Hamilton’s Mercedes under intense pressure in the closing laps.

At the start, Rosberg leapt out into the lead with Bottas slotting into second behind. But Felipe Massa was clipped at the apex of Turn One by Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren, pitching the Williams upside down in a violent accident. Thankfully, the Brazilian climbed out of the car unhurt, but the Williams driver was forced out for the third time this season.

The Safety Car was immediately deployed and the race resumed on Lap Three with Rosberg leading from Bottas and Sebastian Vettel in third while Hamilton immediately passed Max Chilton for 16th to begin his fightback through the field. The Stewards announced that there would be no action taken regarding the first corner accident.

Daniil Kvyat tried an aggressive move around the outside of Sergio Perez into Turn Eight over ninth place, but appeared to squeeze the Force India at the apex and the two made contact, sending the Toro Rosso into a spin and dropping the Russian rookie well down the field.

Most of the early action was focussed on the run down to the hairpin. Lewis Hamilton followed Daniel Ricciardo past Adrian Sutil’s Sauber, but the German appeared to fail to see the Mercedes following through behind the Red Bull and the two made minor contact at the apex.

Soon, there was a train of cars behind Perez with Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Hamilton all scrapping over the same piece of tarmac. Hamilton used the double boost of slipstream and DRS to dive past both the Ferrari and the Red Bull into the hairpin, but clipped the Ferrari’s front wing in the process. Hamilton then dispatched Perez one lap later.

On Lap 15, Raikkonen found himself sandwiched between two cars again, with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel diving either side of him into the hairpin – the Finn getting clipped by the Red Bull to lose another piece of his front wing for his troubles.

Rosberg pitted at the end of Lap 15, rejoining in the lead. Hamilton, on the more durable Soft tyres, was able to to climb up to third behind his championship rival and Bottas’s Williams before pitting for another set of Soft tyres at the end of Lap 26, resuming in eighth position.

Nico Hulkenberg’s fifth place appeared to be under threat with frantic team radio messages illustrating that the Force India was suffering from some kind of software issues.

On Lap 29, Hamilton successfully passed Ricciardo for seventh with well-executed switchback move exiting the hairpin. The following lap, the Mercedes cruised up behind Jenson Button but Hamilton appeared to be caught out when the McLaren ran wide at the apex and made gentle contact with his former team mate, causing damage to his front wing. Hamilton later passed the McLaren along the back straight on Lap 31, appearing to hold his hand up in apology, before relieving Hulkenberg of fifth two laps later.

At the half distance mark, Rosberg was still comfortably in the lead with Bottas still in second but unable to challenge. Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel found themselves nose to tail for the second race in succession and both breezed past Hulkenberg for fourth and fifth during their 38th tour of the circuit.

Rosberg and Bottas were soon in for their second stops of the afternoon, but Hamilton pitted for Super-Soft tyres on Lap 43, resuming in fifth and immediately picking up the pace, suggesting that he was the only one of the front runners who had switched to an aggressive three-stop strategy.

Danill Kvyat’s day ended in spectacular and frightening fashion when his Renault engine burst into flames along the long back straight. The rookie was able to pull over and quickly get out of the car as fire extinguishers were quickly on the scene.

Suddenly, Adrian Sutil spun at the last corner and stalled, leaving his Sauber stranded in the middle of the track on the starting grid. With marshalls seemingly unable to reach the stricken car safely, it seemed as though a Safety Car intervention was imminent and Hamilton immediately pitted for his second set of Super-Soft tyres, leaving him with a 16-lap final stint. But Race Director Charlie Whiting chose not to deploy the Safety Car and the Sauber was eventually recovered by the marshalls who were forced to run across the circuit.

Despite having a number of laps to complete on the Super Soft tyres, Hamilton went straight back on the offensive, catching and passing Fernando Alonso and dispatching Vettel soon afterwards before eating into the gap ahead to Bottas’s second placed Williams.

