What a show. The German Grand Prix was incredibly exciting, from first lap to last. It had everything, overtaking, mistakes, less than perfect strategies, immense bravery, crashes and a podium line-up – indeed a top ten order – no one could have predicted after qualifying.

The points placings featured drivers from eight different teams, and on a day when the big guns faltered wholly or in part, only Toro Rosso and Haas managed to get both drivers in the points.

It has to be said that intermittent rain really made the spectacle, but it can’t be denied that for different reasons, all three recent races have been hugely entertaining. It’s the best possible response to the unfortunate criticism the sport received after the French Grand Prix, some of it surprisingly vitriolic.

I’m not saying everything is perfect, especially when you consider that Daniil Kvyat’s third place finish is only the third time that a driver from outside the top three teams has finished on the podium since 2017, but I think it is fair to say that over half of this year’s races have been anything but boring, despite the dominance of Mercedes who have simply done a better job than any of their rivals. Not every race can be at this level, but there are enough to make this the greatest motorsport series in the world.

Broken arrows

Mercedes has undoubtedly got the best package this year in terms of car, driver and team, but even the best can get it wrong. It was unfortunate for the Silver Arrows, however, that the mistakes came at its home race and on the weekend on which the team celebrated its 200th Grand Prix start and a 125-year involvement in motorsport.

After such a good qualifying, with Hamilton taking yet another pole, everything that could go wrong did, to the degree that team experienced its worst result in more than a year.

The result in Hockenheim will, however, have little impact on the probable outcome of the championship, given Mercedes’ lead in both classifications. In fact, as we saw after Austria it will probably spur them on to do better. But the race showed that unless every piece of the jigsaw is in place, you don’t win. That applies to all sports, but especially Formula 1 where there are so many factors to take into consideration.

On the upside, Mercedes don’t have long to wait to try and make up for their Hockenheim misfortunes, as we are back in action in Hungary in a few days for the last race before the summer break.

Max-imum return

The man who benefited from Mercedes’ errors was Max Verstappen, as he did in Austria. The Dutchman and his Red Bull delivered an almost flawless performance in Hockenheim. The only two mistakes were a less than perfect start from the front row that briefly dropped him to fourth, and a harmless spin after switching to medium tyres shortly before half distance.

However, as was the case in Austria, Max didn’t let either misstep impact on his performance, and again as with Austria, he simply got his head down and put his foot down on the way to a masterful seventh career win – and a point for the fastest lap of the race.

The win puts him right up behind Valtteri Bottas in the drivers’ standings and it would be impressive if he can split the Mercedes pair, who, thus far have appeared untouchable.

The second win for the Red Bull-Honda combination is further reason for them to feel pride in their achievements. They both took a risk teaming up for this adventure, but it already seems to be paying off.

Russian's redemption

Daniil Kvyat’s third place for Toro Rosso completed a great day for Honda. The podium was the best possible way for Kvyat to celebrate the birth of his first child the night before the race. Therefore, let me first offer him and his partner, Kelly, my congratulations!

At 25, Daniil is no longer a promising youngster and he has experienced plenty of highs and lows in motorsport since his 2014 F1 debut – to the extent that he might almost have had to consider a career outside motorsport. But he refused to give up; he worked hard on his weak points and earned himself a second chance, which is unusual in the very selective and competitive environment of Formula 1.

This third podium finish of his career is reward for that commitment. Of course, Kvyat’s previous podium was scored at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix and only couple of races later, he lost his seat at Red Bull to make way for this weekend’s winner, Max Verstappen. As they say, when paths collide…

Lewis Hamilton became F1’s youngest ever world champion as the destiny of the 2008 title switched between him and rival Felipe Massa on the final lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix.

In Massa was already over the finishing line when Hamilton took a crucial fifth place of Timo Glock as the German driver struggled on dry weather tyres as rain fell.

That gave Hamilton the priceless point he needed after 71 laps of incredible tension.

START DELAYED

The race began and ended in unpredictable fashion – rain fell three minutes before the intended start. Race control delayed the start for ten minutes while almost every driver switched from dry to wet-weather tyres.

The only exception was Robert Kubica – but at the end of the formation lap he realised his mistake and pitted to take on dry weather rubber.

The top four got away cleanly – Felipe Massa held Jarno Trulli at bay at the first corner, and Heikki Kovalainen gave room to team mate Lewis Hamilton, allowing him to keep a hold on fourth. But behind the Finn Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso attacked, dropping him to seventh.

