What to watch this weekend (July 26th - Jul 31th)

• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Germany; from the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany. Practice 1. Friday @ 4:55am - 7am (ESPN2(HD)) live 
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Germany; from the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany. Practice 2. Friday @ 8:55am -11am (ESPNU(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Germany; from the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany. Practice 3. Saturday @ 5:55a - 7:30am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Germany; from the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany. Qualifying. Saturday @ 8:55am - 10:30am (ESPN(HD)) live 
• Formula 1 - Grand Prix of Germany; from the Hockenheimring in Hockenheim, Germany. Race. Sunday @ 9:05am - 11:30am (ESPN2(HD)) live
• Chasing Classic Cars. Tuesday @ 7pm - 7:30pm (MotorTrendHD) replay
• Motorweek. Tuesday @ 7:30pm - 8pm (MotorTrendHD) replay
• Bitchin Rides. Tuesday @ 8pm - 9pm (MotorTrendHD) replay

Silverstone is the current front runner for best race of the 2019 F1 season. Plenty of young drivers imposing their will on the event, young British drivers experiencing their first home Grand Prix, Hamilton losing out to Bottas in Q3 by six-thousandths, Bottas and Hamilton dicing for the race lead through the first pit stop, the fans getting the winner they wanted and records being broken all over the place -- two of which being Bottas taking the overall track record and Hamilton winning his sixth British GP. Verstappen and Leclerc were battling, both pitting around lap 14/52 to race eachother -- Vesrtappen stopping a bit quicker and took the lead out of the pit, but a couple turns later Max's cold tires lead him to give the spot back to Leclerc. Bottas' fortunes weren't great come race day, much to his chagrin, as he made his first pit stop, was in second place cutting into Hamilton's lead to stop the attempted over-cut, when Giovinazzi lost the rear and beached himself in the gravel on lap 20/52. This brought out a safety car, then things really got interesting. Hamilton, in perfect track position, ducked right into the pits, got a free pitstop and came out ahead of Bottas on mediums (they initially planned on two stopping), who already had several laps on his hards and was originally set out for a two stop. This opportunity was also seized by Verstappen (second stop on to hards to finish the race) and Vettel (and others), which ended up putting Leclerc on somewhat of an island given that he would need to stop again -- it seemed like Vettel got the better of the team decision once again as Leclerc was left out on mediums during the SC period, which ran for almost 4 lap, as the marshals cherry-picked Gio's car out. Ferrari finally decided to pit Leclerc, but he lost a couple spots, coming back out in 6th. Then the real race got underway and individual battles broke out for positions.

Hams got beyond a one second gap as quickly as he could over Bottas, Leclerc and Verstappen go back at it which ends up letting the McLaren boys get a peak at the top six. Gasly, who was ahead of Verstappen trying to chase down Vettel, wasn't making much progress and team orders swapped positions. Max, after a lot of work finally got ahead of Vettel, but Vettel looking to get the spot back was a bit too aggressive into the braking zone for stowe and rear ended the Red Bull, sending both cars off the track. Amazingly, neither of Max's rear tires were damaged and despite the hard shunt the rear suspension was still ok. Vettel's car had a damaged front wing, so he  immediately went to the pits to replace it and his tires for good measure. Verstappen kept himself from being beached, got going again and ended up in 5th, behind Gasly, who put in one of his best performances of the year. Sainz picked up a spot off Vettel in the aftermath, along with the biggest winner, Leclerc, who got his original 3rd position back due to the incident. Hams took the checkered flag and Bottas followed, putting Merc back into stride with 1-2 victories. Vettel received a 10sec penalty for the incident, but he was 17th after the pitstop so it didn't matter much. Oh and two more notables -- the Haas drivers took each other out with contact during the first lap leading to a team DNF. Finally, Bottas pitted late to go for fastest lap on the softs, the team asked Hams to come in as well, but he declined to finish on his hards; Hamilton still snagged the fastest lap on the final lap with 30+ lap old hards, showing some serious skill. While the ending positions didn't teach us much new, although Kimi had another good race taking 8th, we got racing excitement that was missing; it appears that the stewards' decisions in the last couple weeks has opened up what the driver's know they can do during the race which has let to more good hard racing on track. I hope this keeps up. With the race day complete the Driver's Championship standings are as follows: Hamilton, Bottas (-39), Verstappen (-87), Vettel (-100), Leclerc (-103), Gasly (-168). Looks like you can almost put a fork into Vettel's Championship chase, Honda is officially back and Ferrari is now officially fighting Red Bull for 2nd in the Constructors'. The F1 circus is on to Hockenhiem this weekend for Merc's home race. It should be another great race weekend.

Enjoy your weekends.

Video courtesy of Drivetribe.