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Cloudy. Dry. Air + 8 … 9С, track + 19 … 17С
In the 2020 season, Formula 1 entered the Nürburgring circuit for the 42nd time, for the tenth time the race was held in the current track configuration, which included the Mercedes Arena, and for the first time under the name of Eifel Grand Prix. . The title of the German Grand Prix belonged to the German club AvD, the race was organized by another club – ADAC, taking the geographical name.
Everyone was happy that for the first time since 2013 Formula 1 returned to the Nurburgring, but they unanimously criticized the choice of the date: in mid-October it is already cold in the Eifel. The racers complained that their hands were quickly frozen in thin racing gloves, and the engineers were thinking about how to make the tires work: the air temperature during the weekend did not exceed ten degrees.
The free races on Friday had to be canceled due to fog, there was only a short practice on Saturday to adapt to the track and the weather, in which Bottas showed the best time. He also won qualifying, in a decisive attempt, having managed to better prepare the tires.
A replacement has been made at Racing Point. Lance Stroll fell ill, on Saturday morning the team realized that he would not be able to participate and called again to replace Nico Hulkenberg, who had already replaced Sergio Pérez at Silverstone. Niko did not participate in the training, he got behind the wheel already in qualifying and closed the protocol.
The tire workers brought in the three “intermediate” compositions: C2, C3 and C4 were used as hard, medium and soft. After missing Friday’s practice, no one knew how remote tires would behave in cold weather, fearing granulation, so the teams’ strategy was determined during the race.
Bottas and Hamilton started from the front row of the starting field, Verstappen and Leclair from the second, Elbon and Riccardo from the third. Daniil Kvyat started 13th.
Vettel, Gasli, Kvyat and Grosjean started on Medium, the rest started on Soft.
.jpg "Start the Eiffel game")
At first, Hamilton attacked Bottas, but Valtteri fought back and kept the lead. Those who started on Medium lost their positions. Ricardo passed Elbon, Norris – Ocon, Magnussen – Kvyat badly. Hulkenberg rose to 18th place.
The top ten in the second circle: Bottas – Hamilton – Verstappen – Leclair – Riccardo – Albon – Norris – Pérez – Ocon – Sainz. The first three quickly separated from the rest of the platoon.
On lap 8, Albon changed the tires and switched to Medium.
On the ninth lap, Riccardo overtook Leclair in the fight for fourth position and immediately exited, on the eleventh Leclair and Raikkonen changed tires. Vettel tried to attack Giovinazzi, the car turned at the first corner, returned to the track and entered the pits in search of fresh rubber.
On lap 12, Russell changed the tires.
On lap 13, Bottas made a mistake, blocked the tires and left the track. He came back behind Hamilton, who led the race.
On lap 14, Russell damaged the suspension against Raikkonen and retired. The stewards found Kimi responsible for the incident and punished him with a 10-second fine.
On lap 14, Bottas changed the tires, on lap 15: Magnussen and Latifi.
On lap 16, Bottas edged out Riccardo for third place.
On lap 16, Giovinazzi changed the tires. For the evacuation of Russell’s car, a virtual safety car mode was announced. Hamilton, Verstappen and Riccardo pitted, changing tires. Lewis and Max managed to get back on track before the restart, gaining a huge lead.
.jpg "Kvyat car without front wing")
The incident with Elbon caused a front wing breakdown on Kvyat’s car, Daniil slowly returned to the pits, changing tires and nose cone. The stewards punished Alex with a 5-second penalty.
On lap 18, Bottas’ car lost speed, missed several drivers and, with the help of an engineer, tried to restart the power plant, then into the pits, where he retired due to problems with the MGU-H.
On lap 23 Okon struggled with the hydraulics, pitted and retired. On lap 25, Albon stopped the car in the pits due to central problems.
On lap 26, Norris complained of a loss of power, but kept driving. Together with the engineer, they tried various circles to find a solution.
On lap 28, Leclair edged out Gasley in seventh position.
On lap 29, Pérez, Sainz and Grosjean changed tires, and on lap 30, Norris and Hulkenberg.
On lap 31, Pérez edged out Norris to fifth position. Tires changed with gas.
Top ten in circle 32: Hamilton – Verstappen – Riccardo – Leclair – Pérez – Norris – Sainz – Giovinazzi – Vettel – Raikkonen.
On lap 34, Pérez edged out Leclair, but Charles recovered immediately.
On lap 35, Latifi changed tires and Pérez beat Leclerc.
