MOTORSPORT: Verstappen, Vettel rain on Merc's parade

A dreadful start, five pitstops and a 360-degree spin couldn’t stop Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing and Honda scoring their second win in the past three races of the Formula 1 World Championship.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel came from last on the grid to finish 7.333 seconds behind Verstappen and add to the misery for Mercedes at its home race at Hockenheim, in its 200th Grand Prix and on the 125th anniversary of its debut in motorsport.

It was hugely embarrassing for the German manufacturer, with its crew decked out in retro clothing and new chairman Ola Kaellenius looking on.

Daniel Ricciardo’s weekend was almost as bad, outqualified by his Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg and retiring early in a pall of smoke from an exhaust leak.

“A shame. It looked like a lot of fun out there [on a wet track that dried at the end],” carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo said.

“There were opportunities for big points.”

Hulkenberg was running fourth and a looking like big chance for his first podium finish in a career of almost 170 GPs, but – as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas did – he skated off the track, into a safety wall and out of the race.

“It’s a tough overall result for the team, but hopefully Hungary [next weekend] will be better for us,” Ricciardo said.

Renault has dropped to sixth in the constructors’ championship – behind Scuderia Toro Rosso as well as McLaren and big three Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, while Ricciardo is 11th in the drivers’ championship.

Lewis Hamilton started from pole position after both Ferraris had mechanical troubles in qualifying, he led early but had a wild spin, smashed his Merc’s nose entering the pitlane which made for a slow pitstop and copped a five-second penalty – all of which dropped him to last at one point.

He scrambled to the finish 11th, but was promoted two places after the Alfa Romeos (previously Saubers) of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were dropped out of the top 10 for clutch infringements at the start.

So Hamilton still has a 39-point lead over teammate Bottas, 225-184, while Verstappen is up to 162 in third and Vettel fourth on 141 with Leclerc on 120.

Not only are Verstappen, RBR and power unit supplier Honda the only combination to win apart from Mercedes in 11 GPs of this sixth year of the V6 hybrids, but Honda-powered Toro Rossos finished third and sixth at Hockenheim.

Daniil Kyvat’s podium – only the second for Toro Rosso after Vettel’s amazing 2008 Italian GP victory – completed the Russian’s redemption after disgracing himself with repeated mistakes at RBR three years ago.

He called the Hockenheim race on such a slippery surface “a horror movie with a bit of black comedy” but celebrated the double joy of having become a father overnight.

It was the first GP since the 1988 Australian race in Adelaide that two Honda-powered teams had made the podium together.

Rookie Albon was amazed at his result, behind Lance Stroll’s Racing Point-Mercedes, which had gone on to slick tyres at precisely the right time, and Carlos Sainz Junior’s McLaren-Renault.

Verstappen’s seventh victory for RBR – equalling the number Ricciardo won there – came still two months short of his 22nd birthday and 25 years after his father Jos was engulfed in flames during a refuelling stop at Hockenheim when he was the Benetton teammate of Michael Schumacher.

Verstappen Junior claimed the bonus point last night and said that “to come out on top after a race like that is amazing”.

“And for the team to win for the second time this year with Honda is incredible,” he said.

“I don’t know exactly what happened at the start but it seemed that everyone on the right side of the grid had a bad getaway and low grip.

“I had a particularly poor start when I released the clutch but stayed calm and followed the Mercedes cars closely.

“It was hard to pass due to the dirty air and the tyres started to struggle as the track dried. From there onwards we always made the right decisions.

“Even though the first slick tyre was maybe a bit hard and I had a few moments, with a 360 spin, I luckily kept going.

“Once I was back on the intermediate tyres and in the lead I was able to control the race and really show the pace of the car.

“Once you are ahead you can take a few less risks and everything feels a bit nicer. The conditions were very tricky and it was all about survival.

“It was definitely not an easy race and very tricky with the changing conditions. The team were giving me the right information and keeping an eye on all the other teams and sector times.

“They were really on top of things and everyone worked so well together. It has been one of my most difficult races. For sure I enjoy driving in the wet, but also you need a good car for that.

“You can find a bit of pace in yourself but today we had both things right.”

Like Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Leclerc, Verstappen’s colleague Pierre Gasly was a non-finisher after running into the back of Albon, wrecking his front wing and giving him a puncture.

Gasly, who replaced Ricciardo at RBR this season, may well find himself sent back to Toro Rosso, Red Bull’s junior team, after the upcoming mid-season break, with Kyvat in line for a second chance at RBR.

The Haas-Ferraris of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen finished despite contact between them yet again and they were promoted to seventh and eighth by the relegation of the Alfa-Romeos.

That also gave the once-dominant but now-tailender team Williams its first point of the season, with Robert Kubica finally classified 10th.

Australia’s IndyCar star Will Power had a better weekend at Mid-Ohio after his recent lean trot, finishing fourth for Team Penske after starting from pole position, while New Zealander Scott Dixon remained in contention for a sixth title after the 46th win of career.

Power, the 2014 champion and 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner, was the first Chevrolet-powered finisher at Mid-Ohio but remains a distant fifth in the points.

Dixon’s margin of victory – 0.0934 seconds – over his Ganassi teammate, Swedish rookie Felix Rosenqvist, was the closest at Mid-Ohio and third closest on a road course in IndyCar history.

It was Honda-powered Ganassi’s first one-two finish since mid-2015 and Dixon’s second victory of the season.

He trails only retired AJ Foyt and Mario Andretti for career wins – they have 67 and 52 respectively – and claimed IndyCar “produces the best racing in the world”.

Penske’s series leader Josef Newgarden made contact with Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay in a fight for third place on the final lap and his Chevrolet engine stalled in a sand trap, causing him to finish 14th while Hunter-Reay made the podium.

Andretti’s Alexander Rossi was fifth and drew to within 16 points of Newgarden with four races remaining.