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Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel arrived in Germany with the two leaders of the championship, with the fastest car and on a momentum, but a light rain shower was enough to make everything disappear
After a Powerful victory at Silverstone and after a qualifying phase, the Hockenheimring was the scene of a decisive moment for Scuderia's progress in the 2018 championship race. Ferrari, perhaps for the first time in years was in possession of the undoubtedly superior machine.
Even in the power stakes, the Mercedes estate since 2014, the Scuderia had found an advantage, and the boss of Silver Arrows Toto Wolff conceded his team was losing up to half a second on straight lines, a situation unthinkable even at the beginning of the month.
Mercedes, on the other hand, seemed to be able to only prolong his run of an unusually dubious form. A double technical retreat in Austria – the first time in the history of the world championship all Mercedes cars had stopped in a race with mechanical troubles – preceded a bad start for Lewis Hamilton and an ambitious but ultimately incorrect strategic bet for Valtteri Bottas in Great Britain
Now in qualifying, Hamilton was eliminated in the 14th with a hydraulic leak and Valtteri Bottas, despite his best efforts, had no answer for Vettel's pace. "I want to watch Ferrari, but I also want to watch us" Toto Wolff said Saturday night. "If we want to win this championship or stay in the race for the championship, we have a stern warning today."
But what seemed to be the moment when Ferrari consolidated its position leading the championship soon turned into nadir of its season so far, and Mercedes was the main benefactor, taking the checkered flag in a Hamilton-Bottas formation, a two finishes.
The culprit? Human error.
The chances of Sebastian Vettel are baked. (GEPA Pictures / Red Bull Content Pool)
This was an exceptionally weak race for Ferrari, despite the Italian team that held all the cards for the win. His only correct pit stop, for example – throwing Kimi Raikkonen early and covering Hamilton and Bottas simultaneously – was as good as possible, and even by doing this move, the team did not anticipate Vettel getting caught behind his slower teammate after making his own Even though it was not what cost the win to Vettel, the 11 rounds of the German were bottled behind sister Ferrari, which did not no strategic sense for the race or the championship, and Sebastian did not waste time to tell his engineers
Even though the Raikkonen contract had to contain some sort of guarantee that it will not be put aside for his teammate before the mid-season break, as has been speculated, the pair was on different strategies, with Kimi needing another stop while Vettel's strategy rested on keeping its tires in good condition in the limpid air of the t you.
The team finally yielded to Vettel's demands, but not before unnecessarily losing what could have been a critical pitch for his Mercedes rivals.
However, the most significant mistake obviously belonged to Vettel himself: an embarrbading camera in the rain that sent him nicely but stadium section, wiping out what at this stage would have was a simple victory and wasting the possession of the fastest car.
Ferrari Day contrasted strongly with Mercedes' approach to the race. Despite Bottas' departure from Raikkonen during the first refuelings, the team managed brilliantly the strategy of the two drivers and ruthlessly ordered Valtteri to stay behind Lewis for the last ten laps to ensure the victory of the team and his best shot.
Mercedes engineers and drivers, perhaps with their senses exacerbated by the form and speed of the team, were thoughtful and decisive when their Ferrari counterparts were covered and wasted
. this season of 21 races, and the 17 points and 8 points ahead of Hamilton and Mercedes on Vettel and Ferrari in their respective rankings are far from insurmountable, but each team pushes the other to perform at such high levels, even a lone mistake can make a huge difference to the title result.
Lewis Hamilton celebrates. (Photo: Mercedes AMG Petronas)
Indeed, to return to the 2017 season, it's the human error rather than the technical failure that really decided the drivers' championship against Vettel's # 39; last year because if unreliability is an accident
"To fight a quadruple world champion that you respect, you expect nothing but the best of them Hamilton said last season at the height of the fight for the championship. "It's really one of you to make the slightest mistake."
The German Grand Prix could be the only flaw in Ferrari's armor that defeats its entire season.
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