Rosberg stretches lead in F1 title battle with German Grand Prix win

Formula 1 fans should count themselves lucky that there was no controversy surrounding the removal of the Front and Rear Interconnected (FRIC) suspension systems. The pecking order remained unchanged as every team on the F1 grid removed the system deemed illegal by the FIA - designed, as it was, to link the movements of the front and rear of the car and keep it as steady as possible for predictable and effective aerodynamics - before the start of the German Grand Prix weekend at Hockenheim where Mercedes looked utterly dominant.

Nico Rosberg took pole position and the race victory to cap of a sensational week for the German who saw his country win the football world cup, got married, signed a contract extension with Mercedes and extended his lead over teammate Lewis Hamilton from four to 14 points in the race for the F1 drivers' title.

The whole FRIC issue becoming a decidedly non-issue meant that F1 followers did not need to load themselves with the full tech speak around the systems and could fully concentrate on a thoroughly engrossing race weekend.

ANOTHER MOMENTUM SHIFT

Hamilton had the momentum coming into Mercedes' second home race (the F1 team is based very close to Silverstone) after having won the British Grand Prix two weeks ago and Rosberg being forced to retire with a gearbox failure.

Trouble hit Hamilton's chances to take the lead in the points standings when he suffered a front-right brake failure in the second session of qualifying and was sent spinning into the gravel run-off and barriers at the exit of the hairpin in Hockenheimring's 'stadium section'.

The cause for the failure remained a mystery as the possible cause was speculated to be everything from Hamilton's braking style of suddenly stomping on the pedal and then using his reflexes and driving skill to sort out the car on the entry of the corner, to a possible defect in the brake manufacturer's (Brembo) product.

Hamilton's misfortunes were the F1 fan's gain, however, as the 2008 world champion started to carve his way up the field in an effort to get as close as possible to Rosberg who had an untroubled run to the finish line.

THE WILLIAMS RESURGENCE

Third place was the best that Hamilton could manage and that came primarily down to the efforts of Valtteri Bottas who took his Martini liveried Williams Racing machine to second place in order to make it three Mercedes powered cars on the podium.

Bottas and teammate Felipe Massa had capitalized on Hamilton's qualifying crash to take second and third on the starting grid. Massa's race ended spectacularly in the first corner after bouncing off the wheels of Kevin Magnussen's McLaren and flipping, however.

By now the Brazilian would be getting frustrated to see his Finnish stablemate use the full potential of the Williams to record three straight podium finishes; second place in the last two races.

DEFENDING CHAMPS ON THE ROPES

It has come to the point that the defending four-time constructors champions Red Bull Racing are in danger of not only losing their F1 crown to mighty Mercedes, but also second place in the standings to Williams should Massa start to string together some strong points finishes.

Despite being outqualified by Daniel Ricciardo yet again, defending world champion Sebastian Vettel had a rare finishing position that was higher than the gritty Australian who took to the task of making his way through the grid after losing positions in the wake of Magnussen and Massa's coming together.

Like Vettel did at Silverstone, this time it was Ricciardo's turn to battle tooth and nail with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso who eventually beat the Aussie to fifth place after yet another stellar drive that made teammate Kimi Raikkonen look decidedly amateurish.

Alonso lies fourth in the standings with 97 points while Raikkonen - who finished eleventh - is languishing in 12th position with just 19 points.

As of now it is F1's new Flying Finn Bottas who poses a greater threat to Alonso after his three straight podiums - the one in Germany being Williams' 300th in F1 - took his points haul to 91.

A DIFFERENT LEAGUE AT THE FRONT

At the very sharp end of the F1 field, however, Rosberg and Hamilton are easily ahead of third placed Ricciardo whose respectable 106 point haul is dwarfed by the Mercedes' pair's 190 and 176, respectively.

Eight more races will remain after this Sunday's Hungarian GP is done and dusted. Going into the event that Hamilton won last year it is tempting to give a slight edge to Rosberg in the championship battle.

If only because of incidents like Hamilton's collision with Button in Germany that lost him time and second place to Bottas as he thought his former McLaren teammate was giving him way at the turn four hairpin instead of defending his position.

Then there is the mistake in Silverstone this year in qualifying that was wiped out by Rosberg's gearbox failure. It would be unwise for Hamilton to assume things to cancel themselves out like this in every round, particularly given how he let the 2007 title slip through his fingers and fortuitously won the 2008 title at the very last corner in Brazil.

In any event, the final GP before F1's month long 'summer break' should be a fascinating prospect for fans of a tense title battle.

Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1h33m42.914s
 2. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes      +20.789s  
 3. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes               +22.530s  
 4. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       +44.014s  
 5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                +52.467s  
 6. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault       +52.549s  
 7. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   +1m04.178s
 8. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       +1m24.711s
 9. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes       -1 lap
10. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes   -1 lap
11. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                -1 lap
12. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault          -1 lap
13. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault     -1 lap
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari         -1 lap
15. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari       -1 lap
16. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault       -2 laps
17. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari       -2 laps
18. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault       -2 laps

Retirements

    Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari         47 laps
    Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault     44 laps
    Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          26 laps
    Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes       0 laps

Championship standings after round 10/19
 1. Nico Rosberg        190       1. Mercedes              366
 2. Lewis Hamilton      176       2. Red Bull-Renault      188
 3. Daniel Ricciardo    106       3. Williams-Mercedes     121
 4. Fernando Alonso     97        4. Ferrari               116
 5. Valtteri Bottas     91        5. Force India-Mercedes  98 
 6. Sebastian Vettel    82        6. McLaren-Mercedes      96 
 7. Nico Hülkenberg     69        7. Toro Rosso-Renault    15 
 8. Jenson Button       59        8. Lotus-Renault         8  
 9. Kevin Magnussen     37        9. Marussia-Ferrari      2  
10. Felipe Massa        30       10. Sauber-Ferrari        0  
11. Sergio Pérez        29       11. Caterham-Renault      0  
12. Kimi Räikkönen      19 
13. Jean-Éric Vergne    9  
14. Romain Grosjean     8  
15. Daniil Kvyat        6  
16. Jules Bianchi       2