[Race] The GROAT - Round 1 - 2019 Hockenheimring vs 1987 Silverstone vs 2006 Interlagos

[crmalcolm]

2019 Hockenheimring
Since at race time the track conditions were considered unsuitable due to heavy rain, all 20 cars were obligated to start on the wet tyres. After the formation lap and three additional laps behind the safety car, the race director elected to begin the grand prix with a standing start. Accordingly, the race distance was set to 64 laps, with all four laps behind the safety car at the beginning of the race officially scored as formation laps.

At the standing start the Red Bulls driven by Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly were both very slow off the starting grid and lost several places each. Kimi Räikkönen took advantage, and ended up in third by the end of the first lap. Both Ferrari drivers had a first lap which saw them move up the order. Charles Leclerc who started in 10th was up to 6th, and Sebastian Vettel had improved from 20th to 14th. Verstappen, who had dropped down due to his start, passed Räikkönen for third immediately before Sergio Pérez spun off coming out of turn 10, he hit the wall on the inside taking him out of the race. This caused the race's first safety car to appear on lap two. As the track began to dry Vettel and Alexander Albon pitted for intermediate tyres, with the majority of the other cars doing the same on the following lap. The safety car period ended on lap 5.

Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Lando Norris, George Russell and Robert Kubica, all of whom stayed out on their wet tyres, quickly found themselves being overtaken by those on the intermediate tyres. All ultimately pitted for intermediates, but lost out for not having done so earlier dropping them to the back of the race. Daniel Ricciardo suffered an exhaust failure on lap 14, causing a virtual safety car. On lap 18, Carlos Sainz lost control of his McLaren at turn 16, causing it to run wide and aquaplane on the slippery, dragstrip area of the track, before narrowly avoiding the barriers. This caused a local yellow flag before he was able to drive off under his own power.

By lap 22, the track had dried sufficiently that teams further down the order decided to risk slick tyres. The first driver to attempt them was Magnussen in his Haas on soft tyres, followed shortly after by Vettel. Verstappen pitted from third position and fitted the medium tyres. Valtteri Bottas then pitted on lap 27 from second and was also fitted with mediums. Almost immediately after Bottas pitted, Verstappen lost control of his car and performed a 360 degree spin at turn 14, but managed to recover.

Norris's car lost power on track on lap 26, prompting a second deployment of the virtual safety car. Many teams took the opportunity to pit their drivers for dry weather tires, including Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. A notable exception was Sainz; with McLaren putting on a fresh set of intermediate tyres on his car. As Hamilton was leaving the pits on soft tyres, Leclerc spun into the tyre barrier at turn 17. He tried to drive out from the gravel, but his Ferrari SF90 was beached. This ended his race, and prompted the second full safety car of the day. At the end of the lap, Hamilton, now in the lead behind the safety car, also lost control at turn 17, damaging his front wing on the wall and returning into the pit lane cutting across the track as he did so. His Mercedes team was not ready for him, and Hamilton endured a 50.3 second pit stop in which his front wing was replaced and he had switched back onto intermediate tyres. It became clear to all teams at this point that dry weather tyres were not viable, and all teams were back on intermediate tyres by the time the second safety car period ended at lap 34.

At the beginning of lap 34, the top five drivers in order were Verstappen, Nico Hülkenberg, Bottas, Albon and Hamilton. Vettel, who had started last, was now in 8th. Shortly after the safety car restart, Hamilton was found to have entered the pit lane on the wrong side of a safety bollard on lap 27, and was given a five-second penalty. Meanwhile, on track, Bottas and Hamilton overtook the cars ahead of them to race second and third respectively behind Verstappen. Räikkönen avoided beaching his car in a turn 17 gravel trap on lap 39, losing numerous places. One lap later, Hülkenberg slid into another gravel trap on the same corner, and was unable to free his car. This brought out the third safety car of the day. A few drivers including race leader Verstappen pitted during this safety car period; Verstappen's stop was notable as the fastest F1 pit stop time ever at 1.88 seconds, beating the previous time of 1.91 seconds, set during the 2019 British Grand Prix. All drivers who pitted during this safety car kept intermediate tyres, with one notable exception: Lance Stroll, who was the only driver to fit slick tyres. The third safety car period ended on lap 46.

