Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, EPA

Alfa Romeo have been making steady forward progress for some races now, and in Germany Kimi Raikkonen rewarded them with their best start of the season, fifth place on the grid, helped by the team’s Ferrari engine - and of course the fact that the works Ferraris were taken care of for other reasons. “Qualifying in fifth makes me happy,” said Raikkonen, “but it’s only qualifying, the race is tomorrow. We made a few gains through other people’s misfortunes, but in the end we still had to put in the laps when it counted and we did.

"The car has been pretty good today and I think we could have been a bit faster in Q3: maybe fourth place was within reach, but that’s racing. It’s very difficult to read into our race pace from yesterday as the conditions have changed a lot and could be even different tomorrow. We have to see if the rain comes and figure out the weather the best we can. It will be hard to race against the big teams; we’ll just take today’s result as it is, give everything tomorrow and see where we end up.”

... is a wet track.

Are we heading for a first lap pile-up in Germany? Wouldn't be the first time.

Kimi Raikkonen, Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello were all involved in an opening lap tangle 16 years ago, with Juan Pablo Montoya going on to take the win.

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen starts on the front row alongside Lewis Hamilton and many will be wetting their lips at the prospect of the first real battle between the two men. But the Dutchman does not sound that optimistic. He’s clearly a bit concerned that the need to start on the soft tyres, when they would have preferred the mediums, as a result of an engine mapping issue in qualifying, could handicap him.

“Normally in the race we are always a little bit more competitive,” Verstappen said. “Of course I’m starting on a different tyre so we have to wait and see how that’s going to work out. Yeah, hopefully we can follow and try to challenge them. That would be good.”

Remember this from last year? Some hilarious dithering from Mercedes as they were not sure whether to call in Hamilton for a pit stop.

He later won the race and then faced an investigation into whether he would be disqualified for cutting across the pitlane entrance. Eventually his win stood.

Image source, Getty Images

Katherine Legge is one of the very best, of the very few women, racing in the world of motorsport.

This season, for the first time, her team is all female.

Together they want to blaze their own trail and prove that male or female shouldn't matter - the car, as they say, 'doesn't know the difference'.

Watch on iPlayer.

Lewis Hamilton is coming into this one with five wins in six races. Considering he's not been feeling too sharp, with him saying that Esteban Ocon was primed to take his position in qualifying yesterday, it would be some achievement from the world champion if he takes the chequered flag again.

Image source, .

Looks like the rain is going to last for at least the first half of the race. Here's BBC Weather's Ian Fergusson...

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

This is going to be a race of uncertainties: Primary among them, what will the weather do? It’s already rained during this morning’s Porsche Supercup race, which needed to be called off ahead of time as a result?

But also - will Lewis Hamilton’s illness affect him in the race? One stop or two? Can Max Verstappen’s Red Bull take the fight to Hamilton and produce the first - highly anticipated battle between the two men for victory? How quickly can the Ferraris get through the field after their shocker in qualifying? That man Hamilton might be on pole again but this is far from a foregone conclusion.

Fight!

Not often you see a scrap involving two drivers, but in 1982 in Germany we had one.

Nelson Piquet was taken out by Eliseo Salazar and fair to say he didn't take it too well.

Image source, .

Image source, .

Image source, .

We've already had a Leclerc winner at Hockenheim today. Arthur Leclerc, younger brother of Charles, took the win in an F4 race and was immediately greeted by a delighted big brother.

The Ferrari 2019 charge sheet is getting longer and longer. A season to forget for them...

• Leclerc lost victory in Bahrain when his engine went sour in the closing laps
• Vettel spun while racing Hamilton in Bahrain and turned a second place into a fifth
• Leclerc crashed out of qualifying in Azerbaijan when looking a certain bet for pole
• Ferrari made a strategic error that led to Leclerc being knocked out in the first session of qualifying in Monaco
• Vettel made a mistake while leading in Canada and went off track, leading to the penalty that cost him the race
• Vettel had a problem with the air pressure line to the engine in qualifying in Austria, where he could have joined Leclerc on the front row
• And now both cars have had engine problems in qualifying in Germany

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, EPA

Oh, Ferrari. They just can’t get it right this year, can they? Charles Leclerc looked close to a certain bet for pole position and they had looked so strong through the weekend that an all-red front row looked a distinct possibility. Instead, they start the race 10th and plumb last after two different engine problems at different stages of qualifying affected both men. And so, in all probability, another chance for victory has slipped through Ferrari’s fingers - for the fourth time this season. “These things happen sometimes,” Leclerc said, “but it’s very hard to take when it’s both cars.

“We were targeting the win but it is going to make it more difficult for that. I will push to have a good race. I am going with a positive mindset I will be very aggressive in the first part to try and overtake as many cars as we can and we see how it goes.”

Vettel must be hating the sight of Hockenheim at the moment. He has 19 cars in front of him today and last year it was another disaster as he crashed out of the German Grand Prix when leading.

As always we want your comments. It's throwing it down so tell us the best performances you can remember at wet races.

Also, what can Ferrari do? Will Hamilton win even though he is not well?

As always talk to us via the hashtag #bbcf1 on Twitter.

All that means Lando Norris drops to the back row.

1. Hamilton (Mercedes)
2. Verstappen (Red Bull)
3. Bottas (Mercedes)
4. Gasly (Red Bull)
5. Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)
6. Grosjean (Haas)
7. Sainz (McLaren)
8. Perez (Racing Point)
9. Hulkenberg (Renault)
10. Leclerc (Ferrari)
11. Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
12. Magnussen (Haas)
13. Ricciardo (Renault)
14. Kvyat (Toro Rosso)
15. Stroll (Racing Point)
16. Albon (Toro Rosso)
17. Russell (Williams)
18. Kubica (Williams)
19. Norris (McLaren - dropping down from 16th)
20. Vettel (Ferrari)

Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer

Image source, Getty Images

Looks like Lando Norris will be starting from the back - he is having a new MGU-K, battery and control electronics, all of which are over his limit for the year (he had a battery issue in qualifying which cost him 0.1secs - and therefore a place in Q2).

Vettel will also get a new control electronics which also exceeds his limit for the season. So a penalty for him. But he’s at the back anyway, so rather academic.

And Raikkonen has had a engine, turbo and MGU-H fitted, but stewards’ report says this is “in conformity with the regulations” (it’s within his allowance) so sounds like he keeps fifth on the grid

Not everyone had a good day on Saturday. Alexander Albon got stuck in the traffic, and was really not happy about it...

Listen to BBC Radio 5 Live commentary to the moment that Hamilton clinched pole...