The only thing keeping it from being another 1-2 finish for Mercedes at the 2014 German Grand Prix in Hockenheim was the fact that Lewis Hamilton crashed during qualifying and had to begin from the 20th spot on the grid – but that wound being a mere formality as it took Hamilton less than 20 laps in the 67-lap race to move from 20th to second place in his vastly superior-powered race car past the much-slower race field. However, by the time Hamilton made his way up to the runner-up spot, teammate and season Formula One leader, Nico Rosberg, had already built up the expected commanding lead and it proved too much for Hamilton to overcome. In fact, after late-race pit stops, Hamilton, rather than try for three more points on sketchy tires and risk possible trouble, just decided to mail it in for third place and allowed Valtteri Bottas to capture second place for the Williams team. Since Williams is also powered by Mercedes, it essentially makes it a 1-2-3 finish for the engine manufacturing giant. Four-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel claimed fourth.
Making it even easier for Hamilton to move up the standings during the race was an opening lap incident where McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen t-boned and flipped Williams’ Felipe Massa, knocking Massa out of the race while a few laps later, Red Bull-Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kyvat was too aggressive and spun himself out, clearing the path for Hamilton to whiz by. Kyvat would later exit the race with a mechanical fire in Lap 46. Only eight cars finished on the lead lap but 18 finished the race in the end.
In the season point standings, Rosberg extends the season lead over Hamilton with 190 points to Hamilton’s 176 followed by Daniel Ricciardo in a distant third with 106 points.
The 2014 Formula One racing season continues with the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest on July 27, 2014.
2014 German Grand Prix Results
Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 67 1:33:42.914 1 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 67 +20.7 secs 2 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 67 +22.5 secs 20 15
4 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 67 +44.0 secs 6 12
5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 67 +52.4 secs 7 10
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 67 +52.5 secs 5 8
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 67 +64.1 secs 9 6
8 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 67 +84.7 secs 11 4
9 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 66 +1 Lap 4 2
10 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 66 +1 Lap 10 1
11 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 66 +1 Lap 12
12 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 66 +1 Lap 18
13 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 66 +1 Lap 13
14 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 66 +1 Lap 16
15 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 66 +1 Lap 17
16 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 65 +2 Laps 19
17 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 65 +2 Laps 21
18 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 65 +2 Laps 22
Ret 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 47 Spin 15
Ret 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 44 +23 Laps 8
Ret 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 26 +41 Laps 14
Ret 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 0 Accident 3