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Monday, 29 July 2019 01:03 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
HOCKENHEIM, Germany (Reuters): Max Verstappen made five pit stops, spun and still won a crazy German Grand Prix littered with crashes and safety car periods on Sunday while Mercedes’ Formula One leader Lewis Hamilton failed to score.
In a rain-hit race of changing fortunes and endless drama, Ferrari’s home crowd favourite Sebastian Vettel charged through the chaos from last on the starting grid to second place.
Russian Daniil Kvyat, who became a father overnight, was an even more astonishing third to hand Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso their second ever podium and engine partners Honda a day to savour.
“It was an amazing race to win in the end, it was really tricky out there to make the right calls, and we really had to be focused,” said Verstappen, who took the chequered flag 7.333 seconds ahead of Vettel.
The 21-year-old Dutch driver also took an extra point for the fastest lap of the race.
Vettel, who had failed to set a time in qualifying due to a turbocharger issue, could barely have expected such an outcome on Saturday.
“It was a long race, at some stages it felt like it would never end and it was very tough with the conditions and I’m just happy. It was a lot of fun,” said the four-time world champion.
While Verstappen kept his head, and his car on the road, five-time world champion Hamilton endured an afternoon to forget.
The Briton started on pole position but smashed his front wing, served a five second time penalty and survived a wild spin to cross the line 11th of 14 classified finishers.
Despite his lowest finish since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton was still the only Mercedes driver to cross the line in the team’s 200th start after closest rival Valtteri Bottas crashed out in the dying laps.In a late twist to a topsy-turvy day, Hamilton could still extend his 39-point lead after the Alfa Romeo pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi faced a post-race investigation.
Both were summoned to stewards for irregularities in their cars’ race start data.
The race was shortened by three laps after the safety car had led the field away before a standing start.
Kvyat meanwhile put in one of the drives of the afternoon to give a timely boost to his standing within the Red Bull family.
Canadian Lance Stroll was fourth for Racing Point, after making a brave early switch to slicks that catapulted him briefly into the lead, with Spaniard Carlos Sainz fifth for McLaren.
Thai driver Alexander Albon gave Toro Rosso more points in sixth place with Kimi Raikkonen seventh and Alfa Romeo team mate Antonio Giovinazzi eighth subject to the enquiry.
