German Grand Prix: Sebastian Vettel optimistic of extending world championship lead at home course

With his main rival Lewis Hamilton starting only 14th, Sebastian Vettel looks set to extend his world championship lead with a strong home race after taking his 55th pole position.

As Hamilton suffered a major blow with an hydraulic failure which kept him out of the second and third qualifying sessions, Vettel fought a dramatic battle with the world champion’s newly re-signed team-mate Valteri Bottas, who rose superbly to the occasion to split the German from his partner Kimi Raikkonen.

But Ferrari’s story was not all rosy; over the weekend it was revealed that due to illness team chairman and ceo Sergio Marchionne will be stepping down with immediate effect.

After a wet morning practice session gave Vettel a preview of what he might be able to expect next year if Raikkonen is replaced, Monegasque rising star Charles Leclerc battled the Ferrari team leader and set the fastest time for Sauber as Vettel spun. But the real drama unravelled in Q1, when Hamilton had a moment in the first turn and then went off track in the eighth.

It transpired that the first moment was just normal use of the kerb, but that the second was a consequence of a similar hydraulic failure to the one that stopped Bottas recently in Austria.

Instructed to park the car immediately to alleviate the risk of power unit damage, Hamilton could only kneel, apparently in prayer, by the side of his stricken machine as qualifying continued without him.

“It's been a tough day,” he said as he faces a second consecutive race playing catch-up from the back, “but these things happen in sport. This is a part of racing. We had a hydraulic failure in Turn 1, then lost the power steering and I went wide. When you're fighting for a championship that's as close as this you can't afford days like this. You put so much preparation in, everyone works so hard, and then to go out early in qualifying is a bit of a shock. Your heart sinks and sometimes you just can't believe things unfold the way they do, but all you can do is suck it up. In that moment I was thinking just push the car back to the garage, maybe we can fix it - it's that I will not to give up.

“All I can do now is put aside that negative energy and see tomorrow as another opportunity to rise. Hockenheim is a trickier for overtaking on than Silverstone, but I'll do everything I can.”

Bottas set the fastest time in the ensuing Q2, ahead of Max Verstappen’s Red Bull, but the Ferraris had their laps compromised by stones thrown on to the track when Marcus Ericsson spun his Sauber into the gravel; the session was red flagged as the debris was cleared away.

The Finn continued to rise to the occasion in the first runs in Q3, pushing Vettel hard for the pole. He held it as he improved to 1m 11.416s to beat fellow countryman Raikkonen’s 1m 11.547s on the final runs, but a supreme effort by Vettel earned him his 55th pole, his fifth of the season, with 1m 11.212s.

“I think it was not an easy day,” the series points leader said. “We woke this morning to clouds and then there was quite a lot of rain, but I was surprised how quickly the track was drying.

“In quallie the car was a pleasure to drive. Some days you just know straight out that you have something in your hands to play with, so it was more about tuning myself in the two sessions before the final one, and I knew in Q3 that I could get quite a bit out of the car and myself and I made it work so I was really with happy both laps on the limit. Then the adrenaline kicks in, so it was quite a good feeling to get everything out of the car.

“It feels so quick round this track with these cars, and it means a lot to get it here on the track that is literally minutes away from where I was born. And to see the support we get, with all the flags and red hats waving. It means so much, the support we get from the German tifosi. I’ve had some decent laps and some bad laps in my career, but this is one of the better ones.”

Of Hamilton’s plight, he said he did not wish anything bad or a technical issue to happen to anyone.

“It was a shame to see him go out, and I mean it, but you look after yourself and now we wait for the race, which is the most important part of the weekend. Tomorrow we need to be sharp, because we are not sure of the weather, but for now I’m just really happy.”

Bottas was philosophical, and admitted that the pressure was even greater to perform after Hamilton’s problem.

“It was a tough battle with Sebastian and in the end the Ferrari was just quicker, especially as Seb had a really nice lap. If I could do my lap again maybe I could find, maximum, one tenth. That last sector was something I missed in the first lap, so for me the feeling in the car was quite nice.

“For sure this is an important race for us as a team, one of our home races for Mercedes and Daimler. It is a big one, and a long race, and I’m sure Lewis can come back to a good position. The start is going to be crucial and we all start on the same tyre compound, and I think on race pace it’s going to be close.”

Meanwhile, Ferrari wait to see what direction their leadership will take. Marchionne has not been seen in public since the end of June, fuelling speculation that he will be replaced as chief executive by Louis Camilleri, a Ferrari board member and former chairman of Philip Morris International who is also a friend of supermodel Naomi Campbell, while John Elkann, the chairman of Fiat, is expected to be named as the new chairman.

This is a critical time for Ferrari, as Marchionne had been involved in robust negotiations with Chase Carey of Liberty Media over the future make-up of F1. Marchionne was a key player in F1 politics, and had been fighting hard to prevent Liberty Media imposing a new financial structure on the sport. He has also been a strong advocate for Leclerc replacing Raikkonen in 2019.