By this point in the race, the rain had stopped falling, and a clear dry line had formed on the track. Half the field pitted on lap 46 for dry weather tyres, including Verstappen and Bottas. Hamilton took the lead ahead of both. All the drivers remaining on intermediates, Hamilton included, pitted on lap 47 for slick tyres. Hamilton, because he had to serve his five-second penalty, was relegated to 12th position after his stop. Meanwhile, Stroll, the only driver to take slicks during the previous safety car, briefly inherited the lead of the race. Verstappen and then Daniil Kvyat soon passed him within a lap leaving Stroll in 3rd.

The next several laps of the race saw Verstappen extend his race lead to more than ten seconds. Sebastian Vettel, who had started lap 46 in 8th, began showing pace on dry tyres and moving through the midfield. Lewis Hamilton spun out at turn 1, narrowly avoiding the barriers, dropping down to 13th on lap 53. The field was frozen once again on lap 56, when Valtteri Bottas, running in 4th, slid off track and into a tyre barrier in a near identical spin to Hamilton a few laps earlier, suffering front suspension damage that would end his race. Verstappen's 10 second lead disappeared as Bottas's shunt brought out the fourth and final safety car of the race. Sebastian Vettel, who had by this point moved up to 5th position, found himself in a favorable position to attack the frontrunners heading into the final few laps.

The safety car caused by Bottas's crash ended on lap 60. Pierre Gasly's car suffered terminal damage when he collided with Albon two laps later. Verstappen extended his race lead once again, pulling over 7 seconds ahead of 2nd position by the final lap. Vettel was able to pass Sainz, Stroll, and Kvyat to finish in 2nd after starting the race in last. Kvyat, finishing 3rd, achieved Toro Rosso's first podium since Vettel's victory at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. Verstappen won his second race of the last three, also picking up the point for fastest lap and the spectator voted "Driver of the Day" award. Phil Turner, Red Bull team chief mechanic joined him on the podium to receive the winning manufacturer's award.

After the race, both Alfa Romeo drivers Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi were penalised 30 seconds for use of driver aids at the start. This relegated them to 12th and 13th, respectively. The penalties moved Hamilton up to 9th and prevented Mercedes from leaving the race without points for the first time since the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix. It further allowed Kubica, moved up to 10th, to earn his and Williams's first and what would prove to be the only point in Williams's 2019 campaign.




1987 Silverstone
At the start, Prost was the quickest and took the lead, only to be passed by Piquet at Maggotts; Mansell soon followed his teammate. The race then developed into a battle between the two Williams drivers, with Piquet leading most of the time.

On lap 35, Mansell was around two seconds behind his teammate. Both Williams drivers were scheduled to complete the race without a tyre change, but Mansell and the team elected to make a stop to change tyres. Mansell rejoined the race some 29 seconds behind Piquet, with 28 laps remaining. On fresh rubber, Mansell began an epic charge, breaking the lap record eight times to the delight of the over 100,000 strong British crowd.

By lap 62 Mansell was right on Piquet's tail, and on lap 63 the Englishman overtook his teammate. Shortly after crossing the finish line, Mansell's car slowed down and was engulfed by the crowd. Initially it was thought that he had run out of fuel, but he had actually blown up the engine, out of the stress of running the last 6 laps on "Q" mode (which gives the engine +100hp), and risking running out of fuel at any moment (his fuel display was reading "minus 2.5 laps"). In fact that incident was the last straw for the patience of the Honda management, since it had – again – threatened their easily attainable 1-2 result. Honda would switch their supply of engines from Williams to McLaren for 1988, while Piquet would sign for Lotus – also running Hondas – in the following weeks. Senna finished third, one lap down, with a further lap back to teammate Satoru Nakajima in fourth. Derek Warwick was fifth in the Arrows-Megatron, with Fabi completing the top six.


2006 Interlagos
At the start Felipe Massa retained his lead going into the first bend, ahead of Kimi Räikkönen and Jarno Trulli. Championship elect Fernando Alonso kept his fourth position despite a challenge around the outside of the first corner by Rubens Barrichello's Honda. Michael Schumacher had a decent start from his 10th position on the grid and was on the inside of the two BMW Saubers going into the first corner, but had to back off to avoid a collision. His apparently much quicker Ferrari allowed him to pass both BMWs three corners later as they were slowed by Robert Kubica overtaking teammate Nick Heidfeld on the back straight. A little further behind, the two Williams-Cosworths collided as Nico Rosberg hit the back of Mark Webber's car going into turn 4. Both cars were severely damaged with Webber retiring at the end of the lap with a missing rear wing. Rosberg in turn had another high-speed crash on the uphill main straight: he lost grip and spun heavily into the wall, due to the damage sustained in the earlier contact with his teammate. Rosberg was unhurt but the scattered debris on the track led to the safety car being deployed to allow for the track to be cleaned. Before the safety car came out, Barrichello's Honda was overtaken on the outside into turn 1 by Giancarlo Fisichella.

