German Grand Prix: How Hockenheim chaos unfolded
- Published
Max Verstappen is known to thrive in the races which descend into carnage
The Austrian and British grands prix had produced the thrillers of the season so far, but the German Grand Prix brought the real madness.
In true Germanic spirit, Hockenheim said "hold my beer" and went one better, producing a spectacle on a saturated circuit.
From the wet conditions that caused chaos from lights out, to the podium finish that nobody could have predicted, round 11 of the this year's championship has already gone down in the history books as an instant classic.
With so much drama and talking points to take in, just what exactly happened this weekend?
Mercedes wore 1950s' fancy dress to work...
The entire crew went full-on in retro costumes to celebrate 125 years in motorsport, plus the team's 200th race in Formula 1. It was all going so well after Lewis Hamilton secured pole position and team-mate Valtteri Bottas qualified in third place
Until the day ended with no points, a retirement, and red faces
The cars were painted white in celebration of their heritage, but it was a race to be left out of the Mercedes history books, as Bottas crashed out, and Hamilton made too many mistakes and finished outside of the points
However, seeing Toto Wolff in a trilby and braces on race day was a sight to behold
Max Verstappen made a nightmare start off the line...
The big pre-race talking point was whether or not Max Verstappen could jump an ill Lewis Hamilton on pole and take control of the race in the wet-conditions. Unfortunately, the Dutchman made a terrible getaway and was swallowed up in the mist of track surface spray
But Max Verstappen does not let the victory slip away easily...
The Dutchman went full 'zero to hero' to take victory in front of the orange army. Five pit stops later, Verstappen was in possession of his seventh career victory, with none of them being from pole
When it comes to Max Verstappen and European races, the Dutch barmy army follow their man in a sea of orange T-shirts, flares and flags
Why did the penultimate corner appear to be covered in soap?
A tricky Turn 16 resembled an ice rink, catching Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz out
Following his retirement, Leclerc described the Tarmac on the corner to be 'too slippery' and 'dangerous'
It could have been Nico Hulkenberg's first podium after 10 years in F1
But it wasn't meant to be
Daniil Kvyat celebrated his first podium finish since 2016...
Which is his second F1 career podium, and first in his latest stint at Toro Rosso after being dumped by Red Bull at his home race in Russia in 2016
And he had more than one thing to celebrate...
The night before the race, his girlfriend Kelly Piquet - daughter of former F1 champion Nelson Piquet - gave birth to the couple's first child
Back to Ferrari, though, qualifying was a disaster
Ferrari didn't get further than Q2 in qualifying due to mechanical troubles. Which meant Sebastian Vettel started at the back of the grid, and Charlec Leclerc in 10th
But Vettel made up 18 places from last
Although Charles Leclerc crashed out, all was not lost. Vettel stayed out of trouble in the race and made it from 20th to finish second at his home grand prix
The three podium victories all began their careers at Toro Rosso...
And have all driven at Red Bull at some point in their careers... To conclude the weekend it was a podium which nobody could have predicted at the start of the race