Nico Rosberg went deep into the first corner and slithered into the side of David Coulthard. It pushed the Red Bull into Rosberg’s team mate Kazuki Nakajima, but although the Japanese driver was able to continue, Coulthard’s final Grand Prix was over. Nelson Piquet Jnr didn’t make it past the first lap either – and it could prove his last F1 race too.

Hamilton drops back

The safety car came out and after the pit lane opened Giancarlo Fisichella gambled on an early switch to dry weather tyres. It worked brilliantly, vaulting him up to fifth after everyone else had changed tyres.

Vettel and Alonso did so on lap nine, but Massa waited one lap later. This proved crucial as Hamilton waited until Massa had pitted to react, shadowing his title rival’s move. But having waited two laps longer than the drivers behind him to pit he lost position to both of them.

McLaren brought Kovalainen in on the same lap as Massa, after the Finnish driver had scrambled past Alonso at the restart only to lost the position again by running wide.

After the drivers had completed their change to dry weather tyres Massa resumed the lead from Vettel and Alonso, with Raikkonen down to fourth. Hamilton passed Trulli when the Italian went wide at turn one, and now the McLaren driver found the fifth place he needed occupied by Fisichella.

Hamilton bided his time as the track remained very slippery off-line. Finally on lap 17 he gingerly took the inside line away from Fisichella at the entry to the S do Senna. He was back in fifth place – and the title was back within reach.

Massa stretches his lead

Vettel had a crucial role to play later in the race in almost costing Hamilton the title. But for now, with a light fuel load, he was throwing everything he had at Massa. It was to no avail, and on lap 27 Vettel pitted – 11 laps before Massa needed to – wrecking Vettel’s hopes of repeating his Monza win.

That left Massa with a 4.1s lead over Alonso and the Renault driver’s hopes of beating the Ferrari took a battering when, on lap 34, Massa unleashed a lap of 1’13.755, almost half a second than anything so far in the race.

Alonso had a ten second advantage over Raikkonen, who in turn had five seconds on Hamilton, who was now up to fourth. Glock was now threatening Hamilton, but his pit stop on lap 36 removed the pressure.

Massa pitted two laps later and took on enough fuel to last him until the end of the race. The rest did likewise – but most of them would end up coming back in one more time.

Alonso and Hamilton pitted together on lap 40 – Hamilton now so far behind that he only arrived in the pits as Alonso was leaving. Vettel staved off his final pit stop until lap 51, and that dropped him from second to fifth, behind Hamilton.

The middle part of the race had been quiet, even processional. But the first hints that was about to change came as the teams woke up to the likelihood of a second, late rain shower.

The rain returns

As rain began to fall on lap 63 Massa led Alonso, Raikkonen and Hamilton. The McLaren driver had only one second’s advantage over Vettel, but he knew that even if he lost the place he would still be champion.

Some drivers switched to wet weather tyres as early as lap 64. Nakajima and Fisichella were the first ones in. Two laps later the leaders took the gamble: Alonso and Raikkonen darted for the pits. Then the Hamilton-Vettel battle for fourth appeared in pit lane as one – Hamilton breaking out of his pattern of mirroring Massa.

Massa was in on lap 67, with four remaining. Now everyone had pitted except the two Toyotas – and this was crucial, because now Glock was ahead of Hamilton.

Two stunning twists

After his early tyre blunder Kubica was fighting back and on lap 69 he unlapped himself from Vettel. Then he did the same with Hamilton, forcing the McLaren wide at Junaco. This was disastrous for Hamilton – as Vettel followed Kubica through to take fifth.

Hamilton was now demoted to sixth and staring championship defeat in the face. Around the final two laps Vettel’s Toro Rosso was tantalisingly out of reach.

On the McLaren radio Martin Whitmarsh was telling Hamilton to keep it cool – because the Toyotas were starting to struggle. His problem was Glock was coping with the conditions far better than Trulli – lapping five seconds faster than his team mate on lap 70.

But the 71st lap proved one too many for them. Robbed of tyre temperature and grip, the two floundered to the line. First Vettel, then Hamilton reached Glock in the final sector of the final lap – and both drove past him with ease.

As Massa crossed the finish line the Ferrari pit and the crowd erupted in celebration. But the cheers stopped as Vettel and Hamilton headed for the line with Glock in their mirrors: Vettel fourth, Hamilton fifth – and world champion by a single point.