As the safety car picked up the field at the end of lap 2, Massa led Räikkönen, Trulli and Alonso with Fisichella and Michael Schumacher moving up to 5th and 6th respectively. Barrichello, Ralf Schumacher, Kubica and Button completed the top ten, Button having taken advantage of the two Williams retiring and having passed Heidfeld and Pedro de la Rosa.

The restart took place on lap six and saw Button move past Kubica on the inside as the two crossed the line only 0.038secs apart. Michael Schumacher was also soon to attack Fisichella's Renault, forcing the Italian to protect the inside line in turns 4 and 5. On the next lap Button went past Ralf Schumacher up to 8th while Massa was pulling away comfortably from his pursuers at the front. His teammate Schumacher tried to move past Fisichella around the outside on the main straight. But Fisichella put up a fight, staying on the inside on the entry into the 1st corner. Schumacher aggressively cut across to the inside into the first corner, trying to force Fisichella to back off. Fisichella tried to avoid contact by moving onto the kerb, but his front wing appeared to make very light contact with the Ferrari's left rear tyre. Indeed, Schumacher's car began to slide violently in the next corner as his tyre deflated forcing the German to drive the entire lap at significantly reduced speed, and to see the entire field move past him in the process. The Ferrari team took eleven seconds to change all four tyres - taking the opportunity to add fuel as well. When Schumacher rejoined, he was only a few seconds in front of his teammate Massa thus being almost a lap down on the race leader.

The two Ferraris proceeded to post the quickest lap times with Massa comfortably increasing his gap to Räikkönen in second, while the Toyotas hit trouble with first Ralf Schumacher and then Jarno Trulli retiring in the pits on lap 10. This meant that the order on lap 11 was: 1st Massa, 2nd Räikkönen, 3rd Alonso, 4th Fisichella, 5th Barrichello, 6th Button, 7th Kubica, 8th de la Rosa, 9th Heidfeld, 10th Scott Speed, 11th Vitantonio Liuzzi, 12th David Coulthard, 13th Takuma Sato, 14th Christijan Albers, 15th Sakon Yamamoto, 16th Robert Doornbos, 17th Tiago Monteiro and 18th and last Michael Schumacher's Ferrari.

The race now settled into a steady pattern with the Ferraris still quickest and Alonso closing to within two seconds of Räikkönen's McLaren. Coulthard retired his Red Bull-Ferrari with mechanical problems on lap 14. The first planned pitstops took place on lap 21 with Räikkönen, Fisichella and Barrichello all coming in for fuel and tires. Fisichella's stop was slightly slower than Barrichello's, which nearly resulted in a collision as the two exited the pitlane - the Renault driver only just maintaining his position. They reemerged on the track 7th, 8th and 9th respectively, just behind de la Rosa and Heidfeld who had hitherto been contesting 8th place with Heidfeld quicker in the corners but unable to match the McLaren's straight-line speed. Massa closed to within a couple of seconds of lapping his teammate, setting a fastest lap of 1:12.8 before pitting on lap 23 at which point he had a 15-second gap to Alonso in second. Massa was stationary for just over 8 seconds and rejoined in third behind Button who was now in second despite having started 14th. Button pitted on the next lap, his 7.9 second stop allowing him to rejoin in 7th comfortably ahead of Fisichella and Barrichello. Alonso made his stop on the following lap and was able to rejoin just in front of Räikkönen but still behind de la Rosa and Heidfeld. Kubica then pitted from second position on lap 26 and dropped to 9th. His teammate followed suit on lap 27 falling behind the two Toro Rosso in the process just as Button was able to slipstream Räikkönen and outbrake him into turn one. Massa now led by 17 seconds in front of de la Rosa, who would not stop until 8 laps later. Alonso, Button and Räikkönen followed with a small gap back to Fisichella and Barrichello.

