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The race at Hockenheim began with Nico Rosberg on pole position but the German didn’t put on a good show for his fans at the start, getting swamped off the grid and dropping back to fourth. He later took the fight to the Red Bulls that had gotten ahead of him, participating in a close tussle with Max Verstappen that resulted in the Red Bull running off track. Rosberg was handed a five second penalty for that one, and ended up finishing in fourth place.

Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the German Grand Prix, pipping Lewis Hamilton to the post on the final flying laps. Rosberg was under pressure, as he had been forced to give up his first timed lap in Q3 due to an electronic problem, the Mercedes crew hurriedly giving the car the once over in the garage. Nico scooped provisional pole on his second attempt, and although Lewis crossed the line after his teammate, he didn’t quite have enough to snatch the position back.

Mercedes were on another level in both practice sessions ahead of the German Grand Prix, with Nico Rosberg leading Lewis Hamilton in the morning and the afternoon. Sebastian Vettel was third fastest but couldn’t keep up with the leading pair.

After an ever-increasing clamp down on what is and isn’t allowed to be said to drivers over the radio from the pit wall, the German Grand Prix looks set to be a free-for-all in terms of radio traffic. The Strategy Group have met in Geneva and agreed to relieve the pressure on the pit wall allowing them to say whatever they like.

James Allison, technical director at Ferrari, has left the team with immediate effect, after three years spent in the red shirts. Allison joined midway through 2013 after a successful period with Lotus Renault, and helped the Scuderia regain the ability to win races, but recent results have not been as good as anticipated. He had signed a contract extension until 2018 but has now split from the squad.

Far from the washout of qualifying, the Hungaroring was basking in soaring temperatures on race day. Nico Rosberg lost out from pole position off the start line, with Hamilton moving into first and Ricciardo briefly getting into second before dropping back again. Jenson Button suffered some kind of brake failure, lost all his pace, was told to retire the car and then instructed to stay out.

Qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix suffered a delayed start due to a sudden and unexpected downpour. When the action did get underway, there was five minutes of running before the session was red flagged as it was just too wet. After another delay, there were three more red flags, due to Marcus Ericsson, Felipe Massa and Rio Haryanto all spinning out.

Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver on track for the first practice session on Friday in Hungary, but the second session caught him out. The day started on intermediate tyres, after overnight rain, but the track soon dried out to give Hamilton the lead from teammate Rosberg. Sauber were running a new front wing, whilst Friday drivers Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon were back in the Haas and Renault respectively.

The Sauber team have been looking for solid long-term investment for several years now and they’ve finally found a solution that will help them keep the Swiss team on the grid for the foreseeable future. The Sauber Group has been fully acquired by Longbow Finance S.A. with the name Sauber expected to stay, Peter Sauber himself set to retire, but Monisha Kaltenborn to continue on in her role as chief executive officer and team principal.

Mid-season testing has been completed at the Silverstone circuit following the British Grand Prix this past weekend, with McLaren leading the first day. Alonso was one of two drivers to complete over 100 laps, the other being Esteban Ocon in the Mercedes. There was one odd red flag moment in the morning when high winds knocked a piece of wood loose from the starting gantry, which fell onto the track, but thankfully no cars were near the incident.