Hulkenberg went ahead of Magnussen and Kevin pitted.
Marshals displayed a black and white flag to Grosjean on four off-track trips.
On lap 36, Leclair made a pit stop, at 38 – Giovinazzi.
On lap 40, Gasli was ahead of Raikkonen in ninth position, Leclerc was ahead of Vettel.
On lap 41, Gasli overtook Vettel, at 42, Hulkenberg overtook Vettel.
Top ten in circle 42: Hamilton – Verstappen – Riccardo – Pérez – Sainz – Norris – Leclair – Gasley – Hulkenberg – Vettel.
On lap 43, Vettel changed the tires: there was a slight hitch with the left front wheel.
On lap 44, Norris stopped the car in the safety zone at Turn 6 and pulled out. The security car got out.
Riccardo was the first to enter the tire change boxes, then Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Gasli, Hulkenberg, Raikkonen and Perez. Everyone went soft for the last segment.
Top ten for safety car: Hamilton – Ferstappen – Riccardo – Pérez – Science – Leclerc – Grosjean – Gasley – Hulkenberg – Giovinazzi.
The tires quickly cooled down, and when laggards were allowed to pass the safety car, they gained the advantage of warming up the tires well.
On lap 49, a restart was announced. Hamilton retained the lead. Grosjean missed Gasly and Hulkenberg. On lap 51, Gasley was ahead of Leclair.
Top ten in circle 52: Hamilton – Ferstappen – Riccardo – Pérez – Science – Gasley – Leclerc – Hulkenberg – Grosjean – Giovinazzi.
On lap 53, Vettel and Raikkonen passed Latifi, and on lap 55 Magnussen.
–
Lewis Hamilton won the Eifel Grand Prix with the 91st victory of his career, matching Michael Schumacher in this regard. After the finale, Mick Schumacher gifted Lewis his father’s helmet.
Max Verstappen finished second with the best lap of the race. Daniel Ricciardo took the podium for the first time this season. Cyril Abiteboul will still have to get a tattoo.
Nico Hulkenberg started last and scored points for eighth place. Roman Grosjean finished ninth and earned his first points of the season.
In two weeks, the fight will continue in Portimao.
Race results
| Pilot | I send | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1.L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 1: 35: 49.641 | 193,233 | two |
| 2.M. Verstappen | Red Bull | +4,470 | 193,083 | two |
| 3.D. Riccardo | Renault | +14,613 | 192,743 | two |
| 4.C. Perez | Racing point | +16,070 | 192,694 | two |
| 5. K. Sines | Mclaren | +21,905 | 192,499 | two |
| 6.P. Gasley | AlphaTauri | +22,766 | 192,471 | two |
| 7. S. Leclair | Ferrari | +30,814 | 192,203 | two |
| 8. N. Hulkenberg | Racing point | +32,596 | 192,143 | two |
| 9. R. Grozhan | Haas | +39,081 | 191,928 | one |
| 10. A. Giovinazzi | Alfa Romeo | +40,035 | 191,896 | two |
| 11.S. Vettel | Ferrari | +40,810 | 191,871 | two |
| 12.K. Raikkonen | Alfa Romeo | +41,476 | 191,849 | two |
| 13. K. Magnussen | Haas | +49,585 | 191,580 | two |
| 14. N. Latifi | Williams | +54,449 | 191,420 | two |
| 15. D. Kvyat | AlphaTauri | +55,588 | 191,382 | two |
Best circle: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) 1: 28.139 (60 laps)
Reasons for retirements
| Pilot | I send | Circles | The reason |
| D. Russell | Williams | 12 | suspension |
| V. Bottas | Mercedes | 18 | MGU-H |
| E. Okon | Renault | 22 | hydraulics |
| A. Elbon | Red bull racing | 2. 3 | skin problems |
| L. Norris | Mclaren | 42 | Powerpoint |
Championship position: Individual
Championship place: Constructors’ Cup
| I send | Motor | Glasses | |
| = | 1. Mercedes AMG Petronas | Mercedes | 391 |
| = | 2. Aston Martin Red Bull Racing | Sling | 211 |
 |
3. BWT Racing Point F1 Team | Mercedes | 120 |
 |
4. McLaren F1 Team | Renault | 116 |
| = | 5. Renault DP World F1 Team | Renault | 114 |
| = | 6. Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 80 |
| = | 7. Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda | Sling | 67 |
| = | 8. Alfa Romeo Racing | Ferrari | 5 |
| = | 9. Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 3 |