Daniel Ricciardo caught and passed Alonso for fifth, but the Ferrari driver refused to give up the position easily and immediately put pressure back on the Red Bull, eventually reclaiming the position after a superb multiple-lap battle with the Australian.

With just over five laps remaining, Hamilton was now tucked right behind the Williams. But despite the Mercedes’ obvious pace advantage, Hamilton appeared unable to dispatch the Finn as easily as those before him, complaining over team radio that the Williams was just too fast in a straight line.

But out front, Rosberg cruised through the final laps to take the chequered flag and his fourth win of the season to the delight of the Hockenheim crowd. Despite having chased down the Williams, Hamilton failed to snatch second place from Bottas who recorded his third podium in a row and second consecutive second place finish.

Sebastian Vettel claimed fourth, while Alonso took fifth after a superb effort to hold off Ricciardo by less than a single tenth of a second at the line. Nico Hulkenberg brought his Force India home in seventh, followed by the two McLarens of Button and Magnussen. Sergio Perez rounded out the points in tenth.

2014 German Grand Prix

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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103 comments on “Rosberg takes home win as Hamilton battles to third”

  1. We should have had a 2nd safety car when Sutil decided to park his car on the start finish straight.

    1. A Safety Car at that point would’ve completely changed the outcome of the race. While Sutil’s car had spun in a difficult to recover position, the marshals there were able to recover the car without bringing out the Safety Car, which is something I’ve noticed Charlie wanting to do as of late, getting the cars recovered without interrupting the race as much as he can.

      1. @Mark, just remember safety first. I would hate to see F1 resemble INDYCAR in terms of safety car interventions but Whitting should have sent out the SC. Remember, altering normal race protocols is also changing the race outcome.

        1. you have a point their, indycar sends out safety car for smaller incidents, but I think it is because they are more paranoid over their, as the nature of the tracks and some other aspects of their sport sees injuries and death more often then f1, so they are absolutely taking no chances, even if it is safe.

      2. The safety car should be deployed to guarantee the safety on the track regardless of the outcome of the race. Imagine if another driver spun at the exact place or a marshal fell on track
        Racing is dangerous. These 2 examples comes to my mind
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mF8hsSsiQVA
        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6URo_2XMKHE

        1. Here’s an example that resulted in a fatality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rS5jneOrZdk

          Keep in mind that this was even farther away from the blind turn.

          1. @trublu
            Yes, i know it that was one of the most horrible crashes in the history of motorsport but that was a long time ago when safety car wasn’t used, remember that last year, even with the current safety standards, a marshal died in Canada when he was trying to lift a F1 car.

          2. @tifoso1989 Just buttressing your point. It was to illustrate what could happen in that situation when a safety car isn’t used.

      3. The problem with where the car was is that if someone spins in the same place they can really have a bad accident, so its probably not worth leaving it there for so long. However, if they had the safety car Lewis might have been ahead of his team mate if he didn’t stop. And everyone would have been like ohh they put the safety car for Lewis. So I see where Charlie’s head was, he didn’t want the race to be affected by the safety car.

        1. If that’s what he was thinking (which I can’t believe he was), then he isn’t fit to be race director. If there’s a genuine safety concern, how a safety car / stoppage could affect the outcome of the race is utterly meaningless. As is any conspiracy theory that may result from it.

          Given there was a car almost in the middle of the track for at least 2 laps, a safety car was warranted IMO. You’re right that if that had happened, Hamilton would have potentially been favourite for the win, as no one else pitted for fresh tyres.

        2. no driver could have spun in the same spot as sutil, as it was a yellow flag corner, so the drivers were going cautious in that turn, navigate the turn cautiously, and then it is a file 1 at a time acceleration zone – so no danger. good call by Whiting, no safety car was needed – the only thing I saw dangerous was the marshalls running across the track, but they would have had a great view, being the stadium section, so they knew it was safe to cross. more people will talk about this yellow flag, because Hamilton would have had a shot at the win, but the kvyat incident was similar, with a tractor not far from the driving line – but again, yellow flags were out. yellow flags are there for a reason, otherwise every incident would have a safety car.

