Nico Rosberg won his and Mercedes’ home Grand Prix but you would never have known it judging by a half-full house at Hockenheim. A continuing lack of interest from the German fans was the only predictable feature of the 10th round of the championship even though, on paper, Mercedes were expected to continue their dominance.
Two things threatened to upset form; oppressive heat, certainly during the first two of the three days, and a need for every team to remove interactive suspension for fear it might – under protest from any rival – be declared illegal. This could affect some teams more than others – but you didn’t know which.
As it turned out, the more unpredictable handling – characterised by locking front brakes, understeer and running wide – affected Mercedes less badly. More worrying was the heat and an exploding brake disc that deposited Lewis Hamilton into the barrier during qualifying. Apart from bruising (and the knowledge that championship rival Rosberg was on pole), the Englishman was unhurt – but confined to the back of the grid. It would be the prelude to a typically eventful climb through the field.
Hamilton’s case was helped by a first-corner collision. Continuing recent form, Williams had qualified second and third but Felipe Massa, keeping an eye on Valtteri Bottas starting from second, kept out of his team-mate’s way and turned into the first corner without realising Kevin Magnussen was moving inside. Massa’s right-rear riding over the left-front of the McLaren sent the Williams into a barrel roll before landing on what remained of its wheels. Massa was out and frontal damage sent Magnussen into the pits, another victim being Daniel Ricciardo as the Red Bull was forced to run wide and drop from fifth to 15th. Meanwhile, Rosberg was on his way, untroubled for the rest of the afternoon.
The lack of drama for one Mercedes driver was the opposite of the other as Hamilton went into battle, 12th by lap six, attaching himself a couple of laps later to a massive fight between Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen for eighth, all three running side-by-side at one stage into the wide braking area for the hairpin. Hamilton came out ahead; Raikkonen appearing with part of the Ferrari’s front wing endplate missing.
As the first pit stops came and went, Hamilton was running long, a late stop dropping him from third and into the clutch of midfield runners he’d previously been fighting with.
Hamilton was in trouble again, this time just before half distance when he caught Jenson Button in sixth place. Approaching the hairpin, Button left the door open, Hamilton thinking he was being invited inside. That notion was disabused when the McLaren turned into the corner and struck the front wing of the Mercedes, removing part of the aerodynamic elaborate cascade.
Button made a pit stop but Hamilton continued, doing his best to cope with understeer and a heavily deteriorating left-front tyre. When Hamilton eventually stopped for a wing adjustment and fresh tyres on lap 42, it was clear he was now on a three-stop strategy but continuing his charge from what had become fourth place.
Meanwhile, Ricciardo’s comeback featured a truly superb wheel-to-wheel fight with Fernando Alonso that lasted several laps, Alonso having the advantage of softer and fresher tyres. They would cross the line, Alonso claiming fifth place by 0.08 seconds.
Further up the road, Hamilton’s fresh tyres from his late third stop brought him close, but not close enough, to the two-stopping Bottas. Hamilton and Bottas had similar Mercedes power but better aero efficiency and low drag on the Williams allowed Bottas to stay clear of Hamilton in the two DRS zones and claim another second place for the increasingly impressive Finn.
Rosberg, as if to remind everyone he was still in the race, set his best lap on the 67th and final tour to maintain a 20-second lead. Rosberg’s fifth win in 2014 allowed him to extend his championship lead over Hamilton to 14 points. Hamilton will be looking to close that gap next week in Hungary.