A sad winner

Massa could scarcely hold back the tears on the podium – but he was weeping with sadness, not joy. Not his home victory nor Ferrari’s 16th constructors’ titlecould ease the pain of having the drivers’ championship torn from his grasp at the last gasp.

He was flanked by Alonso and Raikkonen. Glock held on to sixth ahead of Kovalainen – so his gamble actually paid off – and Trulli took the final point ahead of Mark Webber. Nick Heidfeld completed the top ten.

Kubica finished 11th ahead of Rosberg, Button and Bourdais – the latter losing a potential points finish after a lunge by Trulli forced him off the track at turn one. Revenge for Shanghai? Perhaps, but unlike Hamilton at Fuji, there was no punishment for Trulli.

Barrichello finished what could be his final race in 15th, ahead of Sutil, Nakajima and Fisichella.

In the pits Hamilton and McLaren were celebrating. Their driver hadn’t realised he was champion until well after crossing the finish line – but as the shell shock he wasted no time in catching up with the celebrations. He wasn’t the only one left reeling by this flabbergasting end to the season.

Button wins intense race as Vettel recovers to seal third championship

Jenson Button won a stunning race in Brazil in which the outcome of the championship remained in doubt until the final lap.

Although Fernando Alonso climbed to second, sixth place for Sebastian Vettel was enough for the Red Bull driver to clinch a third title.

It was a fraught race for Vettel who fell to the back of the field on the first lap but drove a gritty race back through the pack to seal the championship.

Vettel loses out in dramatic start

From the front row the McLaren pair made clean starts but behind them neither Red Bull got away well. Mark Webber closed out Vettel which allowed the Ferraris and Nico Hulkenberg to pass him around the outside.

Vettel’s situation got more serious when they reached Subido do Lago. Kimi Raikkonen took avoiding action to keep from hitting him but as the Red Bull turned into the corner Bruno Senna appeared on the inside.

The Williams driver was overtaking two drivers between him and Vettel, who appeared not to see Senna’s car alongside. The pair made contact – twice – leaving Vettel pointing the wrong way down the track.

The impact damaged the bodywork around Vettel’s exhaust and Red Bull were concerned it would overheat. But Vettel was able to continue – albeit now down in 22nd place.

Rain aids Vettel’s cause

Before the race began Ferrari had been hopeful that rain would arrive to level out the playing field. But when it did come it was as much to the relief of Vettel, as the drop in temperature eased the strain on his damaged car.

At the start Alonso had immediately passed Webber for third place – the minimum he needed to have a chance of winning the championship. But as rain began to fall he twitched wide at turn one, cutting across the new tarmac run-off area, sacrificing third to Nico Hulkenberg.

Webber was unable to take advantage of this opportunity to re-pass Alonso, and a few laps later Massa demoted the Red Bull driver a further position. This proved very useful for Alonso as the Ferrari drivers’ tyres cooled in the rain and the pair began to struggle.

Massa adopted a defensive stance behind his team mate and a warning about his driving was immediately conveyed by radio to Vettel. This was necessary as Vettel had carved through the field in doubt-quick time, and with others diving to the pits for intermediate tyres he soon had the Ferraris in sight again.

The McLaren drivers briefly swapped positions when the rain started to fall, but Hamilton regained the lead only to give it up again when he decided intermediate tyres were the way to go. In a re-run of last year’s Hungarian Grand Prix Button stayed out on slicks despite the drizzle, and took the lead off his team mate.

Hulkenberg also elected to chance it on his medium-compound slick tyres, but the championship contenders could afford no such gambles and were soon in for intermediate tyres as well.

“It is a safety car situation”

Vettel came out of the pits behind Webber and Raikkonen. The two Red Bulls quickly passed the Lotus and this time Webber offered little resistance to his team mate: “thank you Mark,” said race engineer Ciaran Pilbeam.

Massa had stayed on slicks but was easily passed by Kamui Kobayashi and a circumspect Vettel. Moments later Vettel took Kobayashi at the exit of Juncao. The pair had gone past yellow flags and yellow-and-red flags, the former forbidding overtaking. But Vettel began his move shortly after the pair passed a green light, and was drawing level with Kobayashi as they reached another yellow light. The stewards took no action.

Further ahead Alonso was making light work of the traffic. And at the front of the field Hulkenberg had sensationally caught Button’s McLaren and, on lap 19, passed him for the lead.

The weather continued to keep the teams guessing: while drivers were receiving messages telling them it was going to continue the track was already drying enough for them to abandon their intermediates. Alonso switched back to slicks followed by Vettel, who returned to the pits in sight of his championship rival.

