The outcome of the German Grand Prix could have been different had race control deployed the Safety Car after Adrian Sutil spun his Sauber to a stop in the middle of the track.
The decision not to, which left the Sauber stranded on track for over a lap, attracted criticism and questions over whether it was safe to have marshals running across a live track to retrieve the car.
Here’s how the German Grand Prix happened on Twitter.
Build-up
With a Dutch Team Principal & our links to Malaysia & The Netherlands we have been very touched by Thursday’s tragic events (cont…)
— Caterham F1 Team (@CaterhamF1) July 20, 2014
We will pay tribute to all affected by the MH17 tragedy by running #PrayForMH17 stickers on the cars today (cont).. pic.twitter.com/KtmmKj8ywd
— Caterham F1 Team (@CaterhamF1) July 20, 2014
.@LewisHamilton only driver to be sat down for driver parade – still nursing those bruised knees? pic.twitter.com/7KbtrOYnb9
— Daniel Johnson (@danielt_johnson) July 20, 2014
Drivers parade done. And the amount of Swedish flags around the track is amazing!! Thanks for the support.110% push in the race #ME9 #F12014
— Marcus Ericsson (@Ericsson_Marcus) July 20, 2014
Ten minutes to go and the fans remind us where we are. #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/50Xq4050rI
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) July 20, 2014
Race
The Safety Car took to the track early on, as Felipe Massa and Kevin Magnussen collided in turn one, the Williams turning upside down.
MAS busy looking at BOT going into first corner and didn’t seem to realise MAG was coming thru on inside #F1
— Maurice Hamilton (@MauriceHamilton) July 20, 2014
Massa has no grounds to be unhappy with that. Magnussen was blameless. #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 20, 2014
From the video posted by @f1fanatic_co_uk. Turn 1, lap 1. Sorry. But nowhere for @KevinMagnussen to go. pic.twitter.com/Neq6fcD5J5
— Will Buxton (@willbuxton) July 20, 2014
Massa piles error upon error by complaining about "GP2 drivers" following his collision with Formula Renault 3.5 champion Magnussen. #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 20, 2014
Bang!!! Thanks God, nobody got hurt… @MassaFelipe19 @KevinMagnussen @danielricciardo #GermanGP pic.twitter.com/4mokWYRv7y
— Vladimir Rys (@vladimirrys) July 20, 2014
Close pic.twitter.com/1gXOhQFyE7
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) July 20, 2014
While overtaking Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton apologised to his former team mate for what had happened on the previous lap.
Much more straightforward on lap 31. Lewis gives a little wave – an apology? #GermanGP
— Daniel Johnson (@danielt_johnson) July 20, 2014
For the fourth time in five races, Daniil Kvyat’s Toro Rosso failed – this time in spectacular fashion.
#Kvyat #F1 pic.twitter.com/w0VB99f00d
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) July 20, 2014
Raikkonen insistent on the radio: "We have to stop, we have to stop. The front is completely gone." #F1
— F1 Fanatic Live (@f1fanaticlive) July 20, 2014
Must say it's a pretty good F1 race to watch.
— Paul Di Resta (@pauldirestaf1) July 20, 2014
Surprising decision by race control to leave the car unattended so long and not give the marshals the cover of a Safety Car. #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 20, 2014
Really? You let marshalls run across the track just to avoid a SC period? #F1 pic.twitter.com/wzziGVDI2W
— Mattzel89 (@Mattzel89) July 20, 2014
Crazy to see marshalls running across the racing line today to recover Sutil's Sauber. So so dangerous #heartinmouth
— Tommy Batch (@therealbatchf1) July 20, 2014
Does no one remember the fatal accident of Tom Pryce at the 1977 Grand Prix of Kyalami? With that, I get off my soapbox. #F1
— F1 Paddock Pass (@F1PaddockPass) July 20, 2014
Another really boring parade of taxi drivers today eh, Luca? @InsideFerrari #F1
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 20, 2014
After the chequered flag
Sadly, I feel the FIA dropped the ball again today. Decision not to release safety car has been questioned by drivers and pundits alike.
— Will Buxton (@willbuxton) July 20, 2014
The most disappointing thing though, is that attendance today was 52,000. That's less than attended Silverstone on Thursday this year.
