German GP conclusions: Bottas squanders golden chance

The 2019 Formula 1 season reached its half-way stage as the German Grand Prix delivered one of the best races of recent times with a wet and wild spectacle. 

Changeable weather, crashes, strategy gambles and great racing: the German GP had it all in a truly remarkable race that will be remembered for being the most dramatic of the V6 turbo era and arguably one of the most crazy events of the last decade. For the third round in a row, we were treated to a fantastic grand prix as the 2019 season continued to liven up. 

Here are some of the main talking points from the German GP…

Bottas will rue missed chance

With Mercedes licking its wounds from what proved to be a disastrous 200th grand prix, Valtteri Bottas will come away from Hockenheim left to stew on what could have been. 

After the disappointment of losing the British GP to his chief title rival and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, Bottas was outpaced by the Briton in qualifying and also found himself behind Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. 

His luck appeared to flip on Sunday, when amid ever-changing conditions, the Finn found himself with a golden opportunity to claw back some points on Hamilton’s 39-point championship lead as his teammate endured an uncharacteristically error-strewn race. 

With Hamilton outside of the points having suffered two separate offs, Bottas was on course for a potential podium when he made a costly mistake of his own and ploughed into the Turn 1 barriers after spinning on a damp patch of water in his pursuit of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point.

Bottas missed the opportunity to make a real indentation in Hamilton’s points advantage on a rare off day for his teammate. Had Bottas not crashed, he would have surely been in contention for a second-place finish and a possible 18-point swing in his favour. 

But in the end, despite battling illness all weekend and having what he described as his “worst day in the office for a long time”, Hamilton ended up coming away from Germany with an enhanced 41-point buffer after post-race penalties were applied to the Alfa Romeo duo. 

On a weekend that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had revealed that the team would assess Bottas’ performances in Germany and Hungary before deciding on his future, he missed a big chance not only to make inroads on Hamilton, but also to secure his seat.