      4. These days if a driver so much as farts these days they send out a safety car, today with a car parked in the middle of a track no need for one??

        The sport is as bent as greyhound racing and Whiting and his merry men are nothing but dictators, F1 stinks!!

      5. I think it was quite unsafe.

    2. We should have had marshalls coming from the inside/pit-lane-side about a minute earlier. That way it could have been done with double-waved-yellows, but without a safety-car. Safety-car would have been second-best option, marshalls coming from the outside and crossing the racing-line was the worst.

    3. Definitely, I agree. Its shocking not to see the safety car at that moment given the danger…..but with a German leading the German race……someone would wonder!!!

    4. Well, Bernie last year said his money is on Nico to win the championship this year. You can take that as his own opinion which he has every right to but if you add all the dodgy decisions taken this year where Nico is concerned, you can sum up who is being favoured.
      Bernie’s bribery case which is currently going on in Germany makes one wonder how much some people may need to have a German driving for one of the biggest German companies to win the F1 championship.
      That safety car would have been deployed if any other person was leading the race. Remember Bahrain.
      Take it or leave it, Nico Rosberg will win 2014 F1 championship.

      1. I fully agree with you.

  2. Alright, Sutil had his home race. Now, please, give Simona that seat.

    1. @dh1996
      To be honest many of us on this forum predicted that this kind of staff which was very obvious BTW will happen to Sauber with Sutil & Gutierrez behind the wheels. kaltenborn enjoy now !!!!!

      1. That’s why I don’t understand why Simona isn’t in the car yet. This has to be THE best chance for her to shine. Both Sauber drivers should be beatable by any mediocre driver out there.

        Not that I think she’s mediocre – I simply don’t know. But it surely is easier than competing against Bottas and Massa.

        1. it could be a good move, like when Sauber dumped Villeneuve and bought in Kubica – that was a great call by Sauber
          It would be a breath of fresh air, and Simona has shown she can match the best in Indycar, given a chance in F1, she would feel so motivated to succeed.

  3. Bottas should’ve split Rosberg and Hamilton, because I saw some sparks in between them. Also I was a bit surprised when Hamilton came on the podium with his sunglasses – a bit of disrespect for fans.

    When luck is not on Hamilton’s side, he seems so unhappy as if he’s unhappiest person on the world. I’m not a fan of Rosberg, but he manages poor luck better.

    1. He took off his sunglasses as soon as he got to the third place step, presumably just for you.

    2. “I’m not a fan of Rosberg, but he manages poor luck better.”

      Of course he handles it better, look at how his seasons gone. He’s had 1 failure thats cost him points relative to his teammate.

      Hamilton had issues before the season even got underway in pre-season testing where he couldnt even complete a race distance run without his car braking. Then he turns up at the first race and has a DNF, then he has another DNF in canada, had an engine failure in Silverstone practice that stopphim doing a race-run, then has a brake failure that plants his car into a wall and has to change gearbox as a result, and this isnt even getting into things like Rosberg making mistakes and it actually benefitting him. Hamilton has been much harder done-by this year, OFCOURSE Rosberg is going to shrug his problem off. Lets see Rosbergs demenour if he has a second half of the the season like Lewis’ first.

  4. It seemed that Rosberg wasn’t getting a lot of love from his “home” crowd… Especially compared with the British drivers at Silverstone. In fact from the TV shots the crowd looked as sedate as if they were at Glyndebourne rather than a GP. Would be interested to hear from people who were there whether that was the case!

    1. I think that is just the German way. They’re not known for being a particularly passionate bunch of people but then that might be why they are dominating the world of sport. They take a logical view of most things & their execution is clinical. They get up & get on with the job & don’t let emotions get in the way until the job is done. British people could learn a lot from it, although I do love a bit of passion!

