Hamilton laughs, Rosberg cries in Germany
There were contrasting moods on both sides of the Mercedes garage: Lewis Hamilton was delighted to have won again thanks to a very good start, while Nico Rosberg had to make do with a disappointing fourth place despite starting from pole position in front of his home crowd.
Repetita: just like in Hungary, Nico Rosberg was unable to take advantage of his pole position and had to yield once again to his teammate at the first corner. In Germany, it was even worse as the two Red Bulls also managed to overtake him and pushed him back to fourth position: “I had a lot of wheelspin at the start. It’s strange because my start during the formation lap was good. It cost me the lead and the next two places. So it foreshadowed a difficult race from that point on.”
His battle with Daniel Ricciardo was very tight, but he only managed to find an opening on Max Verstappen at the cost of a very daring move at the hairpin. The stewards then determined that the German had deliberately delayed his braking and forced the Dutchman off the track. This resulted in a five-second penalty, which dashed his hopes of a podium: « I was happy to climb back to second place after a tough battle with Max. I was very surprised to be penalized. We also lost a lot of time in the pits. So many things went wrong today. But in the end, it didn’t necessarily matter. The penalty made it impossible to beat the Red Bulls. »
This new middling performance benefits Lewis Hamilton, who is now pulling ahead in the championship. He could only be pleased with how his day unfolded, despite being disappointed about having to concede during the qualifications: « What a day! Simply brilliant! I didn’t expect to be so strong today. I had a very good start. We have worked hard to make better and more consistent starts, and this hard work has clearly paid off. »
He therefore finds himself with a 19-point lead in the championship, whereas on the night of Barcelona, he was 43 points behind: « “It’s great to go on vacation on such a high note. I was 43 points behind at one point. So having worked to close that gap and having such a turnaround is really great.” »
Without a doubt, the summer break will be intense for the two men who will have the title as their only objective at the end of the season.
