Formula 1: What could have been for Valtteri Bottas in Germany

Valtteri Bottas had a chance to claw back into Formula 1 championship contention in the German Grand Prix, but he failed to take advantage of Lewis Hamilton’s struggles.

Entering the race that officially marked the halfway point of the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season, the German Grand Prix, at the Hockenheimring, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton had already pretty much locked up the championship.

The questions had turned from whether or not the 34-year-old Briton would win his sixth career Formula 1 championship, which would be his fifth in the last six seasons and his third in a row, to when he would mathematically clinch the title.

Hamilton entered this rain-shortened 64-lap race around the 16-turn, 2.842-mile (4.574-kilometer) Hockenheimring road course in Am Motodrom, Hockenheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany with seven victories and two runner-up finishes through the first 10 races of the season, and he led the driver standings by 39 points (223 to 184) over teammate Valtteri Bottas in second place.

The only other driver who was not at least 100 points behind Hamilton in the driver standings was Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who entered this race trailing Hamilton by 87 points with 136.

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But like it was last season for championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Ferrari, the German Grand Prix looked like it could be Hamilton’s undoing, and it looked as though Bottas was in the best possible position to take full advantage of it.

After dominating the race early on from the pole position and leading its first 29 laps, everything went wrong for Hamilton. He hit the barrier in wet conditions during a safety car period, and he made an illegal entry into the pits before making a pit stop for a front wing change that lasted more than 50 seconds. He was issued a five-second time penalty for the way by which he entered the pits.

Still running in the top five, Hamilton worked his way back up to third place, and with the frequency of safety car periods being extremely high, he still had a solid chance to win the race.

After serving his five-second time penalty during his next pit stop, Hamilton fell back to 12th place, and he spun out once again, and when he made another pit stop after his spin, he fell to last among the 15 drivers still in the race.

Meanwhile, Bottas was running in fourth place and attempting to catch SportPesa Racing Point’s Lance Stroll for third and Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat for second.

Verstappen was a bit farther up the road in the lead and would have been tough for Bottas to pass, but Bottas practically had second place in the bag — until he crashed with eight laps remaining.

Hamilton went on to finish the race in 11th place and score no points, although he was promoted to ninth and scored two points after Alfa Romeo Racing teammates Kimi Raikkonen and rookie Antonio Giovinazzi were stripped of their seventh and eighth place finishes, respectively, with post-race 30-second time penalties.

So even after what was a disastrous race for Hamilton, he inched two points closer to securing his sixth career championship, as he now boasts a 41-point lead over Bottas in second place simply  because Bottas could not take advantage of the struggles of his teammate.

Here is how Hamilton and Bottas stack up against one another in the driver standings.

Rank – Driver, Team: Points (Behind)
1st – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: 225 (0)
2nd – Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes: 184 (-41)

Verstappen, meanwhile, now sits in third place in the driver standings with 162 points after winning this race.

Had Bottas finished the race in second place, he would have scored 18 points, and Hamilton technically would have only scored one point with a 10th place finish. But it may have been hard for Hamilton to finish where he did without the safety car that Bottas’s wreck brought out, so he likely would not have scored at all.

Here is how Hamilton and Bottas would stack up against one another in the driver standings had Bottas not crashed with eight laps remaining in the German Grand Prix.

Rank – Driver, Team: Points (Behind)
1st – Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes: 223 (0)
2nd – Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes: 202 (-21)

Bottas’ wreck effectively created a 20-point swing in favor of Hamilton, and it effectively doubled Hamilton’s lead in the driver standings. Instead of being within one race’s worth of points of his teammate, Bottas trails Hamilton by nearly two race’s worth of points with 10 races remaining on the 2019 schedule.

If it wasn’t already an insurmountable deficit for the 29-year-old Finn, it may very well now be.

Who will rebound better in this Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring in Mogyorod, Hungary? Will Valtteri Bottas be able to launch himself back into 2019 Formula 1 championship contention, or will Lewis Hamilton increase the gap to his teammate? Tune in to ESPN2 at 9:05 a.m. ET for the live broadcast of this race.