      1. I’m suppose the Germans only show emotion and lose their logical view when Vettel wins.

        1. Hülkenberg would be fine, too ;) And Kobayashi, although he is not german, is quite popular.

          1. Actually, having just checked in to a german F1-forum again, I still have not found any Rosberg-fan in what is one of the biggest german-language F1-forums. There are Vettel and Hülkenberg-fans, Hamilton-fans, Alonso-supporters, supporters that care more about their respective team than any driver (mostly Ferrari, but also Sauber and some Merc-fans), and obviously Kimi has fans everywhere…
            There even is someone who calls himself a Maldonado-fan, though I believe that is a troll.

      2. @jacobf90 I think it’s am cliché. Germans are actually very loud fans. Do you watch Bundesliga? I was very close to German fans at Fonte Nova Stadium in Salvador when they faced Portugal and they were very cheerful and loud.

        1. Fair point. I’m only giving my opinion based on my experience of Germany & German people , which if I’m honest I don’t have a lot of, but I really do respect Germany as a whole as Sporting nation & they way conduct themselves; i.e the Bundesliga which is sustainable & virtually debt free compared to the premiership, I think that can be extended to the way their government is managed also. Sorry if I’ve gone off topic.

        2. @jcost @jacobf90 I was going to say that the clinical, coldly efficient stereotype is just that – a stereotype – in my view. I work in Germany sometimes, and have German friends, and I can assure you that many Germans are just as illogical, emotional and passionate as some of us Britons.

        3. I agree with that @jcost, @dirgegirl. I have seen Germans as enthusiastic as fans of both Formula one and football, but also hockey as Brazilians, Italians and the like.

          When I was in Hockenheim for my first F1 race, the whole place was stocked full with Schumacher fans (with the odd McLaren fan – mercedes engines based no doubt) in between.

          Not completely sure what the issue was this year, but it does seem that Rosberg does not capture the fans as much as Vettel did, who himself seemed to only get a small part of what we saw for Schumacher.

    2. Rosbergs home-crowd is in Monaco.

    3. As seen in the past, we sadly cheer only when our favourite’s opponent has a heavy crash in front of the stands.

      1. Well, to be fair I saw a lot of cheering this weekend when the crash victims got out of their cars in one piece. I don’t recall seeing the crowd cheering when Lewis smacked the wall.

      2. Sorry @dh1996, did you mean we as in the British? Or we as in the human race?

        1. I actually meant we as in “we, the Germans” and was refering to Damon Hill’s 1995 Crash ;)

  5. Williams might as well replace Massa with Susie Wolff for the rest of the year.

    1. And Ferrari really ought to put Raikkonen out of his misery and put Bianchi in their second car.

  6. This is the old Massa we have seen for so many years. Simply no spatial awareness about where other cars are around him.
    A wasted car for Williams, and Alonso´s talents are wasted at Ferrari. The solution must be obvious for everyone

    1. He’s a danger to all those around him.

    2. I his finger-pointing moment was unnecessary.

    3. I can’t believe some people thought that was Magnussen’s fault. He had a great qualifying and then some idiot like Massa turns up and in the first corner turns on him causing Ricciardo to take avoiding action. Maldonado, Sutil and Massa need to retire from F1 now.

    4. I agree entirely that Massa was culpable, In his defence though he is not used to being passed before the 1st. corner, I hope he stops blaming everybody else and takes the lesson onboard.

  7. Gideon Hadi (@)
    20th July 2014, 15:03

    DOTW Candidates for me : Hamilton for his amazing recovery, Bottas for his amazing Quali and stellar race, Magnussen and Ricciardo for Great recovery after first-lap disaster.

    1. @f1indofans
      I completely agree with this assessment ^_^

    2. Rosberg is certainly no candidate, pole and the race win is of course not good enough for DOTW

      1. /sarcasm

      2. That was rarely good enough for Vettel over the course of the last 4 seasons

        1. @alebelly74 I know, baffles me every time it happens.

