German GP – THE POINT… by Gian Carlo Minardi

After Silverstone the show has moved to Germany in Hockenheim, with a race full of continuous overtakings and duels, in which the stewards have finally realized that for the sake of the show they need to take more risks, leaving more freedom to the players. In fact, we’re talking about race contacts, which are the trademark of this sport.

Despite an embarrassing supremacy of Mercedes, with Rosberg who has pretty much “gone for a walk”, we’ve seen great duels with Hamilton who conquered a podium starting from the twentieth position, with breathtaking overtakings, exciting the German public. The battle between Alonso and Ricciardo was also very exciting, with an amazing overtaking of the Australian driver on McLaren. In other words, a Grand Prix that took a revenge on all the negative comments of the beginning of the season.

The Achilles’ heel of Mercedes – reliability – adds a little extra spice to this World Championship, that remains an internal matter between its two pilots. Certainly Nico, with both pole-position and victory, has distanced his n.1 rival on the race field. He is consolidating his leadership within a team that is preparing not only to the title, but also to open a new cycle. The renewal of the contract is a significant fact and, under those circumstances, probably Hamilton will have to find a new team for 2015. Besides, Bottas – podium after podium – is undermining Alonso’s fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship and he is being much courted, considering that his manager is Toto Wolff. Therefore, little by little the games are taking shape.

The forces in play among Constructors are also being defined: Red Bull is growing, with Vettel able to stand in front of Ricciardo; Williams took the third place at the expense of Ferrari, that can count on a great champion as Fernando Alonso and on Kimi Raikkonen not at his best shape. We must not forget that Force India has overtaken McLaren and might even annoy whoever is standing before.

That being the case, we absolutely need to reserve our armchair and remote control, because in seven days drivers will be back on track, in Budapest, a circuit that is closer to a go-kart track for its layout. I have the impression that we will see many race contacts here too.

Besides the drivers’ market, there are interesting movements also regarding teams: it seems that Lotus has found a buyer and a new engine. So, we will have a really hot summer break.