What to Expect from the 2018 German F1 GP?
We are half way the 2018 F1 season, with Formula One Race number 11 this Sunday: The German Formula One Grand Prix.
All drivers and teams got a week off after an exhausting triple header. In the last race on Silverstone we saw a Ferrari and Mercedes collision in turn 3 when Raikkonen hit Hamilton. Home driver Hamilton started from pole, had a poor start, spun of the track due to the collision with Kimi and returned to the track as second-last.
Hamilton showed his determination and racing skills by his remarkable comeback all the way to 2nd place. Vettel won for Ferrari and the German extended his 1 point lead to 8 on Hamilton in the 2018 F1 drivers championship.
Now it's Vettel's home race. Can Hamilton beat his rival in Germany? After a year off we return to the Hockenheimring for the first race on this track with the wider cars that generate a lot more downforce than the last race in the 2016 F1 season.
This penultimate race in Hockenheim before the summer-break is the home race for F1 drivers Sebastian Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg and the Mercedes F1 team. Vettel is the only driver until now who won 4 races. Hamilton won 3 and won one more podium than the German driver.
What to expect for the 2018 Formula One Grand Prix of Germany?
2018 German GP Facts & Figures
Since 2008 the German Grand Prix is alternately being held on the Hockenheimring and the Nurburgring circuits. Because the number of visitors has drastically reduced since the retirement of Michael Schumacher, the race wasn't even being held in 2017.
Despite the presents of the famous German Mercedes brand and successes of German driver Sebastian Vettel, the number of visitors are still disappointing and it looks like we will be witnessing one of the last German F1 races for now.
This season the Hockenheimring again is hosting the 2018 edition, just as in 2016. It's the 36th time the race is being held on the track that's been changed in 2001, when it lost the long straights which was the ultimate test for the engines.
The Hockenheimring is situated in south-east of Germany. It is driven clockwise, has 17 corners, 9 right-hand corners and 6 left-hand corners. The original track was developed by Mercedes-Benz for high speed testing back in 1938. In 1970 the circuit was used for the first time in Formula 1 and in 2001 the layout was changed to the layout you can see in the picture below.
The fastest corner is turn 5, which is actually a bended straight and cars reach their highest speed of 330 km/h.This corner is followed by the slowest corner number 6 where the cars go trough with 75 km'h.
The lap record is again set in the last season of the V10's, the 2004 F1 season by Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren MP4/19B
Of the current drivers it is Fernando Alonso who won the most German GP Formula 1 races. He won 3 editions: 2005, 2010 and 2012. Hamilton won 2 times (2008 & 2016). Vettel climbed the podium only once as 3rd in 2010 for Red Bull and Valtteri Bottas scored a 2nd place for Williams in 2014. He was on the podium with Hamilton then who finished 3rd.
In the previous edition it were both Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen who accompanied Lewis Hamilton on the 2016 German GP podium as 2nd and 3rd.
Looking at the German GP team efforts, it is Ferrari on no.1 with 11, Williams as 2nd with 9, McLaren on 3 with 6, Mercedes on 4th with 2 and Renault on 5th place with 1 victory.
German F1 GP 2018 Tyres
Pirelli brings the Medium (white), soft (yelow) and Ultrasoft (pink) tyres to Germany. The ‘step’ in the tyre selection was also used in China, contributing to an exciting strategic battle.
As Hockenheim mainly consists of slow to medium speed corners connected by straights, it’s all about traction, braking and looking after the rear tyres is particularly important.
The most demanding corner for tyres is turn 5, which is the bended straight were the cars reach their top speed at the end, before braking into the slowest corner, turn 6.
The track surface is quite smooth, so heavy tyre wear or tyre degradation is not expected. However overtaking is reasonably tricky, so pit stop strategy could make an important difference.
In last race of 2016 Hamilton won the race with three pitstops, using the Supersoft and Soft tyre compounds.
Hockenheim Weather Forecast
The Hockenheim weather looks to be in for a surprise for Saturday. Friday looks to be warm and dry with 32 degrees Celsius and only 32% humidity.
Saturday looks to bring some rain showers and thunderstorms! It should start raining around 10 in the morning which turn into thunderstorms around 1 in the afternoon. Great for a some surprises during the qualifying session!
Sunday's race will be driven under dry and sunny circumstances. It will be around 27ºC when the race starts and no rain is expected that day.
Who will be on the 2018 German F1 GP podium?
Winners German GP F1/2016 Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen
Ferrari seems to have the upper-hand on Mercedes with their remarkable power unit upgrades. Even Ferrari powered teams like Sauber and Haas are shaking up the midfield with great results.
The circuit characteristics look similar to the Shanghai International circuit in China. Pirelli also brought the same tyre compounds to that race.
Ferrari started from front row on China with Mercedes behind them on 2nd row and Red Bull on 3rd row. Sebastian Vettel scored his first pole of the 2018 Formula One season. Red Bull was the only team that dared to start on the much faster Purple Ultrasoft tyres.
Verstappen who started on the much faster tyres and P5 overtook Hamilton and Raikkonen in the first lap to get P3. With a lucky safety car both Red Bull were able to pit for fresh tyres and Daniel Ricciardo charged from P6 to score the victory.
According to the weather forecast, qualifying looks to be wet. Which will give the Red Bull's the most benefit, because they generate the most downforce. Applied with Max Verstappen's driving skills in the wet (remember 2016 Brazilian F1 GP), he could be in for scoring his first ever pole position of his career.
If Max Verstappen scores pole this Saturday, he will also break the record of youngest pole sitter in F1, currently held by Sebastian Vettel.
The race itself looks to be driven under dry and hot conditions. Which always seem to be in favour of Ferrari. So if nothing strange happens we predict the following podium for the 2018 German F1 GP: 1. Max Verstappen, 2. Daniel Ricciardo and 3. Sebastian Vettel.
Below you can see what drivers are chosen by each driver for the 2018 Formula 1 Grand Prix of Germany.
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