GERMAN GRAND PRIX

The month of July has been a significant one in the story of the 2016 Formula 1 World Championship. There have been four races in the month. Lewis Hamilton started the month with only two wins to his credit in the 2016 season compared with his teammates’ five wins, and with a points deficit of 24 points. Incredibly, he has won all four races in July and has amassed a perfect 100 points compared to Rosberg, who has had a miserable month of July, with two 4th places, a 3rd, and a 2nd, totalling only 57 points. The points’ gap is now 19 points, but it’s Hamilton who’s leading the way going in to the mid-season summer break.

The German Grand Prix returned to the F1 calendar this year after a year off in 2015. The Hockenheimring circuit was once famous for its dangerous corners and high-speeds, but it was ‘Tilke-ised’ in 2002, chopping off the wonderful long sweeping flat-out runs through the forest, and adding six new corners to the layout. The new, 4.57 kilometre long format is not nearly as exciting as it once was, but it still has the great stadium section for the fans at the end of the lap.

Although Hamilton was beaten to pole position by his teammate Rosberg, Lewis put in an absolutely perfect start and led the field quite comfortably in to turn 1, while the battle for 2nd behind him was an incredible dice between the slowstarting Rosberg and the two fast-starting Red Bulls. Verstappen got the better of his teammate Ricciardo and drove all the way around the outside of him to slot in to 2nd place, ahead of Ricciardo and Rosberg. Hamilton however, was driving away in to the sunset, and was in such a commanding position by the end of lap 2, that he turned down the power settings of his engine and perfectly managed the remainder of the race right until the chequered flag fell.

Lap 30 was the point when the final result was pretty much decided with an incident involving Rosberg and Verstappen. There was definitely a bit of déjà vu about the crash, which was very similar to the one that took place between Rosberg & Hamilton a few weeks ago in Austria. Rosberg was pushing hard after his second stop, and caught Verstappen who had just finished his second stop on the previous lap. Going in to the hairpin