F1 Talk: Hamilton after revenge at the Nürburgring following Sochi fiasco

Formula 1 will be greeted by cold and wet weather upon the series return to the legendary Nürburgring.

With temperatures as low as four degrees on Sunday and rain expected for both qualifying and the race, F1’s return to Grand Prix racing at the Nürburgring will be a pretty inclement affair.

After the drama that affected the Russian GP two weeks ago, Lewis Hamilton has had his championship lead slashed to 44 points over his team-mate Valtteri Bottas with Max Verstappen just 33 points further behind.

The silver arrows head to their home race praying that a damp, cold weekend in Germany will not dish up a repeat of what was by all accounts a car crash weekend for Mercedes at last year’s race at Hockenheim. Bottas failed to finish and Hamilton came home in ninth position after he made contact with the wall at the final corner and spent over 20 seconds stationary in the pits as the mechanics were scrambling to get new tires on his car.

Despite that, they are the clear favourites yet again, having won eight of the ten races so far this year and with the fastest car by far. The Silver Arrows have also claimed pole position at every race and have started 1-2 on the grid at all but two of them.

Hamilton will be desperate to claim his 91st career win after feeling robbed of that honour at Sochi after he received two five second time penalties for practice starts out of position before the Grand Prix.

The six-times world champion will be fired up for what will be a one-off return to the Nürburgring for a race that has been dubbed the Eifel GP. He will seek to add to winning the Tuscan GP and the Styrian GP earlier this year.

Red Bull arrive to the Nürburgring with all the eyes and ears on them after it was announced that Honda will withdraw from F1 at the end of the 2021 season. The Japanese manufacturer has said that the move is to focus on its electrification targets as it seeks to realize the ambition of carbon neutrality by 2050.

This is a massive blow for Red Bull despite reports that they have known about this for ‘several weeks’. With Mercedes and Ferrari unlikely to provide their biggest rival with a power unit in whatever guise, Renault looks like the only realistic alternative, and after an unharmonious divorce last year, it will be a difficult circle to square.

Red Bull’s star driver Max Verstappen is continuing to do his level best in that Honda-powered Red Bull, but this latest announcement will start to put a few question marks over the Dutchman’s future despite having a contract with the team until 2023. At a time when Hamilton is yet to sign a contract with Mercedes-Benz, it will be unhelpful talk for Red Bull and Max.

McLaren, Racing Point and Renault head to the Nürburgring engaged in a mighty fight for third place in the championship.

The Woking-based team leads the charge on 106 points, two clear of Racing Point with Renault just five points future behind.

This weekend will present huge challenges for each outfit with cold, wet conditions around a track that every team has very little data on. But with tricky condition, it also presents a huge opportunity, so can anyone take the initiative?

Ferrari continue to languish in sixth place in the constructors championship on 74 points. The Prancing Horse has become the limping donkey as the Scuderia fail to perform with this car that is down on power and struggles in the medium and high-speed corners.

Having said that, Sochi saw Charles Leclerc claim sixth place which was their best showing since the Monegasque finished fourth at the second of the races at Silverstone.

A damp and cold Nürburgring presents an opportunity for Ferrari as with some clever strategy, they will be hopeful that they can extract a good result from the weekend. After all, four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel was the last winner at the Nürburgring back in 2013.

AlphaTauri have been the underdogs of 2020 with Pierre Gasly the unlikely winner of the year after the superb race at Monza. The Italian squad have had a good year and will hope to continue that positive trajectory this weekend.

But they too will have to confront that announcement of Honda’s withdrawal. But for Daniil Kvyat it is good news as it now means that it is unlikely that Honda junior Yuki Tsunoda who was touted for a 2021 drive will make the step up.

Alfa Romeo planned to have a new driver in the car this weekend with Formula 2 championship leader Mick Schumacher set up to test the car during Free Practice One. The German would have replaced Antonio Giovinazzi for FP1 as he planned to get his first experience of F1 machinery during a race weekend.

But away from the attention about Schumacher Jr making his F1 practice debut, this is a weekend of opportunity for Alfa as the cold and rainy conditions presents a slightly different dynamic which they will hope to capitalise on.

Haas will also look to capitalise on their opportunities as the American outfit have just one point to their name courtesy of Kevin Magnussen’s tenth-place finish at Budapest in July.

Fellow Ferrari junior Callum Illot would also have replace Romain Grosjean as the Brit was set to join Schumacher in getting his first experience of an F1 weekend. Instead, both may have to wait until Abu Dhabi.

Williams continue to impress in qualifying, but struggle to maintain those standards in the race. Last year, Robert Kubica claimed the team’s only point at the rain-affected German GP, so can the Grove-based outfit repeat that feat this year?

The F1 circus heads to the Nürburgring for round eleven of the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship. Lewis Hamilton will be gunning for a 91st career win around a track where Schumacher claimed five victories. But the cold conditions will make tire temperature a critical factor this weekend along with the weather, and after the disappointment of Sochi, Hamilton will certainly be stacking the odds comfortably in his favour.

Qualifying takes place at 14:00 UK Time on Saturday, with the race at 13:10 on Sunday 11th October.