Nico Rosberg wins the German Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg has won the German Grand Prix for Mercedes AMG F1 in front of their home race crowd. It is Rosberg’s fourth win of 2014 and ninth podium finish in the first ten races of the season as we cross the halfway mark of the racing calendar.

The win also handed Mercedes their ninth win in ten races this season, reaffirming the teams’ utter dominance of Formula 1 Grand Prix racing in the first half of the new V6-turbo era of the sport.

Valtteri Bottas, holding off a surging Lewis Hamilton, crossed the finish line in second place to put Williams back on the podium for another race whilst Hamilton finished in third place after starting the race from 20th on the grid. It is the third consecutive podium finish for Valtteri Bottas and the Williams Racing outfit, a trend the team will hope to continue into the second half of the season.

Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel finished in fourth place ahead of Fernando Alonso in fifth after a heavily fought battle for position. Ricciardo placed sixth in a rare finish behind his teammate this season whilst Hulkenberg, Button, Magnussen and Perez completed the top ten.

Nico Rosberg led the pack into the first corner as the longer than usual five red lights extinguished to get the Grand Prix underway. Racing lasted just seconds though as Kevin Magnussen in fourth collided with Felipe Massa in third going into the first corner. Massa moved across into the corner unaware of Magnussen’s McLaren on his right hand side. The ensuing collision sent Massa into the air, flipping the car over before coming to a stop upright. Massa walked away unhurt but out of the race whilst the Safety Car was brought out for a lap to help with the cleanup efforts.

Magnussen fell back down to 20th place but continued to race and the Safety Car period ended to start lap three, allowing the cars to return to racing. Magnussen reported minor damage to his cars’ suspension but the problem did not appear to hinder the Dane’s racing ability. By the end of lap four, race leader Nico Rosberg had open a 1.8 second gap ahead of second placed Valtteri Bottas.

Lewis Hamilton, starting from 20th on the grid after incurring a five place grid penalty for changing his gearbox yesterday after the crash, made his way back up to 15th by lap 6 working his way through the pack in attempt to put himself back into World Championship contention.

Ten laps in and Rosberg continued to pump in a series of fastest laps whilst teammate Lewis Hamilton had moved into tenth place with the help of the overtake button, DRS and simple raw Mercedes AMG F1 power. Seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth continued to be highly fought for between Perez, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Hamilton for several laps further, each driver showing supreme skill and racing ability in order to hold their positions. Ricciardo was able to jump a place on Raikkonen a few seconds later in the Mercedes Arena whilst at the front of the pack Bottas was able to pull ahead of Vettel in third by 2.1 seconds.

Fernando Alonso was the first of the front runners to stop for a change of tyres on lap 13 as those behind showed signs of tyre degradation and started to slow the lap times. With another bold move, Lewis Hamilton passed Raikkonen and Ricciardo in one move through the hairpin but the move was without incident. Hamilton clipped Raikkonen front wing, though seemingly both drivers were able to continue racing without hindrance. Hamilton then passed Perez at the hairpin the following lap to move into fifth place.

Eventful passing maneuvers didn’t stop there either – the Ferrari’s of Raikkonen and Alonso collided at the hairpin on lap 15 as Vettel moved through ahead of them both, the collision once again resulting in Raikkonen losing another piece of his front wing.

By lap 23 Lewis Hamilton had moved into third place, just 15 seconds behind his teammate in first place. On older tyres though, Hamilton quickly found himself losing over a second per lap. In 12th place, Sergio Perez, to the entertainment of those listening to the radios, was told sternly by the team to ‘lift and coast’ as he was pushing too hard, burning off too much fuel.

Romain Grosjean became another victim of the German Grand Prix on lap 28, just a lap after setting his own fastest lap of the race. He reported problems with power to the team and pulled the car off the track. Vergne was handed a five second stop/go penalty for exceeding track limits and Lewis Hamilton stopped for new rubber, bringing him back out into eighth place. Returning to the track, Hamilton quickly made his way into seventh, before colliding with Jenson Button whilst trying to move into sixth place, losing part of the left side of his front wing. Hamilton came down the inside of the McLaren into the Spitzkehre hairpin from a long way back and Button turned across. Button held on to sixth place for a minute longer before losing the place to Hamilton on lap 32.

As the race passed the midway mark, Rosberg was so far ahead of the pack that he was being given about as much TV time as those at the back of the pack. If it weren’t for the computer system, it was almost as if Rosberg wasn’t even in the same race as everyone else. It wasn’t until the race crossed the 40th lap that Rosberg then reported the tyres were starting to fall away, though it was Lewis Hamilton who was told to box first as a front wing adjustment was needed after the minor collision with Button. Hamilton rejoined in fifth for another 13 lap stint, meaning tyre management was needed.

In a second scary moment of racing during the Grand Prix today, Daniil Kvyat was forced to pull his car over and retire from the race on lap 47 when his car caught fire in extreme fashion. Pulling to the side at the entrance to the hairpin, Kvyat was able to get out of the car safely as the marshals extinguished the fire; Kvyat walking away from the wreck noticeably frustrated as another race weekend came to an early end.

Yellow flags were waved in the sector but the Safety Car was not required. Just two laps later, Adrian Sutil span his car on the main straight reporting to the team that there is something wrong. He had to get out and walk away from the car, abandoning the Sauber in the middle of the race track and requiring double yellow waved flags. The car was then left there before marshals were able to push the car off track; three laps later.

With just seven laps remaining, Rosberg led Bottas by over 20 seconds, allowing Rosberg to cruise to the finish without issue or challenge. The main interest in the dying laps of the race were focused on who would take second and third place as Bottas and Hamilton fought for position. Mercedes power versus Mercedes power, Bottas was told to defend but not too hard as the tyres were to last him to the end of the race.

Though Lewis pushed hard for second place, by the final three laps it appeared as though Hamilton had backed off slightly whilst Bottas got the use of DRS to lap those ahead of him. It looked as though Hamilton was lacking grip out of the corners which was keeping from overtaking. Ultimately, he would retain third place just a second off Bottas in front who finished second.

The racing calendar resumes one week from now to start the second half of the 2014 Formula 1 season before the summer break of four weeks. The Formula 1 Pirelli Magyar Nagydij 2014 in Budapest takes place on the 25 – 27th of July.