In what was an encouraging qualifying for the 2016 German Grand Prix the Williams Martini team would see their drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finish in eighth and tenth. But with Hulkenberg receiving a one place grid penalty Valtteri would start the race from seventh. William's rivals Force India would start from eighth and ninth with the Williams drivers seventh and tenth. On pole was Rosberg from Hamilton, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Vettel, Valtteri, Hulkenberg, Perez, and Felipe in tenth. The top ten would all start on the supersoft tyre with Ricciardo having a set that had completed a few extra laps. The only driver to start on the soft tyre was Gutierrez in eleventh.

The grid would move away on their parade lap for the sixty seven lap race. They would return and form up and with the lights going out it would be Hamilton taking the lead. The two Red Bull's would pass Rosberg with Rosberg fourth behind Ricciardo. Valtteri was in seventh and Felipe tenth. Felipe would complain that he had been hit on the opening lap. On lap two Palmer had pitted taking on soft tyres. At the front Hamilton was 1.7 seconds ahead of Verstappen and Ricciardo. Vettel was fifth followed by Raikkonen, Valtteri, Hulkenberg, Button and Felipe tenth. With five laps completed Rosberg was 5.4 seconds behind his team-mate who was in the lead. Replays had shown that Felipe had been hit by Palmer.

Alonso would pass Felipe at the hairpin taking tenth. Sainz would now start to attack Felipe while on lap ten Kvyat and Nasr were the first drivers to make scheduled pit stops. Valtteri had pulled away from Hulkenberg as both Sainz and Magnussen would pass Felipe seeing the Williams drop to thirteenth. Felipe would come on the radio saying that after he was hit the rear of the car is not the same. Lap eleven and both Sainz and Felipe would pit taking on soft tyres. Verstappen was now 5.2 seconds behind Hamilton while Rosberg was 1.4 seconds behind Ricciardo. Lap thirteen and Verstappen, Rosberg, and Magnussen would pit. Both would take on new supersoft tyres with the pair coming out in seventh and tenth. While this was happening Valtteri was able to move to fifth but he would pit on lap fourteen taking on soft tyres. He would come out in tenth. Ricciardo had also pitted taking on soft tyres returning in fifth. Vettel would pit joined by Button while at the front Hamilton was leading from Raikkonen, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Rosberg, and Alonso.

Hamilton would pit on lap sixteen taking on the soft tyre. Alonso would also pit taking on the soft tyre. Hamilton was back out still in the lead. Verstappen was second followed by Ricciardo, Rosberg, Vettel, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Valtteri, Hulkenberg and Gutierrez in tenth. Felipe was down in fourteenth. Valtteri was able to pass Grosjean for seventh as Grosjean pitted. Felipe would continue to drop down the order falling to sixteenth with a lack of pace compared to his team-mate. Alonso would move up to tenth passing Gutierrez. Button was in ninth behind Hulkenberg while at the front Rosberg had closed the gap to Ricciardo to be nearly within DRS range. Lap twenty nine and Rosberg would pit with Felipe also coming in stopping in his pit for quite some time as his car was checked. Perez had also come in from thirteenth. This would see Vettel fourth as on lap thirty Verstappen would pit coming out in fifth, also taking on the soft tyre.

Alonso would pit from tenth with the order now Hamilton from Ricciardo and Vettel. Rosberg was behind Verstappen but the German would pass Verstappen at the hairpin in an attacking move. But Verstappen would complain that Rosberg had pushed him off the track. Lap thirty three and Vettel would pit joined by Button. Raikkonen was now third followed by Rosberg, Verstappen, Valtteri and Vettel. But Vettel would pass Valtteri taking sixth. Raikkonen would also pit coming out in seventh. Valtteri would pit on lap thirty five while on the next lap Hamilton would pit. Rosberg would receive a five second time penalty for what they viewed as him forcing Verstappen off the track. Hamilton was back out in the lead running on the supersoft tyre. Rosberg was second followed by Verstappen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Valtteri, Button and Alonso.

Felipe would pit again on lap thirty nine with the Williams team retiring his car with in the garage. Ricciardo was catching Verstappen in third with Ricciardo on the supersoft tyre while Verstappen was on the soft. Hamilton was leading Rosberg by 7.2 seconds with Rosberg 3.3 seconds ahead of Verstappen. Rosberg would have to extend this gap top over five seconds to eliminate the penalty. Ricciardo would pass Verstappen for third and would start to close the gap top Rosberg. It was looking like Rosberg would come back out behind the two Red Bulls after taking his penalty. Lap forty six and Rosberg would pit coming out on another set of soft tyres. Hulkenberg had also pitted while on lap forty seven Verstappen would pit coming out in fifth ahead of Rosberg.

Ricciardo would pit on lap forty eight with Vettel also coming in. Hamilton was still leading now from Raikkonen and Ricciardo. He would pit on llap forty nine returning in the lead. He was on a set of soft tyres while Verstappen was closing the gap to second placed Ricciardo. But Ricciardo would respond opening out a bigger gap to his team-mate. Valtteri was still in seventh ahead of Hulkenberg but the Williams driver had yet to pit again. Ricciardo was now 6.5 seconds behind Hamilton after lap fifty one. But Hamilton would improve his lap times seeing the gap open out to 7.5 seconds. Rosberg was 4.4 seconds behind Verstappen while for Valtteri it was coming down as to whether the team would run a two stop strategy to keep him front of Hulkenberg. Lap fifty five and Valtteri had completed twenty laps on his set of soft tyres.

The gap between Hamilton and Ricciardo would swing around as both went through traffic. With ten laps remaining it was looking like Williams would keep Valtteri out to keep him in the points. It was looking like Hamilton could maintain his lead over Ricciardo with Verstappen in a lonely third. Rosberg was in fourth followed by Vettel, Raikkonen, Valtteri, Hulkenberg, Button, and Alonso in tenth. Hulkenberg would close the gap to Valtteri and would finally pass the Williams to see Valtteri drop to eighth. With five laps remaining Valtteri was starting to really struggle but the gap to ninth placed Button should be big enough to see him remain in this position. Perez would pass Alonso for tenth coming out of the hairpin side by side and would pass the McLaren. Button was able to get past Valtteri seeing the Williams now ninth.