Max Verstappen emerged victorious as Mercedes faltered in a chaotic German Grand Prix.
The Dutchman survived rain, four Safety Cars, two Virtual Safety Cars and a constantly changing track to claim his second win of the season.
Sebastian Vettel capitalised on the eventful race to move from 20th on the grid to second in the closing laps, with Daniil Kvyat scoring the most unlikely podium in third for Toro Rosso.
Story of the Race
Rain before the race led to four formation laps behind the Safety Car before the cars lined up for the start and when the lights went out, Verstappen made a horrible getaway dropping to fourth from second as Bottas made it a Mercedes 1-2 at the front.
The two Ferrari’s started their charge through the field with Leclerc moving upto sixth and Vettel 14th on the opening lap.
A spin for Sergio Perez exiting Turn 10 saw the Safety Car return to the circuit, with the majority of drivers taking the opportunity to pit for intermediates from the full wets.
Magnussen and Stroll would be two exceptions, with the Dane a bit of a roadblock for the leaders when the race resumed.
In the pit-stops, Leclerc moved up to an eventual fourth and despite being penalised for an unsafe release at his pit stop, it was limited to a fine for Ferrari.
Vettel continued his charge moving upto seventh as Ricciardo’s race ends with a spectacular engine failure.
Leclerc uses a resulting VSC to pit for fresh intermediates and immediately sets the time screens alight with fastest laps as Verstappen launches an attack on Bottas.
As light rain hits the stadium, Magnussen switches to slicks with the rest of the field following as half of the track is dry with the final sector still.
An engine issue for Norris causes another Virtual Safety Car with Leclerc and Hamilton pitting, but both would run wide at the final two corners with the Ferrari hitting the barriers and the Mercedes just surviving.
The reason for the errors was more rain in the stadium causing bedlam as the drivers dashed back onto intermediates.
A Safety Car to collect Leclerc’s car gave the race a chance to reset with Verstappen leading from Hulkenberg and Bottas.
Hamilton dropped to fifth and picked up a five-second penalty for incorrectly entering the pits after his off.
At the restart, the two Mercedes’ make their way back up into the podium places at the expense of Hulkenberg.
A good race would end in disaster for the Renault driver though, as he repeated Leclerc and Hamilton’s mistake of running wide at the final two corners and hit the barrier causing another Safety Car.
Just before the restart, Stroll would gamble on switching back to slicks and it works as he triggers yet another round of stops with the upshot being the Canadian briefly leads before being passed by Verstappen.
The midfield drivers also seize the opportunity with Kvyat passing Stroll for second and Sainz in fifth behind Bottas.
Hamilton’s race goes from bad to worse as, after dropping to 12th after pitting a lap later and serving his penalty, he spins in Turn 1 and has to stop again for new tyres.
A few laps later, Bottas, pushing for a podium, repeats his teammate’s spin at Turn 1 but can’t avoid the barrier and crashes out, causing yet another Safety Car with eight laps to go.
When the race resumes, Vettel is the man on the move passing Carlos Sainz for fourth, Stroll for third and Kvyat to claim second from the back of the grid.
At the front though, there’s nobody stopping Max Verstappen as he survives the chaos to claim victory from Vettel as Kvyat gives Toro Rosso their second F1 podium in third and the first for a midfield team since Baku 2018.
Stroll can feel disappointed to miss out on a second career podium in fourth, but it was still a big result for the Canadian and Racing Point.
Sainz was the first driver to run wide at the final corners but would recover back to the track and went on to claim fifth for McLaren.
Alex Albon was another to benefit from the second change to slicks, finishing sixth but could face a penalty after colliding with Pierre Gasly in the closing laps.
The two Alfa Romeo’s followed in seventh and eighth as Raikkonen led Antonio Giovinazzi, with the two Haas’ despite making contact again at the hairpin, completing the top 10.
Hamilton fails to score for the first time since Austria last year in 11th, with the two Williams’ of George Russell and Robert Kubica completing the finishers.
Full results from Hockenheim can be seen below:
