Not a Mercedes driver in
sight: Vettel, Verstappen
and Kvyat celebrateS^ B
LO
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1 AUGUST 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 23GERMAN GP RACE CENTRElap before stopping for slicks in drying conditions, but changed his
mind when informed that Bottas had been called in to cover him. This
ensured things remained unchanged for the top two but Hamilton,
who stopped for softs a lap later, had to serve his five-second
penalty and rejoined down in 12th place.PHASE 6 ADVANTAGE... STROLL!
There was a twist when a driver who, by his own admission, was
often on the wrong tyre thanks to repeated gambles suddenly came
into play. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, who had previously run no higher
than 11th, found himself in the lead. If that seemed unlikely, it could
have been George Russell’s Williams in that position had the team
listened to his suggestion while running directly ahead of Stroll
under the safety car to pit for slicks.
Stroll had been called in under the safety car from 15th place before
the leaders pitted. It was perfectly timed and, having been able to cruise
up to the back of the safety car queue on his out-lap, he cycled through
to the lead over the next two laps. For a few glorious moments on lap 48,
the Racing Point driver enjoyed his lead before Verstappen blasted past
him on the run to the Turn 6 hairpin seconds after Stroll was informed
of his remarkable position.PHASE 7 VICTORY FOR VERSTAPPEN
With Verstappen back up front, all he had to do was reel off the
remaining laps. But behind, there were still podium positions up
for grabs. Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat had matched Stroll’s slick
gamble and launched himself up to third ahead of Bottas and Sainz,
but the real threat was Vettel. He had taken the restart down in ninth
but worked his way up to sixth lap by the end of lap 56, enjoying the
dry conditions more having struggled in the wet earlier. This became
fifth on the next lap when Bottas, who had been unable to get past
Stroll, capped a disastrous weekend for Mercedes by spinning at
Turn 1 and nosing into the barrier. Out came the safety car again.
This set up a five-lap sprint to the flag, with the main question
mark hanging over which driver would take the final podium
position thanks to the fact that Hamilton remained outside the
points following several late pitstops and a spin at Turn 1 of his own.Kvyat took the restart second, having overtaken Stroll with the
assistance of the DRS on lap 50, while Vettel slipped past Sainz for
fourth at the Turn 6 hairpin after the racing resumed. He then picked
off Stroll and Kvyat in the same place to take second, although by this
stage too far behind Verstappen to be a victory threat.
Kvyat held on to third ahead of Stroll and Sainz, with Albon
capping a strong performance on his first experience of an F1 car
in the wet with sixth having established himself in the top 10 early.
Albon did have to survive a late-race clash with Gasly to hold the
position, drifting to the right on the run to Turn 7 as the Red Bull
driver attempted to move up the inside. That gave Gasly a front-left
puncture, putting him out of the race. His retirement seemingly
promoted Alfa Romeo pairing Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi
to seventh and eighth – only for them to be hit with a 30s penalty for
infringing the anti-traction control regulations related to the maximum
allowable lag between torque
requested at the throttle pedal
and that at the clutch at the start.
As for Hamilton, on
Verstappen’s day he finished
11th on the road but picked up
two points for ninth following
the penalties. That perhaps
summed up the whole race –
it was the kind of day where
Hamilton could crash, have a
disastrous race and still emerge
with his world championship
lead extended.NEXT F1 REPORTHUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
9 AUGUST ISSUE
Can F1 continue its run
of entertaining races
as the circus heads
to Hungary? And will
Ferrari finally break
its 2019 victory duck?“LANCE STROLL, WHO HAD PREVIOUSLY RUN NO
HIGHER THAN 11TH, FOUND HIMSELF IN THE LEAD.
IF THAT SEEMED UNLIKELY, IT COULD HAVE BEENGEORGE RUSSELL’S WILLIAMS IN THAT POSITION”