      3. So vote for him.

        1. of course ;-) or maybe Bottas, good job by him

      4. It wasn’t really much of a drive.

      5. Not when it’s pole by half a second and a win by 20 in a car a second a lap faster.

      6. I dont supposed he got FLAP?

    3. Hamilton would definitely be a candidate but his 3 incidents at the Turn 6 hairpin (arguably all his fault) really makes me deviate from selecting as DOTW. Bottas on the other hand, absolutely supreme!

  8. That incident with Sutil’s car is unbelievable. It is the kind of scenes we could see 20 years ago. For the same price, another driver could very well pick up two marshalls on his way.
    Alonso made a superb race, but Vettel benefited from a better strategy. I was a bit disappointed as I’d have loved to see the Alonso-Vettel battle 2.0, but we got a superb one with Ricciardo.
    In my opinion they are trying to much less intervene in the races (track limits, contacts, safety car), maybe ‘for the show’ ?

    1. because they know that hamilton will win if safety car went out…make that rosberg on ham’s place and they’ll deploy safety car just like bahrain…

      1. Blah blah blah. For all we know every car ahead of Hamilton would have pitted again for supersofts in the case there was a safety car, and he wouldn’t be able to overtake anyone. How is that for you?

      2. +1000000

      3. It’s so blatantly obvious that it’s comical, thing is the press or Sky hardly mention so it just gets brushed under the carpet!!

        Whiting and his cronies should be made to do interviews to tell the fans why they make these decisions!!

        1. I’m a Hamilton fan, but I can’t believe the race director would favour not affecting the outcome of the race over safety.

          I think he just felt the marshalls could remove the car without needing a safety car (although I do think it was a bad call on his part).

      4. While I agree that the SC should have been deployed for that incident, suggesting the Whiting made that decision to favour or disadvantage any particular driver it incredibly insulting.

        While I think it was a bad call by Charlie, to suggest there was anything nefarious going on is absurd.

    2. That really looked like that FIA was more concerned about not being the trigger of a Rosberg vs. Hamilton showdown than the safety of the marshals and drivers… In my book, that was a very risky call.

      1. yep Ham would of had nice new S Soft tires and Rosb old Softs and Bota in the same boat with 16laps to go,
        3 laps for the Safety Car and Ham would have nailed both of them and Charlie new it.
        otherwise why would he let people run onto the track to be knocked down????

        1. interfering old fools, they need to be replace that is why this sport is going no where….

      2. Spot on.

  9. I can’t help but feel that they should have thrown a safety car for the Sutil spin. It did seem unusual to not throw one really… I don’t like seeing marshals run across a circuit with drivers doing racing speeds.

  10. What a joke – Felipe Massa has done it again… He’s the king of the disaster – taking the crown from Romain Grosjean from last Season…

    “Williams might as well replace Massa with Susie Wolff for the rest of the year.” – Jimmy
    I agree completely!

    Valtteri Bottas , again great race, a future World Champion for sure – we need a Finn on top in F1, because Nico Rosberg appears to be German, and Kimmi is going towards retirement.

    Driver of the day has to be Lewis Hamilton – it must be a record of overtaking in a race – but can’t forget Valtteri Bottas and Kevin Magnussen! Great young drivers with a lot to show in the future!

    1. Nonsense. Felipe Massa’s first lap DNFs weren’t his fault. It’s just plain bad luck, that’s all.

      1. 3 times in lap 1, plus the Canada shunt I don’t agree it was Perez fault… to much for a drivers with those years at F1… Very poor… Bottas will be a Champ!

        1. @win7golf: How are those Massa’s fault? Australia: Got rammed from behind by Kobayashi’s car, in Great Britian: Had to avoid Räikkönen spinning across the track, in Germany: he couldn’t see that Magnussen was on the inside unless he can see through other people’s car (in this case Bottas) – racing incident.

          1. Like EVERYONE else did? Including Kamui Kobayashi in a Caterham through the grass? No matter what Massa says, he wasnt following Kobayashi to dodge Raikkonen, he was slipstreaming, and only noticed Raikkonen when it was too late.

