Mercedes will start in the pole position and in the fourth spot (Bottas). Tenth is the best Ferrari could do (Leclerc). Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) rebounded from Friday’s accident and will start fifth.
HOCKENHEIM, Germany—July 27th—Call it what you might, but when a racing team starts something good–as Mercedes has done in 2019–expect that pattern to continue. That’s precisely what happened Saturday afternoon during qualifying for Sunday’s German Grand Prix.
Despite stellar performances in Friday’s practice sessions, neither Ferrari could finish better than 10th in today’s qualifying runs. Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, grabbed the pole for the 87th time in his Mercedes.
Hamilton was clocked a 1:11:767, which was the fastest time of the day, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
The entire weekend–from Friday through today’s morning practice–seemed to be in Ferrari’s camp. However, for reasons beyond control for the Scuderia, things began to fail miserably. Sebastian Vettel encountered a turbo failure midway through the first session. He’ll now start at the back of the grid at his home race.
“Obviously very bitter, I think the car is great,” Vettel said. “We missed out on a great opportunity, but we will have another chance tomorrow. The car was good, we did some changes that should have been great for this afternoon, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
Things did not improve for the Prancing Horse when Charles Leclerc, who had dominated prior sessions, began having troubles in the middle session. By the time the final session occurred, the Monegasque could not continue because of a fuel system issue.
At least Leclerc is in a better situation than Vettel. On Sunday, he’ll start 10th on the grid.
“I have no idea if it was the same issue as Sebastian, but mine was a fuel system problem,” Leclerc stated. “It is a shame, but we will be trying to understand what happened and not reproduce it. The car felt great today and all weekend so it’s a shame it ended like this.”
These circumstances gave Hamilton no opposition, and the Briton had no trouble taking pole because neither Verstappen nor Bottas could get near his best time. For Hamilton, it is his 84th career pole and his first in 11 seasons at this circuit. In addition, it comes at a time when Mercedes celebrates its 125th anniversary.
“I don’t really know how we did it. I’m not sure what happened to the Ferraris. It’s a second home race and with our 125th anniversary, incredible to celebrate in this way. The Ferraris have been really fast all weekend, our cars have been feeling good, but the Ferraris were on another level. But the times were good at the end. Every time we come here it’s just getting faster and it’s a real challenge. My first lap was spot on.”
Pierre Gasly might have had an accident in Friday practice, but the Frenchman is gaining Red Bull’s trust by finishing fourth in qualifying.
Rain is in Sunday’s forecast, but it was expected to dampen today’s qualifying runs. It didn’t. The teams hope that Saturday’s weather (no rain, cooler than Friday) will extend for another 24 hours.
