At the German Grand Prix, Mercedes ran a special one-off livery to commemorate their 125th anniversary in motorsport. Ferrari looked set to be the favourites for pole, having been fastest in every practice session, but both hit technical difficulties during qualifying, leaving Hamilton to take pole. Vettel started the race from last place. Everything changed in the race as it rained heavily before the start, leading the race to have a standing start for the first time. As the race progressed, many drivers spun off or crashed, particularly at the final two turns of the track, where Nico Hülkenberg and Charles Leclerc ended their races. Hülkenberg was on course to take his first ever podium before he crashed out. Hamilton also fell victim at the same place, but managed to keep going with a broken front wing. He was later penalized for entering the pit lane outside the bollard, later having a spin, and ended up 11th. Max Verstappen went on to claim victory in the race, with Vettel recovering from last to second, and the third podium place went to Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat, who made a stop for slick tyres late in the race to claim his third career podium and Toro Rosso's first since the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, after a close battle with Racing Point's Lance Stroll. Post-race, both Alfa Romeos, which finished 7th and 8th, were penalized for technical infringements, promoting Hamilton and Williams's Robert Kubica into the points, the latter scoring Williams's first – and what turned out to be only – points of the season, as well as his first since the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.