How you can see behind the scenes of Mercedes' Hockenheim meltdown

Mercedes

How you can see behind the scenes of Mercedes' Hockenheim meltdown

Not a good weekend for the Silver Arrows.

Martin Macdonald

Wednesday 31 July 2019 12:30

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The German Grand Prix was one of the most exciting races of the 2019 Formula 1 season so far, as rainfall caused chaos for the drivers at the Hockenheimring. It wasn’t particularly entertaining for Mercedes though, who had a torrid time, and there’s a way you can watch how it all unfolded behind the scenes.

While the initial weather report predicted that the climate in Germany would be hot and dry, the heavens opened on the Sunday morning ahead of the rain, soaking the track with slick water.

Mayhem ensued. No fewer than seven drivers were forced into retirement, with most of them having to leave with a DNF due to crashing into the barrier at the troublesome last turn of the lap, which was called “insane” by Nico Hulkenberg and “unacceptable” by Charles Leclerc.

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Two other drivers who suffered at the ‘drag’ section of the track were Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. The Brit spun into the barrier to lose his front wing and in his attempts to fix it right away, made an unscheduled, illegal run up the pitlane. He received a time penalty for entering the pitlane the wrong side of the bollard, while the unprepared Mercedes pit crew took nearly a minute to fix the front of the car.

Hamilton would eventually only claim a couple of points after penalties were given to Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi, while Bottas crashed out of the race altogether.

The event presented Mercedes' worst result since last year's double DNF in Austria, and it just so happens there were external cameras there to pick up every bit of anger and emotion.

A few months ago it was confirmed that the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’ would be allowed to film with Mercedes and Ferrari this year after the pair omitted themselves from being featured in series one.

The show was granted just one race to film behind the scenes footage with Mercedes, and it just so happened to be the horror show which was the German GP at Hockenheim.

Viewers will be able to see exactly what went on when series two of the Netflix series airs, which will likely be in late February of 2020.