German GP - Saturday Summary: Ferrari break down, Lewis almost folded
F1 News
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Saturday at the Hockenheimring left us with plenty of storylines as well as drama, with Sebastian Vettel not running during qualifying, his teammate Charles Leclerc not running in Q3. However, there were plenty of other stories that came out of the paddock on Saturday; Esteban Ocon almost replaced Lewis Hamilton this weekend because of illness!
Qualifying
Heading into qualifying, Ferrari were the clear favourites after being top dog in all three Free Practice sessions on Saturday morning and on Friday. However, when the session got underway, Vettel detected a problem on his SF-90 and was forced to head back into the pitlane, where a big problem was found on his turbo that prevented him from running in qualifying. He'll start in last place!
His teammate Leclerc had to save Ferrari's blushes until he got a fuel system issue at the start of Q3. He had to sit the final shoot-out too, meaning pole position was Mercedes' for the taking. And take it they did, with Hamilton edging out the surging Max Verstappen, who joins him on the front row. Valtteri Bottas and Pierre Gasly are on the second starting row, and Kimi Raikkonen led the midfield in P5 for Alfa Romeo.
Hamilton almost tapped out because of illness
After securing his pole position, Lewis Hamilton revealed almost to have handed the keys to his W10 to reserve driver Esteban Ocon, as the Brit has throat soreness.
Visibly not his usual charismatic self, Hamilton still managed to run in FP3 and in qualifying, even securing his 87th career pole position while not being at his physical best. Ocon will have to wait a bit longer to get back into the mix in F1!
Can Hamilton hang onto first with his illness, or can Verstappen or Bottas steal a win here?
Honda apologise to Verstappen
Even though Verstappen managed to put his Honda-powered RB15 on P2, Honda technical director Toyoharu Tanabe still felt the need to apologise to the Dutchman, as the 21-year-old's afternoon was compromised somewhat in Q2 because of an engine issue.
Verstappen's power unit was acting up and he had to come in to get it fixed, leaving him with little time to actually set a time in Q2 to make it to Q3. In order not to take any risks, the six-time Grand Prix winner went out on softs rather than mediums, leaving him at a disadvantage for tomorrow's race compared to the two Mercedes cars around him, who will be able to run longer as they start on mediums.
Wolff thinks Ferrari have "illness" with car
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff rues the host of mechanical issues Ferrari have suffered this season so far, the latest of which coming during qualifying where the Italian team had to fold both cars with technical issues.
The gap between Vettel and Hamilton is over 100 points already this season, and Wolff realises this isn't good for the championship, with Mercedes winning all but one races.
Vettel will start from last place, while Leclerc starts from P10.