Photo: Matt via CC 
Lewis Hamilton won the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, tying Michael Schumacher’s record of 91 wins in Formula 1. He finished a few seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, who at times looked almost able to challenge the six-time champion, but ultimately didn’t quite have the pace. Valtteri Bottas, after taking the lead early in the race, was unfortunately forced to retire because of power unit problems.
The 2020 title is all but sealed at this point, with second-place Verstappen a whopping 63 points behind Hamilton with just six rounds left to go in this heavily revised F1 season. But the battle for second place is very much alive, and the one for best-of-the-rest even fiercer still.
Quick Tip: Best trucks for towing your racing trailer
Daniel Ricciardo got himself a small, 10-point advantage in the latter battle by scoring his first podium since joining Renault. He now leads Sergio Pérez in the standings, who had Nico Hülkenberg for a teammate this weekend rather than Lance Stroll, who was feeling ill. It was Hülkenberg’s second appearance in 2020 as a super-substitute for Racing Point, this time on the other side of the garage, and he did impossibly well to finish eighth and score points despite having no preparation time before the first qualifying session.
Lando Norris and Alexander Albon both lost out yesterday. Norris had been in contention for a podium finish before he suffered a loss of power and, despite doing everything he could to override system shutdowns, had to retire. Albon’s own problems were largely self-inflicted. While racing far behind his teammate, he came in contact with AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat and received a 5-second penalty. Then, after nearly crashing into Pierre Gasly, he complained he was being raced too hard by Red Bull Racing’s sister team. Albon never got to serve his penalty though, as he also experienced a power issue and retired.
Charles Leclerc is still in the midfield battle on the back of the two podiums he somehow managed to score earlier in the season, and increasingly I must wonder how he pulled those off. Despite his exceptional driving, the Ferrari has seemed unable to score more than a couple of points every weekend, and has looked utterly miserable in the hands of Sebastian Vettel — though the four-time champion has probably completely checked out of the season.
Crashed Into Your Teammate? This is where to go after a collision
The 2020 Eifel Grand Prix was made more interesting by a lack of Friday practice, which was canceled because bad weather meant the medical helicopter was unable to fly. Under FIA regulations, F1 track sessions can only take place if a transit time to a hospital can be guaranteed in under 20 minutes.
This also meant that Mick Schumacher, who was due to participate in the first practice session, was unable to make his race weekend debut in F1 — though he’ll doubtless get another chance. For the full-time drivers, it meant that they couldn’t get as much data about the track conditions and tires as usual, which made it trickier for the teams to create optimized setups and strategies.
This will not likely be the case at F1’s next destination, the lovely Algarve circuit in Portimão, Portugal. It will be the first time F1 races there. Let’s hope for a good race — who knows, it might encourage the powers that be to return.
Kurt Verlin was born in France and lives in the United States. Throughout his life he was always told French was the language of romance, but it was English he fell in love with. He likes cats, music, cars, 30 Rock, Formula 1, and pretending to be a race car driver in simulators; but most of all, he just likes to write about it all. See more articles by Kurt.