— Will Buxton (@willbuxton) July 20, 2014
Heavy rain at Hockenheim, about an hour too late to make things interesting
— Adam Cooper (@adamcooperF1) July 20, 2014
Homerun for @nico_rosberg ! It was a nice day, had a lot of fun in Hockenheim! #Poldi #aha #formula1 pic.twitter.com/AgtjkLqa8Y
— Lukas-Podolski.com (@Podolski10) July 20, 2014
This weekend was brilliant! #Hockenheim #F1 you didn't disappoint! pic.twitter.com/QN6JqEAYlg
— Ed Frankland (@EdFrankland1) July 20, 2014
No Pirelli signage left on one of the tyres belonging to Kimi "Pinball Wizard" Raikkonen #ping #ping #bbcf1 pic.twitter.com/qPHq2ht35n
— Tom Clarkson (@TomClarksonF1) July 20, 2014
Given that Kvyat was already on his fifth engine, after his fire today there's a good chance he'll need a sixth and take a 10-place penalty.
— F1 Fanatic (@f1fanatic_co_uk) July 20, 2014
Drivers react
That was fun! Had to avoid lap 1 crash but charged hard rest of the race. Some badass battles. Good times 👌 glad @MassaFelipe19 is ok also!
— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) July 20, 2014
Another great one from us @WilliamsRacing 👍 thank you all for the support! We'll keep pushing! #Hockenheim #2nd #77 pic.twitter.com/tfUXppb6yL
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) July 20, 2014
Good Saturday,but Sunday wasn't so enjoyable.Thanks Germany & switch focus to Hungary,next week already luckily! #fightback @ToroRossoSpy
— Daniil Kvyat (@Dany_Kvyat) July 20, 2014
After watching the race back think I overreacted with my feelings about Lewis's move. I can understand why he thought I was giving him room.
— Jenson Button (@JensonButton) July 20, 2014
A good drive from Pastor today…. Feel sorry for Romain. Lotus pitstops of 2.2, 2.1,2.3 seconds… Well done crew!
— Paul Seaby (@Seabs) July 20, 2014
Close racing today with cars that aren't off the shelf and pitstops that are the fastest in the world… No wonder people dream of doing it.
— Paul Seaby (@Seabs) July 20, 2014
The German GP is done for another year, not the best but we did do our fastest ever pit stop at 2.1 seconds!👍
— Marc Cox (@MarcCox) July 20, 2014
Congrats to Nico winning home race! This c'ship is proving a big challenge but that's how I love it – and I wouldn't have it any other way!
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) July 20, 2014
here is my video message from Germany for you. thx for you support!
https://t.co/0K66gclstM
— Nico Rosberg (@nico_rosberg) July 20, 2014
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2014 German Grand Prix
- Mercedes explain cause of Hamilton’s brake failure
- Three-in-a-row for Bottas in Driver of the Weekend
- Hockenheim continues 2014’s run of top races
- 2014 German GP Predictions Championship results
- 2014 German Grand Prix team radio transcript
Jan (@yancheelaa)
20th July 2014, 22:56
Crazy to let marshals on the track like that. Reminded me of south african gp 1977 with that awful accident. Check youtube but beware. Some tough footage. I think guys at race direction should remmember that
Mackeine Loveine (@cocaine-mackeine)
20th July 2014, 23:46
Yeah I saw that the other day and my god….. I don’t want to watch that again. Stewards must be careful with their choices next time. A SC should have liven up the race, and not putting the marshall’s life on danger
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
21st July 2014, 3:28
Jensen Button is a class act.
Janet talbot
21st July 2014, 5:20
In what way?
Lari (@lari)
21st July 2014, 6:16
Not suprisingly mostly Brits complaining for no SC.
anon
21st July 2014, 7:34
That does rather trivialise the matter of race control ordering marshals to run across an active circuit on the exit of a corner to retrieve a stricken car, something that normally would be considered as placing the marshals at an unacceptable level of risk.
Lari (@lari)
21st July 2014, 7:35
Yes, they are completely amateurs, that Whiting guy, new to F1.
F1 Noob (@noob)
21st July 2014, 8:59
But they were waving double yellows
VMaxMuffin (@vmaxmuffin)
21st July 2014, 10:41
I’m not a Brit or Hamilton Fan but I ‘wanted’ a safety car. That was a dangerous situation even before they had marshals run across the track, another car could easily have spun and hit the Sauber.
Bruno (@brunes)
21st July 2014, 8:20
I was cheering for Bottas and Rosberg, but not bringing the safety car out was unacceptable.
All it takes is someone to powerslide a bit out of the corner and BOOM, we have a massive crash, Suttil gets killed while getting out of the car, marshals get killed.
So, they keep the British GP under red flag for that long while the guys fixed the Amco barrier and couldn’t bother to bring the safety car out when there is a car and PEOPLE in the middle of the track? Insane
Lars
21st July 2014, 11:48
It was insane to cross the track, yes. As we saw later there were plenty of marshals at the right side of the track.
Consider that every driver knew were the car was, there were yellow flags waving and it was 18 of the worlds best drivers on track. The risk was close to zero. But again, don’t cross the track.