Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Hockenheimring, 2016

Threat of rain for F1 qualifying and race at Hockenheim

2018 German Grand Prix weather forecast

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Formula 1 could be in for a rain-affected weekend at the Hockenheimring for the German Grand Prix. While the track action will begin in sunny conditions, the weather is forecast to change overnight on Friday.

Current predictions indicate a risk of rain throughout Saturday afternoon which could mean wet conditions for the qualifying session, which starts at 3pm. More showers are expected on Sunday, though most of these will fall later in the day, and so may only affect the second half of the race.

Practice will begin in hot and sunny conditions on Friday. Air temperatures are forecast to hit 29C, close to what we saw at Silverstone two weeks ago, with sunshine throughout most of the day. Track temperatures should climb to the mid-to-high forties.

However a change in wind direction from north to south overnight will bring a temperature drop of around 5C and could even spark a few thunderstorms on Saturday. Rain could arrive early enough to affect the final practice session, which starts at noon.

Temperatures will recover slightly on Sunday but the risk of rain is expected to remain. The weekend’s cooler, wetter conditions are expected to be a temporary break from otherwise very warm weather – the post-race forecast is for sunshine and 30-degree heat.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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27 comments on “Threat of rain for F1 qualifying and race at Hockenheim”

  1. Advantage red bull then? If it rains it could verstappens chance for his first pole!

    1. @fish123
      Don’t forget that Mercedes comes alive with cooler temperature and Hamilton is a hell of a driver in wet conditions.

      1. Exact. Seb and Ferrari will be the ones praying for Apollo.

  2. Hopefully, it’d stay away from qualifying at least. The race, I don’t care too much, but qualifying I definitely always want to be entirely dry so that it’d be possible to see the real potential of any given season’s cars on any given circuit lap time-wise. Then, again, quite a few times rain’s been predicted, only to eventually not happen after all, so, therefore, always better to not read too much into the forecast(s).

    1. @jerejj I agree that the majority of qualifyings are better when it’s dry, but surely every season should have at least 1-2 wet qualifyings. They can be just as exciting as dry ones and wet qualifyings are way more unpredictable than dry ones. Hülkenberg’s stunning pole at Brazil 2010, Bottas’ storming lap to 3rd at Canada 2013, Lance Stroll’s amazing P2 at Monza last year…
      In recent years we had a great chance to have a wet quali at Malaysia, but now when it’s gone I hope it’ll rain here or somewhere else at the very least.

      1. Vettel fan 17 (@)
        19th July 2018, 11:13

        @huhhii did you just put “Lance Stroll” and “amazing” in the same sentence?

        I need to see a doctor…

        1. @vettelfan17 His qualifying in Monza last year was nothing short of amazing. I think he is the worst driver in current grid and he doesn’t deserve to be in F1, but he was mighty good that one day. You gotta give him that.

      2. deMercer (@)
        19th July 2018, 11:54

        @huhhii

        Lance Stroll’s amazing P2 at Monza last year

        STR started the race from P2 in 2017, but he qualified “just” P4. Due to grid penalties for both VER (qualified P2) and RIC (qualified P3) STR got promoted to P2 on the starting grid.
        Still a very good performance though for STR in a Williams, P4. :-)

        1. @demercer I know, but I think grid penalties don’t make his achievement less amazing in any way. He was just +0.3s off Verstappen and +0.2s off of Ricciardo. He for example outqualified both Ferraris with over a 1 second gap.

          1. deMercer (@)
            20th July 2018, 19:58

            I think grid penalties don’t make his achievement less amazing in any way

            @huhhii Agreed.

  3. Wet conditions are a nightmare for Ferrari fans like me. The rain is kryptonite to Ferrari.

    1. @lebz remember when it was our only chance to win? Pepperidge farm remembers

      1. in 1996 rain was the best thing for Ferrari XD

  4. Bring the rain and lets See Lewis and Max leave the others for dust and have a great scrap!

    1. Seb is better than Lewis on rain. But I guess Max will better than both.

      1. Maybe younger Seb. But I agree on Max.

      2. Literally go watch Lewis’s Italy wet pole lap from 2017.
        I mean, are you new to f1.

        P.S. 2007 British Grand Prix

      3. Vettel is nothing special in the rain recently, it’s probably due to the car as well however.

        But there’s no denying hamilton is between the greatest ever in the wet, schumacher, senna, stewart, etc.

  5. When I see “chances of rain” I always think about Schumi. I still miss him so much. My heart aches when I think about what happened to him.

    1. @shimks pretty sure we’re not alone in this

      1. And Ayrton. :`(

    2. Yes, both between the greatest wet drivers of all times.

  6. Beautifully put @shimks

  7. I think it’s about time we got some rain. Look forward to it.

    If it’s damp conditions I’d expect Max and Lewis to really shine.

    1. Always pessimistic about rain chance, every time chance of rain, 100% rain, never anything in 2018.

  8. I would love to see two F1 cars going down that drag strip head to head.

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