Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won a wet and wild 2019 German Grand Prix while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel came all the way from 20th – and last place – to finish second on the podium. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat claimed the third and final podium position.
In a rainy start to the race, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton sat in the pole position while Verstappen was alongside him in the first row and Vettel began the race in the last spot on the grid due to a turbo problem which did not allow him to set a qualifying time. Vettel’s Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, had a similar issue, beginning the race in the 10th position due to a technical issue during qualifying.
The race was reduced three laps as the cars followed the safety car around the track for three laps before finally settling into a standing start. Hamilton surged ahead, Verstappen got a poor start in the rain while both Leclerc and Vettel moved up several positions in the first lap. By the fifth lap, Leclerc was in the top five and Vettel was in the top 10.
With several teams trying to guess which tire to put on their cars for the light rain conditions, there were crashes and spins aplenty in the first 25 laps but the race became especially interesting when Leclerc crashed out on Lap 29, followed shortly after on the next lap by Hamilton spinning and crashing but able to get his car limping into the pits but being assessed a five-second penalty for his faulty pit entry. That allowed Verstappen to take the lead one lap later – a lead which he held until Lap 47 when Hamilton briefly retook the lead only to go into the pits on the next stop and drop into last place after having to serve his time penalty.
That opened the door again for Verstappen, who sat for a few seconds behind Racing Point’s Lance Stroll on Lap 48, before reclaiming the lead that he would never relinquish. Vettel and Hamilton’s Mercedes’ teammate Valtteri Bottas, were then set to track down Stroll and Kvyat ahead of them but Bottas spun out and crashed on Lap 57, leaving Vettel in fifth place with six laps remaining. While Verstappen was running away with the race win out front, Vettel calmly collected both Stroll and Kvyat to move into second place on Lap 63 and complete his 18-place improvement from his last place starting position. Hamilton ultimately finished in 11th place and out of the points.
With the race results, despite not scoring, Hamilton maintains his commanding lead in the 2019 Formula One driver’s standings with 223 points to Bottas’ 184 in second place while Verstappen closes to 152 points in third and Vettel sits at 141 points in fourth and Leclerc holds at 120 points in fifth.
2019 German Grand Prix Top 10
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:44:31.275
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +7.333 seconds
3 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso +8.305
4 Lance Stroll Racing Point +8.966
5 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren +9.583
6 Alex Albon Toro Rosso +10.052
7 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo +12.214
8 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo +13.849
9 Romain Grosjean Haas +16.838
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas +18.765