By this point several drivers had been involved in incidents: Pastor Maldonado joined his team mate in retirement and was accompanied by Romain Grosjean, who crashed out at Mergulho, and Sergio Perez. Alonso complained about debris on the track, adding: “it is a safety car situation”.

The safety car soon appeared on the circuit, calling a temporary halt to what had been 23 laps of frantic action, with still more than two-thirds distance remaining. Hulkenberg and Button took the opportunity to pit for fresh slick tyres, and the Force India driver held his lead.

Behind them Hamilton’s disadvantage for making an extra pit stop was wiped away and the same went for most other drivers. Alonso held fourth ahead of Vettel, who was still on course to clinch the championship, followed by Kobayashi, Webber and Di Resta.

Vettel slows as track dries

Within seconds of the safety car returning to the pits the action resumed. Vettel came under attack from Kobayashi and Webber – the latter ran wide but Kobayashi made the move stick. He went on to take fourth off Alonso, but only briefly, the Ferrari driver quickly taking the place back.

The safety car had put Massa back on the lead lap and as the track dried he quickly passed Di Resta. He demoted Vettel and Kobayashi too, taking up fifth behind his team mate and therefore was unlikely to progress further.

As the track continued to dry Vettel’s aerodynamic damage became more of a problem. He sat within DRS range of Kobayashi, unable to make a move on the Sauber. The loss of downforce also impaired his tyre life and as his lap times began to drop off the team considered bringing him into the pits.

There deliberations were impeded by a fault on Vettel’s radio which prevented him from being able to talk to them. This had near-disastrous consequences as the weather changed yet again. First he pitted for slicks, then returned for intermediates – but the team weren’t ready for him. He fell to tenth place, which was a serious problem as Alonso now had the podium within reach.

Hamilton and Hulkenberg collide

Hulkenberg lost his lead when he half-spun his Force India at Laranja. That allowed Hamilton, who had passed Button after the safety car came in, to retake the lead.

A few laps later Hulkenberg spied an opportunity to pass Hamilton when the leader was delayed in traffic. Hulkenberg went down the inside at turn one but the back end snapped away and he clipped Hamilton’s car. Front suspension damage ended Hamilton’s final race for McLaren.

With Hamilton out and Hulkenberg doomed to serve a drive-through penalty, Alonso now had a shot at second place. He took it despite staying out too long to switch back to intermediate tyres as the rain intensified, and nearly spinning at Curva do Sol. Massa got in front of him through the pit stops but wasted little time handing the place back.

By then Vettel had already recovered well into the top ten, eventually passing Schumacher for sixth place. But even at this late stage he could not afford to relax: a sudden retirement for new leader Button would put Alonso in the lead and Vettel would be one place shy of the world championship.

Race ends under safety car

There was no such problem for Button, and the race had a slightly anticlimactic end as a crash for Paul di Resta brought out the safety car. He claimed his third win of the year and the Ferrari drivers joined him on the podium.

But there were no celebrations for Alonso as Vettel, sixth behind Webber and Hulkenberg, had done enough to retain the world championship.

Schumacher bowed out of F1 with a points finish for seventh, while Jean-Eric Vergne was promoted to eighth after a late spin for Kobayashi.

Kimi Raikkonen was only tenth after going off at Juncao and attempting to rejoin the track using the old circuit, which was closed off at one end.

Behind him the battle for tenth place in the constructors’ championship had been resolved with a final twist. Charles Pic, who will drive for Caterham next year, was passed by Vitaly Petrov in the dying stages. Petrov’s 11th place finish moved Caterham back ahead of Marussia in the final race.

Unfortunately for Marussia Timo Glock had been running in front of both when he was involved in an incident with Vergne which dropped him back. He came in 16th behind Daniel Ricciardo, Heikki Kovalainen and Nico Rosberg. The HRT pair were the last running drivers.

Brazil produced a suitably scintillating conclusion to an exciting championship. Vettel’s race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin admitted he feared his driver’s title hopes were lost after the first-lap collision. But an error-free recovery drive of measured aggression gained Vettel a deserved third title by the slender margin of three points.

Both he and Alonso deserve praise for their efforts this year. Alonso once again wrung all he could from his Ferrari and it’s doubtful he could have finished higher.

If a championship is valued by the quality of the opposition a driver faces, then Vettel can count this triumph as his greatest so far.

2012 Brazilian Grand Prix