Michael Schumacher had moved up to 13th courtesy of pitstops by the Aguris and on lap 31 he moved past Doornbos and closed on Liuzzi who had just been involved in an incident with Heidfeld, whom he had steered into just as Heidfeld was overtaking the Italian into turn 1. The BMW driver's front wing suffered some damage from the contact but he was able to carry on. Liuzzi then pitted leaving Schumacher 11th and just 3 seconds behind Heidfeld. They both advanced one position on lap 33 as Scott Speed also pitted in his Toro Rosso. Up front, Massa was still pulling away, now 23 seconds in front of de la Rosa, Alonso, Button and Räikkönen, who were all still very close together. De la Rosa pitted on lap 35 for his one and only pitstop (10.8s) dropping to 10th. Schumacher easily passed Heidfeld for ninth on the following lap when Heidfeld was forced into the pits again on lap 38 to have the damaged front wing replaced, dropping him out of any contention for the points.

Barrichello was first into the pits when the second and last round of regular pitstops began on lap 46. His stop lasted 8.3 seconds. Schumacher followed on lap 47 having driven 36 laps since his first unscheduled stop. He rejoined in 8th just between Barrichello and the one-stopping de la Rosa. Fisichella did his stop (7.2s) on lap 49. Button was into the pits (7.3s) on the following lap while Schumacher effortlessly passed Barrichello on the inside on the main straight. Räikkönen was next man to pit, rejoining in fourth - only just behind Button, who was busy lapping Yamamoto and the Spykers. Leader Massa made his stop on lap 52 and rejoined still in front of second placed Alonso, who also kept his position after he came in two laps later (6.8s).

Schumacher was now beginning to look threatening to the second Renault of Fisichella and this was significant for the Constructors' Championship—if the Ferraris could finish 1st and 2nd and the Renaults only 3rd and 6th, the two teams would finish equal on points but with Ferrari in front on race victories. With 15 laps to go, Schumacher was under half a second behind Fisichella as they came across the line with Räikkönen only a few seconds further in front. The Renault seemed able to match the Ferrari's impressive straight-line speed and Schumacher was unable to overtake as easily as he had done with other cars. A thrilling battle ensued as Fisichella defended valiantly, but on lap 62 he braked too late into Turn 1 and his Renault took to the grass, allowing Schumacher to gain in position. Fisichella was only just able to rejoin in front of Barrichello.

Schumacher then closed on 4th placed Räikkönen who had been dropping back slightly from Button and Alonso. On lap 64, Nick Heidfeld's race was over as his BMW's rear suspension failed at the end of the main straight. Waved yellow flags in Turn 1 prevented Schumacher from overtaking Räikkönen on the usual overtaking spot, but Räikkönen made a slight mistake in the hairpin turn 10 and Schumacher pulled even with the Finn in the inferior McLaren. Schumacher was on the outside for the next turn, however, and had to back off, losing some ground in the process.

With four laps to go, Schumacher was ready to attack again, but Räikkönen defended brilliantly against superior machinery by taking the inside line for the first turn. The following lap, Schumacher was even closer, drafting behind the McLaren on the main straight. Räikkönen tried to fend off the charging Ferrari and again took to the inside, but this time Schumacher was so much quicker he managed to pull alongside, finding just enough space between the McLaren and the pit wall. The two cars went through turn one side by side, but Räikkönen finally had to give way into turn 2 as Schumacher forced him onto the dirty line of the circuit.

Schumacher continued to chase down Alonso and Button, setting a new fastest lap (1:12.1) on the penultimate lap, but he was unable to catch them in time and Alonso made himself and Renault champions by finishing second behind the elated Felipe Massa, who became the first Brazilian winner in São Paulo since the late Ayrton Senna in 1993. Giancarlo Fisichella finished sixth to help Renault clinch their second Constructors championship.

After finishing the race, winner Felipe Massa stopped just after the "S do Senna" to receive a Brazilian flag from a fan, this action had broken Article 154 of the FIA Sporting Regulations, stating that "After receiving the end-of-race signal all cars must proceed on the circuit directly to the post race parc fermé without stopping, without overtaking (unless clearly necessary), without receiving any object whatsoever and without any assistance (except that of the marshals if necessary)." In practice, this should have meant Massa being punished, although the rule itself was never put in place.

[crmalcolm]

So this one has ended up a 3-way tie.
Therefore, a casting vote is needed, and that goes to 2019 Hockenheimring

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by crmalcolm

So this one has ended up a 3-way tie.
Therefore, a casting vote is needed, and that goes to 2019 Hockenheimring

Gosh, brave choice taken. Good on you!

[S griffin]

If I voted I would have gone with Silverstone 87, but it shows how popular all three are if it ended in a tie