Max Verstappen claimed victory in a chaotic, attrition-filled German Grand Prix, as Sebastian Vettel recovered to second, Daniil Kvyat took a podium, while Mercedes suffered a disaster.
Only 13 drivers reached the finish of the reduced-distance 64-lap race at Hockenheim as Verstappen recorded his second win in three grands prix on a remarkable afternoon at Hockenheim.
Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton led the early stages but tumbled to 11th place after a crash, while title rival Valtteri Bottas suffered a hefty exit in the closing laps, meaning Mercedes failed to score a point.
Heavy rain through lunchtime left the circuit soaked and the decision was made to start a sequence of formation laps behind the Safety Car.
After four laps, including the official formation lap, Race Control declared a standing start and Hamilton eased away from pole position, while Bottas slotted into second spot.
The first of several Safety Car periods was called straight away as Racing Point's Sergio Perez spun into the wall exiting Turn 9.
Most drivers opted to stop for Intermediate tyres but the varying intensity of the showers caused headaches for the strategists on the pit wall, a theme that ran through much of the race.
Another Safety Car period, caused by Daniel Ricciardo suffering an engine failure, aided Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who had already made up gains from 10th place.
Leclerc took on fresh Intermediates and started eating into the Bottas/Verstappen battle, cementing his grip on fourth, while the drying circuit prompted several drivers to gamble on slicks.
Verstappen was among the first of the leaders to pit for slicks but spun through Turn 12, and lambasted his race engineer for giving him Mediums, as opposed to Softs.
Bottas responded by pitting but just as he did so the Virtual Safety Car was deployed when McLaren's Lando Norris stopped due to a mechanical problem, while Lance Stroll spun at the same corner.
Stroll continued but the VSC facilitated Leclerc in jumping clear of Bottas and Verstappen, while Hamilton came in from the lead just as the racing resumed.
Hamilton stayed in the lead but both his and Leclerc's races unravelled shortly afterwards.
Leclerc slid wide through the penultimate corner – with the run-off still treacherously slippery – and was unable to prevent his Ferrari SF90 from hitting the barriers, much to his anguish.
As the Safety Car was deployed Hamilton made a similar mistake to Leclerc and clipped the barriers at the penultimate corner, sustaining damage to his front wing.
He managed to drag his damaged car back to the pit lane for repairs, costing him 50 seconds, but such was his advantage that he still emerged in fifth spot, albeit with a five-second penalty now hanging over him for not staying to the right side of the bollard upon pit entry.
Through this stage Verstappen was able to jump Bottas as the field reverted to Intermediate tyres, and found himself in the lead in the wake of Leclerc's exit and Hamilton's setback.
From there Verstappen was never again seriously challenged as he set rapid pace – but there was chaos and decisive moments behind him, as well as a brief and unexpected leader.
Renault's Nico Hulkenberg held second at that restart and still was in with a shout for a podium finish on home territory until he crashed out of fourth spot through the final corner.
The majority of the field remained on Intermediates but just as the Safety Car came in – having been deployed for Hulkenberg's crash – backmarker Stroll came in for slicks.
It proved to be an inspired choice and soon after Kvyat made the same move.
Kvyat had been running in 11th before Hulkenberg's crash, holding ninth under the Safety Car, and profited from an extra lap on a drying track to surge into third as the front-runners pitted.
Through this stage Stroll, courtesy of pitting on the last lap of the Safety Car period, briefly found himself at the head of the pack, until Verstappen quickly re-asserted his advantage.
Hamilton had been in podium contention but serving his five-second time penalty dropped him outside of the top 10, and a high-speed spin through Turn 1 wrecked any chance of a comeback.
Kvyat dispatched with Stroll to take second and the Racing Point driver was under pressure from Bottas, but the Finn's race came to an abrupt end when he lost the rear of the W10 through Turn 1.
Bottas was powerless to prevent his Mercedes from hitting the barriers and the Safety Car was called yet again.
From there, Verstappen went on to record victory but the runner-up spot went to an inspired Vettel.
Vettel made up six places on the opening lap, having started last after a turbo problem in qualifying, and soon found himself in contention for the top 10.
He took the final restart in fifth position but quickly worked his way past Carlos Sainz Jr., Stroll and then passed Kvyat to claim second spot.
Kvyat held on for an astonishing third place to record the first podium finish by a non-top three team in over a year, his third career podium, and Toro Rosso's first in 11 years.
He later revealed that his partner gave birth to their first child, a girl, on Saturday evening.
Stroll was a stunning fourth while Sainz Jr. took fifth, having recovered from a spin at the final corner that left him perilously close to the gravel.
Alexander Albon was in contention for a podium and still took a strong sixth on a remarkable day for Toro Rosso, having survived late contact with Pierre Gasly.
Gasly had been scrapping with Vettel for much of the race, having lost out at the start and through the first pit stop phase, when he was double-stacked behind Verstappen.
But Gasly clipped Albon as they battled exiting the hairpin and he was forced to halt his car due to the damage.
Kimi Raikkonen ran third early on before ultimately winding up seventh, in front of Alfa Romeo team-mate Antonio Giovinazzi, whose eighth was his best career finish.
In a race that seemingly had everything there was even enough time for another clash between the Haas drivers.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen banged wheels at the hairpin late on but both survived to bag the final points on offer.
Hamilton finished 11th after his lacklustre display while the final finishers were the Williams duo of Robert Kubica and George Russell.