    2. Win7Golf, do you have hate in your heart for Massa??? any blind man can see Massa has had a lot of bad luck this year, this another bad luck incident, nothing to do with his driving or ability. If you cant accept that, that is your issue to deal in you mind with yourself

      1. Massa is awful lol.

  11. it seemed as though a Safety Car intervention was imminent. But Race Director Charlie Whiting chose not to deploy the Safety Car and the Sauber was eventually recovered,
    too dangerous Mr Whiting, “if” someone had died right there what would you have said?
    considering your the clown that suggested standing starts for a red flagged race you let this one slid past quite nicely because it suited you and your cronies to have a German win at a German track.

    1. Spot on man

    2. @Eric +1, remember Bahrain ?, just saying.

  12. I thought no SC for Sutils bus ok but the marshalls crossing the road is a No-No , if marshalls have to be on the track , one should be right there with waving dbl yellows protecting the on track people .

    Also the marshalls from the inside of the track should have recovered that car,

  13. As much as I like Massa. He should retire. I would hate to see another Barrichello. Superb bloke and all, but a waste of a seat. I wouldn’t say that to his face, but with some much talent out of a seat because of money backing I shed no tear for him.

    1. Either Massa is losing spatial awareness or not leaving enough room to protect himself from damage. While early season incidents were not his fault, he shares equal blame with Perez and pretty much all the blame today. First corner, you KNOW it’s going to be a traffic jam, if you’re outside and can’t see who might have a nose inside you, assume there’s someone there and stay outside. I think he knew Mag had a decent start and was too anxious about losing the position. In any case, poor judgments in the moment. I’ve always liked Massa, he should have been treated better when paired with Michael at Ferrari, he showed incredible grit and courage coming back from his injury, but I agree, he is no longer delivering the results possible with his car.

      1. @slowhands: Massa shares all the blame today? Can you see through other people’s car?

        1. No, and that’s the point. It’s first lap first corner. It’s a traffic jam. If you’re outside and can’t see, and you know that there is a better than 50/50 chance that someone might be inside you and at the apex, don’t go for the apex. It’s a matter of self preservation. You have to finish the race to score points. Don’t dive from outside to inside at the first corner unless you’re on pole and had a great start, or you know absolutely where everyone is. Mags was well-established inside, taking a tight line, on the apex, did not go in tires smoking and out of control — you have to allow for that and drive accordingly if you’re Massa. Remember, he has not converted decent quali positions to points. You know you have the pace to make up places after lap one. Drive conservatively, get out of the first corner intact, preserve your superior machinery (which is second only to Mercedes as Bottas is clearly showing), and live to fight to the end.

          1. Couldn’t have said it better. When you are starting a race you don’t act like you normally do. You assume that someone is there when you can’t see.
            Any driver with a half decent experience knows as much.
            Massa just never learns. The problem with this man is that he has terrible race craft when it comes to car to car. The old incidents with Hamilton was also because of that. Now Perez is the bad guy but the one constant is Massa. Look at that incident with Perez at Canada. You can say Perez was at fault but the truth is that ay other driver(well not any other we still have Maldonado, lol) will know to be more carefull when passing a Force India struggling on brakes at that time. Massa on the other hand thought it was a nice idea going almost at shaving distance from the other car despite having all the place in the world on his left. He just can’t seem to understand very well what is going on around him.
            He just has terrible race-craft when it comes to wheel to wheel.

      2. watch the replay please, and don’t comment after 1 live viewing – it wasn’t his fault. Odcourse Massa was a number 2 at Ferrari, but if you are talking about him compared to Schumacher, don’t forget in Schumacher’s final season in Ferrari, Massa was often a match and even beat him several times – very good for a number 2 – he improved at that point to be a worthy champion, which he only just missed out on but 10 seconds. he is doing well this year, maybe better then his old teammate Kimi Raikonnen – know ones seems to be bagging Raikonnen much, but Raikonnen already has a date to retire, so don’t expect much from him in the next year and a half.

