With Mercedes dominating the season, all eyes were on Hockenheim to see if Nico Rosberg could take a home win, or if Lewis Hamilton could deny him the result. A brake failure in qualifying put the Brit on the back foot but it made the race even more interesting for the fans. With drivers out of position, a first lap crash, some scrappy fights until the final lap, and strategy calls to be made, the race had a little bit of everything.

Event overview

The fight for pole position in Germany was heating up as qualifying got underway, mostly because the temperatures were soaring. With a high of 55 degrees measured as the action began, it wasn’t long before we started to see mistakes creeping in. Lewis Hamilton suffered a brake failure that dropped him out of the session, whilst Nico Rosberg went on to take pole position in unhindered fashion. Between those two, we saw Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen missing out on the top ten, Daniil Kvyat qualifying well in eighth and the two Williams drivers lining up best of the rest behind the lead Mercedes.

On Sunday, the temperatures mercifully dropped and the talk of rain began in earnest. In the end, it stayed dry for the entirety of the race allowing the action to continue unhindered. Felipe Massa was involved in a first lap crash, for the second race in a row, when the Williams collided with Kevin Magnussen. Teammate Bottas had left him behind on the start, and Massa had moved across to battle with the McLaren for track position. The Williams flipped upside down after the contact, scratching across the tarmac and throwing up sparks until it righted itself. Massa was out of the race, whilst Magnussen continued but had to make an early pit stop.

Daniel Ricciardo had avoided the accident but in doing so, dropped down the order. That put him and Hamilton together, and they started fighting their way through the field. Hamilton had his own issues, however, after a brief collision with Jenson Button. Lewis had thought his former teammate would let him through and Jenson had other ideas. The contact damaged the front wing on the Mercedes, but Lewis managed the situation and continued racing.

Meanwhile, Daniil Kvyat’s good qualifying position was squandered after spinning off track whilst trying to pass Sergio Pérez. His bad luck was further compounded when the Russian had to bring the car to an abrupt halt and jump out quickly, as huge flames appeared from the rear of the bodywork. Adrian Sutil also retired, leaving his car halfway across the track on the home straight. Although it looked like a safety car style problem, the marshals dealt with it – three plucky orange suits pushed the car out the way and allowed the racing to continue.

Where Ricciardo had initially been fighting with Hamilton, his attention soon turned to Alonso. They indulged in some really exciting scrapping for position during the second half of the race, and were still at it all the way to the final lap. Nico Rosberg secured the race victory, relatively unhindered by any competition. Valtteri Bottas had initially been worried about Lewis Hamilton but saw the Mercedes was struggling on its tyres towards the end. Second place for the Williams driver, with Hamilton securing third.

Vettel was next, whilst Alonso managed to pip Ricciardo in the other Red Bull. It was close as they crossed the line, though, Ricciardo missing out by less than a tenth of a second. Williams moved up to third place in the championship, whilst Hamilton minimised the damage his poor qualifying could have done and kept tabs on Rosberg as his championship lead increased.