THE BIG PICTURE: And the points lead rubber band gets stretched this week.

EVENT: What a putrid crowd. Don't tell us it's ticket costs. They are similar to any other grand prix, and Germany has the strongest economy in the EU, barely affected by the Great Recession. This isn't Spain or Greece. Don't tell us it's the runaway Mercedes. It's their home team and driver for crying out loud. Don't tell us it's the lack of noise or ugly noses. The same field raced before massive crowds at Montreal, Silverstone, and Austria. This is very puzzling.

QUALIFYING: Bad luck strikes Hamilton again, thus, Rosberg has it easy, Williams shines again, and Magnussen makes Button even more nervous.

RACE: A pole to checker winner, but what comebacks by Hamilton and Ricciardo, a great battle between the Smiling Aussie and the Frowning Spaniard, and the wonderful job the Next Flying Finn did to hold off the Whining Brit.

TRACK: Of course we would love the old Hockenheimring, but this one did okay this year.

START: Not much to write about since it was almost immediately slowed thanks to a Flying Felipe.

ROSBERG: Best week of his life.

HAMILTON: Earth to Lewis. The person with the most points at the end of the year has earned the World Championship. There's no "more earning it" or "less earning it." There's only earning it. Oh, and quit the FIA "conspiracy against me crap." You come off as ... as ... well, as a complete ass.

MERCEDES: Finally, a home victory after all these decades.

BOTTAS: We're going to say it. Valtteri will win a race this year.

MASSA: Good heavens, Felipe. That crash was so your fault, your deflecting blame is pitiful. You come off as ... as ... well, as a complete ass.

WILLIAMS: Consider this. Williams trails 67 points. Think where they would be if Massa got decent results in just two of his three first lap exits. Red Bull better be looking over their shoulders.

VETTEL: Got the better of Ricciardo in the race ... finally. Though, that was thanks to Ricciardo having to go off avoiding the first lap tangle.

RICCIARDO: Is there anything more fun in F1 today watching Daniel develop?

RED BULL: See Williams.

ALONSO: We agree with Fernando. His best race of the season.

RAIKKONEN: a.k.a., pinball.

FERRARI: The sackings shall continue.

BUTTON: His days at McLaren appear to be numbered.

MAGNUSSEN: Kevin had absolutely nowhere to go.

MCLAREN: Counting the days Honda is in the back of their cars.

BIANCHI: Little noticed, but another fine race by Jules.

LOTUS: The most affected by the loss of FRIC.

GROSJEAN: The most affected by the whole Lotus lackluster car.

KVYAT: Putin is blaming Daniil's fire on Ukraine...

CATERHAM: The pain before the resurrection.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Crowd.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 100,000 -- The number of fans who showed up at the Nurburgring on the same weekend ... for a truck race.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Much was made of Mercedes' first home grand prix victory since 1954 when Juan Manuel Fangio won at Nurburgring. Before the war, Mercedes won the German GP seven times, all but the first at Nurburgring. The first came in the very first one in 1926 with Rudolf Caracciola at AVUS Berlin. Caracciola also won in 1928 (shared the drive with Christian Werner), 1931, 1937 and 1939 (he also won in 1932 in an Alfa Romeo to lead all drivers with six German GP wins). Otto Merz won in 1927 and Richard Seaman in 1938.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Daniel Ricciardo about his seemingly always smiling nature, "I just want everyone to know when I put the helmet on, I'm bad-ass!" Of course, he was smiling when he said that...

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Fernando Alonso's reaction upon seeing Ferrari's 2015 plans, "I've heard a lot of plans. In July and August each team is very strong, in November they're even better and by January they're dominating. But only in February are the facts on the table."

SCHEDULE: Will the notoriously boring Hungaroring produce some of the nice battles we've seen elsewhere this year?

Copyright © 2014 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.