'Die Perfekte Woche'

The Perfect Week

In a week which Nico Rosberg will surely never forget, he won the German Grand Prix in front of his home crowd, edging out his lead in the Driver's Championship by 14 points to team mate Lewis Hamilton who fought his way from the back of the grid to take a podium finish.

Wet weather hung over Hockenheim prior to the race, and thanks to the cloud coverage it brought down the track temperature, that all the teams had to battle with throughout the weekend, which would help reduce tyre wear for the 67 laps to come.

The only drivers not to start on the super-soft tyre would be Kimi Raikkonen, Romain Grosjean and Lewis Hamilton starting in 20th place- but as he did not take part in Q2 or Q3 because of the crash at Sachs Curve due to brake failure, he would have 4 new sets of the option tyre at his disposal.
Caterhams Marcus Ericsson started from the pit lane after not setting a time in Qualifying and therefore not reaching the 107% cutoff rule.

Frightening moment as Massa flips onto the roll hoop of his Williams

 As the lights went out it was a good start by both Rosberg and Bottas on the front row of the grid. Watching as the cars made it down into the first corner, and everyones hearts were in their mouths as Felipe Massa's Williams was shunted from behind by Kevin Magnussen which caused the car to flip over and come to a rest back on all four wheels. Thankfully, Felipe was uninjured and is testimony once more to the stellar standards in driver safety in Formula One.
Massa's luck continues to desert him as once again he is taken out of a race where he was on target for a podium.
This accident brought the safety car out for 3 laps before normal race conditions continued. Lewis Hamilton was already making ground on the field wereas Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo suffered due to Massa's accident, finding himself down in 14th place.

Daniil Kvyat and Sergio Perez made contact on lap 9, taking the Russian off but Kvyat was able to rejoin.
A great battle then ensued for 6th place between Perez, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Hamilton that led to Lewis braking late and clipping Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari; taking off a part of the Scuderia's front wing. More of the Finn's front wing would again be taken off as he found himself sandwiched between 4-time World Champion Vettel and 2-time World Champion Alonso going into the hairpin.

The action didn't cease as more bodywork would fly as old team mates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button collided. The Mercedes, expecting a straightforward pass down the inside, made contact with the sidepod of Jenson's Mclaren, removing components of Hamilton's front wing. Although the damage was slightly affecting the aerodynamics of the car around his front left tyre, it was decided on changing the balance of the car rather than lose time replacing the nose.

On lap 46, the rear of Kvyat's Toro Rosso caught ablaze ending his race, but thankfully he was able to jump out of the car safely.
Disappointingly for Adrian Sutil in front of his home crowd, he retired from the race after a spin on the pit straight.
In the remaining laps, Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso showed their class with wheel to wheel racing lap after lap in the battle for 5th place which would eventually be won by Alonso.

Das Beste: Rosberg celebrating after his win.

Rosberg crossed the line 20.7 seconds ahead of 2nd place Valterri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton finishing in a crucial 3rd position to keep the gap between him and his team mate as little as possible as they prepare for the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend. 

Race Results