After a week off, F1 was back in action at the Nurburgring for the first time since 2013 for the FORMULA 1 ARAMCO GROSSER PREIS DER EIFEL 2020. It was a race full of mechanical faults, thanks in part to the limited running after Friday’s sessions were cancelled. Lewis Hamilton came out on top, equalling Michael Schumacher’s win record.
It was a shorter weekend than normal, thanks to some heavy rain on Friday that cancelled both free practice sessions for the day. It was an even shorter weekend for an unwell Lance Stroll, who handed his seat over to Nico Hulkenberg for the weekend.
Kimi Raikkonen started Sunday on a positive note, becoming the driver with the most F1 starts, surpassing Rubens Barichello. The Iceman has racked up 323 starts in his career since 2001.
At the start, Lewis Hamilton got away well from the front row of the grid alongside his pole teammate. The duo were side-by-side into the first corner. Hamilton hung Valtteri Bottas out wide in the first corner, but Bottas was able to hold the position outside of turn two.
Behind, Charles Leclerc had a good start, but was unable to use it to get by Max Verstappen. He quickly lost pace to the cars in front and dropped into striking distance of Daniel Ricciardo. After some good defending, Leclerc lost P4 to Ricciardo on lap 9.
This dropped Leclerc into the sights of Lando Norris and Sergio Perez. Perez tried to overtake Norris around the outside of the first corner and on the inside of the second corner, but wasn’t able to make it stick. Leclerc pitted at the end of the lap before the faster cars started to fight with him.
Sebastian Vettel spun in the first corner at the start of lap 11. He locked the rear tyres and lost the rear end into the corner. He was able to narrowly avoid the gravel and rejoin the race pretty quickly.
A couple of laps later, Bottas locked up in the first corner. This allowed Hamilton to overtake his teammate for the lead of the race. Bottas pitted the following lap to replace his flat-spotted tyres.
Further back, Kimi Raikkonen hit George Russell in the first corner. The Finn, who breaks the record for the most race starts, locked up while on the inside of Russell. He also had some oversteer he needed to correct, putting him into the rear tyre of the Williams. Russell had a rear puncture. He attempted to limp around the circuit for a new set of tyres, but he parked on the side of the track. Raikkonen earned himself a 10 second time penalty for the incident.
A couple laps later, the virtual safety car was deployed to allow the marshals to remove the stricken Williams from the side of the circuit. The VSC allowed both Hamilton and Verstappen to take a cheap pit stop without losing their positions. Hamilton’s stop was significantly slower, but he maintained the lead.
Dark clouds brought some rain drops on the camera lens of the onboard and pit lane cameras. But the rain was nothing more than a tease.
When the VSC was withdrawn, Daniil Kvyat had to cut over the grass in the final chicane. He also lost his front wing when Alexander Albon came across in front of him. Unfortunately for Kvyat, the incident happened just after the pit entry, meaning the Russian had to limp around the circuit for an entire lap.
Near the front of the field, Bottas slowed dramatically with some kind of mechanical issue that caused a loss of power. He stayed out for a couple of laps to give the engineers a chance to fix the car remotely, before retiring from the race on lap 19.
Albon became another driver to retire from the race for an unknown reason. He was fighting closely with Pierre Gasly the lap before turning into the pit lane. This rendered his 5 second time penalty for his earlier incident with Kvyat moot.
Lando Norris became the next driver to suffer from mechanical gremlins, complaining about a loss of power. The team confirmed it was a sensor issue over the team radio, but left him in the race. He was told to manage the issue.
On lap 35, Perez treated fans to a battle with the Ferrari of Leclerc. Perez got his Racing Point past the Ferrari in the final corner, but he did so before the DRS detection point. This gave Leclerc the DRS down the main straight, allowing him to retake the position in the first corner. The following lap, Perez repeated the move, but he was able to make it stick. Leclerc pitted the following lap.
The safety car was deployed on lap 45. The teams took advantage of the free pit stops and the gaps were closed, setting the stage for a good closing stage of the race. The safety car was deployed to allow marshals to clear Norris’ McLaren from the outside of turn 6. His car gave up and something could be seen burning through the rear bodywork while the car was stationary.
The race resumed with just about 10 laps remaining in the race. Hamilton’s tyres were clearly warmer and he was able to get away a lot faster than Verstappen out of the final corner. Ricciardo was alongside Verstappen down the main straight, but wasn’t able to get a good position into the first corner. Perez had a look at Ricciardo in the second corner, but didn’t make a move. The front drivers remained in position.
By the end of the first lap, Hamilton was well outside of DRS range. Verstappen had put some heat into his tyres and started to make a gap to Ricciardo, cementing his P2 finish. He was also able to steal the fastest lap from Hamilton on the final lap of the race. Ricciardo was on the bottom step of the podium, earning Renault their first podium finish since 2011. Hamilton was on the top step of the podium for the 91st time, equalling Michael Schumacher’s record, a record that will almost certainly be broken by the time the season is over.
But it was Nico Hulkenberg that was driver of the day. He woke up on Saturday not knowing that he would be racing. He started the race having only participated in qualifying. He fought his way from the final position on the grid up to P8 by the end of 60 laps.
The drivers and teams will have another weekend of rest before heading to Portugal for the first Portuguese Grand Prix since 1996. It will be the first time that F1 has held a race at the Algrave International Circuit. That will take place on the weekend of October 25.
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Above results table does not include any post-race penalties
