Is the Ferrari Hype-Train set for another full derailment?

With everything in hand, a small mistake by Ferrari in Sunday’s German Grand Prix saw the championship advantage swing to rivals Mercedes.

It was set to be a dream weekend for Ferrari and their lead driver Sebastian Vettel. They both came into this race weekend with solid leads in both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships, following a dominant display at the last round in Great Britain.

It was all set to continue at Vettel's home Grand Prix, the German dominantly putting his Ferrari on pole position in Saturday’s qualifying.

This demonstrated the performance of the Ferrari car and highlighting how on form he was in his driving, at a track that historically hasn’t treated Vettel well.

Vettel took a dominant Pole Position

To add icing to the cake, his closest rival, the ever talented Lewis Hamilton, broke down after his first qualifying lap, and would be starting the race from 15th on the grid. It was all shaping up to be a perfect weekend for the team in red.

And that’s how it looked like it was going to go in the first half of the race. Vettel led away from pole and managed his lead from the front.

At the same time, Hamilton was making steady progress through the field. To create a buffer between him and the podium positions, Ferrari pitted Vettel’s teammate, Kimi Raikkonen, early, to try and him bring him out in front of Hamilton and cause him some frustration. They succeeded.

However, when Vettel came in for his pitstop several laps later, he also exited the pitlane behind his team mate. Everyone watching assumed Ferrari would tell Kimi to let Vettel past immediately, but another several laps passed before the instruction was given, in which time Vettel had put undue stress through his delicate Pirelli tyres.

It was all looking good for Ferrari after Hamilton’s qualifying woes

Then it happened, it began to spit rain.

Some parts of the track were damp, some others were very wet and slippery.

Teams didn’t know what to do. Some pitted for wet tyres, others didn’t.

Ferrari kept Vettel out, as did Mercedes and Hamilton. The tense confusion began.

Vettel had track position, in the lead. He just needed to keep it together for the last dozen or so laps and he would take his first home win. Extending the championship lead for both himself and his team, but...

Disaster. A small lock up by Vettel on a damp bit of track, and he understeered his Ferrari into the barrier.

Game Over.

A visibly angered Vettel punched his steering wheel in frustration, knowing he had no-one to blame but himself. Tearfully, he came on the radio and apologised to his team .

It wasn't all over though, teammate Kimi Raikkonen was leading. Maybe all is not lost.

Due to his early pitstop however, he needed fresh tyres to make it to the end. He pitted, and it looked like Hamilton was going to follow suit, as per his team’s radio instruction.

Seeing Kimi pit ahead of him, and a spate of bad strategy calls several times this season, Lewis took it upon himself to continue racing, and entered back onto the race track, across the grass, just before the pit lane entrance.

That was that. Hamilton held his lead, and took an unexpected victory. Taking a commanding 17 point lead in the championship with his teammate, Bottas, finishing second. Mercedes, with all their invited guests in attendance at their home race, took a 10 point lead in the constructors championship.

Ferrari and Vettel threw it away. The memories of last season come flooding back, Vettel crashing into his teammate in Singapore, and a championship challenge that was never recovered from that point. Is it all happening again?

Post race celebrations – Hamilton couldn’t believe his luck

Ferrari can take solace in knowing their car was the fastest this weekend, but Mercedes, a massively strong team, are not going to let Ferrari run away.

More worryingly, Ferrari’s CEO, Sergio Marchionne, due to declining health from complications following surgery, has suddenly stepped down*. When Ferrari is a shaken ship, it does not sail well.

With one more race in Hungary next weekend before the summer break, Ferrari and Vettel need to refocus and try get the train back on track before it’s too late.

*EDIT: It has since come to light that Mr. Marchionne passed away. My thoughts and sincere well wishes are with his family.

-John Quinn

@JohnnyQ86