  14. Credit to Rosberg. I think when you have that kind of advantage its easy to lose concentration, but he kept his focus for the whole weekend and delivered. DOTW for me.

    1. +1. Completely agree with your comments re concentration and keeping focus. Rosberg impressed me with his coolness when paired with Michael, and is doing so again, getting the job done. Although I would have to give DOTW to Bottas for exhibiting the same coolness with much less experience. Tip of the hat to Lewis for not overdriving and trying to force things at the end. Knew he would come through the field; wish he would show a little joy on the podium like he used to before being champion became everything.

    2. Bottas for me, for splitting the Mercedes.

      Rosberg delivered exactly what was expected of him, given his only serious rival was in no position to challenge him. There was no way for him to demonstrate a stellar performance, because anything other than pole & victory would have been a let down (given the car advantage).

      Even if Rosberg was the best driver during the weekend, I don’t think there is any way for an observer to truly judge how good the performance was. If Hamilton had started at the front of the grid too, then there would have been a meaningful yardstick to judge him against.

      Which is the same reason that Vettel didn’t get too many nominations when he was out front winning comfortably.

      1. Vettel was just plain faster then everyone else so many times. this year the scenario is a bit different, you don’t have to be the fastest to win in the Mercedes.

        1. Why aint Vet beating his teammate then. You talk about Ham should smash Ros, how about the 4xWC smashing a non race winner(before the season). Oh i forgot Vet walsk on water

      2. Webber was the “meaningful yardstick to judge Vettel against”.

  15. How is Massa’s quali sessions lap count? I think it’s pretty close the numbers of laps he’s raced this season…

  16. That attitude race direction took on Sutil’s incident was so strange.
    I never have seen before a car stalled on the middle of the track and nobody doing anything about it for so long.
    They were probably deciding what to do. In the past, situations like this deployed the SC immediately.
    No wonder F1’s popularity is so low this days. There are no rules. Every race is a different case for incidentes on track, like in Austria they were quite strict about track limits, and today, it was like this never happened. It’s too difficult for the average audience.

    1. Agree, strange. I think Charlie is trying to limit how much the Safety Car is used but safety MUST be the first consideration every time. And sending marshals to cross the racing line from the outside of the track is totally unsafe and inexcusable.

      1. first lap incident, car is way out of corner, and SC decision, within secs! not even a min!
        a car in middle of the road! after a corner, and 2 laps later, no safety car!

        2007 conspiracies coming back about FIA!

        It is almost if Charlie bet for Rosberg a lot of money, and didnt wanna loose it!
        Disgusting race call for no SC! There were SC calls for far minor issues!

  17. I am very happy that NicoR won!! I was worried that Nico would have some sort of brake or other failure during the entire race. Many may not agree but just maybe Lewis having the brake failure was a bit of good luck, if it would of happened during the race he would of had another DNF and of course no points. VBottas did a stellar job and he will be in great demand by the best teams, if not already so…. Kimi oh Kimi what is going on?? Poor Massa, many of my favorite drivers are having a miserable year thus far… RGrosjean, FMassa, Kimi, Jensen,….. it is good to see SebastinV in the mix and his smiley team mate must be a nitemare for SebV. As records go, Lewis did not start last nor win and if my 74 year old memory serves me right I believe that both JensenB and SVettle have recently won from last place???? Thanks, RnR

    1. your memory is terrible as your judgement! Seb won due to superior car of the entire field, and got away with all sort of cheats in those cars and nothing banned mid season! They cried bad for Mercedes ban for their FRIC, which everyone else was using!

      For JB, again, he won in rain situation, taking out his team mate, and having 3-4 SC calls in the race to help him! Nothing extraordinary!

      Lewis was right at the end! and overtook all champs in the field! with a damaged car! If SC for Sutil came, there was no doubt that he would beat the field! Bottas was no match for him! so was Rosberg! with those tyres!

      But unfortunately, maFIA saw Ham pitted before SC called, and they didnt risk to change Rosberg’s victory, and certainly didnt want Ham win it!

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