NICO Rosberg drove a tremendous race from poll position to first across the line at Hockenheim.
From the start, Rosberg set the pace and was rarely challenged during the race.
Behind him is where the action was and from Lewis Hamilton’s point of view we saw lots of it.
Hamilton started 20th on the grid and relentlessly overtook car after car with increasing difficulty as he got to the front-runners.
This didn’t deter him and he continued to slowly but surely scythe his way through the field until he was in third position near the finish and close behind the newly decorated flying Finn, Valterri Bottas.
Bottas drove like a wizard in his very quick Williams Mercedes and stubbornly held onto second place to the end no matter what from Hamilton.
It was a very exciting race to this point and Bottas matched his best career result as at Silverstone.
Behind Bottas and Hamilton, multiple world champion Sebastian Vettel drove another excellent home race and made the very most that he could have out of his Red Bull Renault, taking fourth place and holding off a very hard charging Ferrari driven by Fernando Alonso.
Alonso again did the team proud in bringing his prancing horse home as high as he did as teammate Kimi Raikkonen could only manage 11th place in the other red car.
His performances so far this year have been disappointing for such a talented driver.
Daniel Ricciardo, in the other Red Bull, gave us another wonderful demonstration of his youthful exuberance and ability with a spectacular overtaking move on Kimi Raikkonen going into the hairpin on the 13th lap.
In the process, they touched, with Ferrari losing its end plate.
Nico Hulkenberg, in the Force India Mercedes, drove a very mature race as is his usual way and did well to bring his car into seventh place, while teammate Sergio Perez managed 10th in the other Force India.
If Hulkenberg can be given a better car I believe he would be up with the front-runners.
McLaren is moving ahead step by step with its cars now able to mix it with all but Mercedes and Williams.
Jenson Button drove a typically smooth and tidy race while youthful teammate Kevin Magnussen pushed much harder. They finished eighth and ninth respectively.
All and all, it was a very interesting and exciting race held in excellent weather.
There was the threat of rain but it stayed away, despite the radar warnings.
The Germans must have been very happy with Mercedes engines taking the first three places, plus another three in a row from sixth to ninth positions.
Renault has issued a statement that there will be a step-up in the performance of its engines after the Hungarian Grand Prix next Sunday so we shouldn’t have long to wait before Vettel and Ricciardo are able to challenge the Silver Arrows once again.
I must report that unlucky Felipe Massa once again had his good fortune turned upside down when Magnussen collided with him on the first lap, causing him to overturn and putting him out of the race.
Meanwhile, Russian Daniil Kyvat had to leap out of his car after it caught fire early in the race.
Hungarian qualifying will be this Saturday, July 26 at 2pm with the race the next day at the same time.
Drivers: 1 Nico Rosberg 190; Lewis Hamilton 176; 3 Daniel Ricciardo 106; 4 Fernando Alonso 97; 5 Valtteri Bottas 91; 6 Sebastian Vettel 82; 7 Nico Hulkenburg 69; 8 Jenson Button 59; 9 Kevin Magnussen 37; 10 Felipe Massa 30.
Constructors: 1 Mercedes 366; 2 Red Bull Renault 188; 3 Williams 121; 4 Ferrari 116; 5 Force India 98; 6 McLaren 96; 7 STR Rosso 15; 8 Lotus 8; 9 Marussia 2.
