After starting from pole position, Lewis Hamilton finished Sunday’s German Grand Prix on the Nürburgring in fifth place. While it wasn’t an ideal finish for the Brit, it was a big step up from where he was running just 15 laps prior to the finish when he was in 10th. Mercedes AMG Petronas teammate Nico Rosberg finished the race in 9th place after starting the race from the 11th position and dropping as far back as the16th position by the 49th lap.
Nico Rosberg Pit Stop at German Grand Prix
After a dismal first half of the race, Rosberg and Hamilton fought hard to pick up points for the team, two for Rosberg and 10 for Hamilton. While it may not seem like much, these points mean the Mercedes AMG Petronas team will continue to hold onto second place in the Constructors’ standings behind Red Bull and just three points ahead of Ferrari.
| Drivers | Car No. | Chassis No. | Race Result / Fastest Lap |
| Lewis Hamilton | 10 | F1 W04 / 04 | P5 1:34.156 |
| Nico Rosberg | 9 | F1 W04 / 03 | P9 1:34.181 |
| Weather | Hot and sunny | |
| Temperatures | Air: 24-26°C | Track: 42-45°C |
2013 German Grand Prix Pit Lane
Lewis Hamilton
That was really a tough race out there for us today. I didn’t have a great start and the Red Bulls were much quicker off the line, dropping me back to third. We really struggled with the second set of tires which then compromised the rest of my race. It’s a real shame as the team are working so hard and doing such a good job. We’ve clearly got a good car but for some reason, it doesn’t work in these hot conditions. We’ll keep working on it and the positive from today is that we were able to recover to fifth place with a good strategy and great pit stops, and we’re still second in the Constructors’ table. Hopefully we’ll have a better chance at the next race but, for now, there’s a lot of hard work ahead of us.
Nico Rosberg
The car didn’t feel so nice to drive today. We struggled a lot with the rear tires and that’s why we weren’t able to match the pace of the guys in the front. Even so, I had a bit of fun when I changed to the option tires and could really push to at least score a few points. But we need to understand the new tires a bit more because it seems that the new construction has shuffled things around, especially in these hot conditions. We have to do a lot of work in the next weeks to make sure we arrive in Hungary in good shape.
Dieter Zetsche and Ross Brawn at German Grand Prix
Ross Brawn
Our first thoughts today go to the cameraman who was struck by an errant wheel in the pit lane. Happily, he does not appear to have suffered serious injuries but it was once again a reminder of the dangers of our sport and underlines the need for constant vigilance in terms of safety. Today was a race of two halves for us. In the first part, we were once again overstressing the tires – particularly on the prime compound – and our performance fell away as a result. However, as the temperatures cooled off a little and things settled down, both drivers had respectable pace and were able to fight their way back through the field. Lewis and Nico kept pushing until the final lap and were rewarded for their commitment and determination.
At one point it didn’t look like we would come away with much at all from this afternoon, so there has to be a certain satisfaction in saving 12 points today. We have said all along that there is still a question mark over our performance in hotter conditions, and today’s race showed that we still have work to do. We have made big steps forward since Bahrain and Barcelona, where we particularly suffered with hotter track temperatures, and our performance was much improved compared to those races. But we have not yet done enough to convert our Saturday pace into race-winning speed in all conditions on Sunday. The three-week break until Hungary will give us an opportunity to think about how we can make further progress on our tire management as well as continuing to develop the core performance of the car.
Toto Wolff
We had a real character-building afternoon here at the Nürburgring. Neither of the drivers could find any grip on the prime tire in the first part of the race and it mirrored similar experiences we have had so far this season. We managed to recover in the second half, though, and our result was pretty respectable in the end given how things looked after the first 30 laps. Well done to both drivers for squeezing the maximum out of the car today. After such a successful weekend in Silverstone, it feels a little bit like a night and day difference for us. We need to get our heads down at the factory, properly analyse our performance and keep working hard because we know that we will see similar temperatures in Hungary to what we experienced here.
