The recently completed 2016 German Grand Prix was yet another in a long line of Mercedes snoozefests in Formula One with the only entertainment coming from how many times F1 officials figured they had to place signage for sponsor Rolex around the track.
As for the race itself, it was over in five seconds. That was about as long as it took defending champion Lewis Hamilton to snatch the race lead from his pole-sitting teammate, Nico Rosberg, and run away from everybody else in his Mercedes. Rosberg wheelspun his start and out of a chance for another 1-2 Mercedes finish and could only muster fourth place behind the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.
With the advancement of the F1 racing season, increasingly, every recent race has essentially boiled down to a Mercedes winning the race [usually Hamilton] and the remaining five positions being sorted out between five cars – the other Mercedes [usually Rosberg] and the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Verstappen along with the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. All other cars are racing not be lapped and that was no different this time as Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was the only non-Mercedes/Red Bull/Ferrari car that could manage to stay on the lead lap.
The single moment of in-race drama was dutifully provided by Rosberg who inexplicably drove Verstappen off the track in a tight corner and subsequently incurred a five-second penalty that ensured he finish in fourth and off the podium.
With the results, Hamilton widens his season driver points standings lead over Rosberg to 19 as he sits at 217 to Rosberg’s 198 while Ricciardo sits in third with 133 points.
2016 German Grand Prix – Hockenheim – 67 laps – 190 miles
1 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes 25 1:30:44.2
2 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull 18 +6.996 Sec
3 Max Verstappen – Red Bull 15 +13.413 Sec
4 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes 12 +15.845 Sec
5 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari 10 +32.570 Sec
6 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari 8 +37.023 Sec
7 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India 6 +1:10.049 Sec
8 Jenson Button – McLaren 4
9 Valtteri Bottas – Williams 2
10 Sergio Perez – Force India 1
11 Esteban Gutierrez – Haas
12 Fernando Alonso – McLaren
13 Romain Grosjean – Haas
14 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso
15 Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso
16 Kevin Magnussen – Renault
17 Pascal Wehrlein – Manor
18 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber
19 Jolyon Palmer – Renault
20 Rio Haryanto – Manor
21 Felipe Nasr – Sauber
22 Felipe Massa – Williams