Repetition of Schumacher's record, the descent of Bottas and the 15th place of Kvyat: what is remembered for the Eifel Grand Prix in Formula 1

First day

The famous Nurburgring has not hosted Formula 1 for seven years.

However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the organizers had to draw up a new calendar, and Germany got the 11th stage of the season.

In the past, this track hosted the Grand Prix of Germany, Europe and even Luxembourg, and the current race was renamed the Eifel Grand Prix in honor of the highlands in which the legendary highway is located.

Only seven pilots of the current stage participated in the Formula 1 race at the Nurburgring, which took place 7 years ago, but that was before the advent of the turbine era.

On Friday, many riders had to get to know the track for the first time, but they did not manage to do it.

In mid-October, rainy weather sets in in western Germany, which is why races have never been held here so late before.

Both Friday's training sessions had to be canceled, as in the event of an emergency, the rescue helicopter simply could not promptly take someone to the hospital.

The fans who were allowed into the stands could only get wet in the rain.

Some of them probably wanted to see Michael Schumacher's son Mick in the first free race, but the driver's debut with Alfa Romeo had to be postponed until a more appropriate occasion.

The rest of the pilots, the cancellation of Friday's races made it possible to understand how the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix will be held, which by default will be held in a two-day format.

Second day

Although it finally became dry on Saturday, the weather continued to test the pilots' strength.

The air temperature was too low by the standards of Formula 1, and the riders in the only training session constantly flew to the sidelines, as they could not properly warm up the tires.

Many also cut off the fourth turn, for which their lap time was canceled.

No one had time to experiment with the settings, and there were no surprises in the final protocol.

Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton habitually took the first two places, followed by Charles Leclair of Ferrari.

Between him and team-mate Sebastian Vettel was the pilot of Red Bull Max Verstappen.

AlphaTauri racer Daniil Kvyat became 12th in his debut race at the Nurburgring.

In free practice, one pilot was missing.

Lance Stroll complained in the morning about not feeling well, and he had to urgently find a replacement.

To the delight of local fans, Racing Point again opted for Nico Hulkenberg, who had previously raced in two UK races instead of Sergio Perez.

However, in the qualification of the German pilot there was a failure.

He took the last place, as he performed on completely fresh tires, and the other pilots managed to somehow establish grip on the track.

The best in the first session was Verstappen, who managed to keep both Mercedes behind.

In the next attempt, Hamilton took the lead, but the Red Bull pilot was only 0.077 seconds behind him.

Daniel Riccardo was closely behind Bottas at Renault, so the fight for pole position promised to be tense.

Vettel, who eventually took 11th place, and Kvyat, who had 13th place, could not take part in it.

But in the final of the qualification, the intrigue did not last long.

Mercedes found reserves to push Verstappen to the second row of the starting grid, and take the first one themselves.

In the intra-team dispute, Bottas won.

Leclair moved up to fourth place.

Race

Bottas does not always manage to start well, but in Sunday's race he kept Hamilton and remained in first place.

Although the world championship leader managed to show the fastest seconds on the following laps, the Finn still saw his partner in the rear-view mirrors.

This continued until the 13th lap, when Bottas blocked the tires in the first corner and Hamilton drove past him.

Riccardo showed himself best of all in the first circles.

He immediately overtook fifth starter Alexander Albon in Red Bull and settled behind Leclair.

The Renault car was traveling significantly faster than the Ferrari, and soon the Monegasque surrendered.

Both drivers, who were overtaken by Riccardo, quickly turned into the pits for new tires.

Bottas also renewed the tires when he lost the race lead.

On the 14th lap the first retirement took place.

Kimi Raikkonen, who took part in his 323 race and thus broke Rubens Barichello's record for the number of starts in his career, collided with George Russell, and the Williams driver had to stop his car on the sidelines.

During the virtual safety car, Hamilton, Verstappen and Riccardo drove into the pits.

Then Bottas did the same.

His reason turned out to be more serious - the pole owner lost power and he also had to retire.

Hamilton had a chance to beat Bottas by 70 points in six stages to the end of the season and actually bury the intrigue in the title draw.

LAP 14/60

Raikkonen oversteers at Turn 1 and makes some pretty dramatic contact with George Russell 😱 # EifelGP 🇩🇪 # F1pic.twitter.com / UyvGSI3sti

- Formula 1 (@ F1) October 11, 2020

The race was also unsuccessful for Daniil Kvyat.

At the start, he lost two places and could not come back for a long time.

Meanwhile, during a virtual pace car, Albon approached him.

The Red Bull pilot was able to come forward and stand in front of the Russian, breaking his front wing.

The incident occurred at the beginning of the circle, and Kvyat could not get a new part for a long time.

He continued the race, but he could only rise higher due to other people's gatherings.

LAP 17/60

Kvyat and Albon come together, and the AlphaTauri racer loses his front wing 😱 He has a whole lap to run to get back # EifelGP 🇩🇪 # F1pic.twitter.com / HJoiEzxtaT

- Formula 1 (@ F1) October 11, 2020

But they still had enough - Esteban Ocon finished the race early, followed by Albon.

The fight with Pierre Gasly did not bring the Thai man to good, and he turned into pits with a broken engine.

It was at that moment that the decision was made to punish him with a five-second fine for a collision with Kvyat.

The Russian walked 16th for a long time, until the engine let down Lando Norris, who was fighting for the podium.

The Briton unsuccessfully parked the McLaren car, and had to release a real safety car for several laps.

⚠️ SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED (LAP 44/60) ⚠️

Lando Norris retires after battling car troubles for the majority of the race # EifelGP 🇩🇪 # F1pic.twitter.com / jWVVH92TuJ

- Formula 1 (@ F1) October 11, 2020

After the restart, the fight for the third place, which was occupied by Riccardo and which Sergio Perez at Racing Point and Carlos Sainz at McLaren claimed, should have intensified.

The Australian did not want to be one step away from the podium and created a 1.5-second gap from Perez, which he managed to maintain until the finish line.

For the leaders of the race, the last 11 laps went quite calmly, they did not affect the final arrangement.

Hamilton won his 91st career victory and repeated his record for won races in the homeland of Michael Schumacher.

At the same time, the Mercedes driver did not score the maximum number of points - at the last moment Verstappen, who finished second, showed the best seconds on the lap.

Renault was the most happy about the end of the race, as the French team was on the podium for the first time since 2011 thanks to Riccardo.

And best of all, the Eifel Grand Prix was held by Nico Hulkenberg - from 20th place, he rose to eighth.

9️⃣1️⃣

A record we could barely imagine would one day be matched.

Lewis Hamilton equals the legendary Michael Schumacher's win tally, earning a special prize from Michael's son, Mick 🤝 # EifelGP 🇩🇪 # F1pic.twitter.com / 3B2SFE4JKe

- Formula 1 (@ F1) October 11, 2020