HAMILTON WINS EIFEL GRAND PRIX TO EQUAL ALL TIME WIN RECORD

After seven years F1 made its return to the Nurburgring Grand Prix track and it gave us a race to remember - with Lewis Hamilton equaling Micheal Schumacher's win record of 91 race wins after which he was presented one of Micheal's helmets from his time at Mercedes by son Mick Schumacher. Hamilton was joined by Verstappen (Red Bull) and for the first time since Monaco 2018 Daniel Ricciardo in third for the Renault team who haven't had a podium since 2011.

The race started well with everyone making it through the first turn in cold conditions.

But just eight laps in we saw Alex Albon (Red Bull) make a very early pit stop after loosing significant grip and making a few lock ups into T1.

Then on lap 11 we see Sebastian Vettel take his Ferrari for a spin into turn one after dropping it trying to make a pass on one of the Alfa Romeo's. Just three laps later Russell and Raikkonen collide on the exit of turn one and the Williams of Russell is almost flipped over - this forced Russell to retire just metres later. Raikkonen received a ten second penalty on his record breaking 323 race in Formula One.

On lap 17 the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was out so the stewards could remove the Williams. During the VSC period the top two drivers Hamilton and Verstappen take the time to make a pit stop.

On the restart Albon makes a move on the Alpha Tauri of Daniil Kvyat and cuts across the Russian driver earlier than he should of done a rips off the front wing of the Alpha Tauri leaving Kvyat to pit a lap later - dropping the former Red Bull driver into what would be last place come the chequered flag. Albon is eventually given a ten second time penalty for this collision.

Just one lap later on lap 18 Bottas complains of power issues and is immediately passed by Norris (McLaren) and Perez (Racing Point). After driving with an issue Bottas is forced to retire on lap 19 with a suspected MGU-H problem.

Then on lap 23 Esteban Ocon (Renault) is forced to retire with a power unit issue.

One lap after Ocon is retired Albon pits for look likes a standard stop with the added time penalty but turns into the car being wheeled back into the garage. Putting an end to a miserable day for the Thai driver.

20 laps later Lando Norris is seen pulling to the side of the track after complaining of various issues and loss of power in the McLaren. This causes a full course Safety Car which lasts for five laps. Eventually on lap 49 of 60 the Safety Car is in and we get back racing.

Ricciardo did well to hold off Perez behind and finally have something to show for the recent good form the Renault team have found in the last five races or so.

This race also saw the return... again of Nico Hulkenberg who replaced an unwell Lance Stroll in the Racing Point coming from 20th to finish a very impressive eighth place in a weekend when he was expecting to be doing TV work not racing.

The next race is Portuguese Grand Prix.