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German Grand Prix: Lewis

Hamilton justifies price tag as F1


shows its best face

By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

 From the sectionFormula 1

 645

Sharethis page

Hamilton's 66th career win will go down as one of his most satisfying

The German Grand Prix weekend started with the news that Lewis
Hamilton had signed a new Mercedes contract worth up to 拢 40m a
year, and ended with a demonstration of why he justifies that sort of
money.
As team boss Toto Wolff put it after the race: "The difference between
the best and the very good is that on the very difficult days they are
able to make the difference."

Hamilton did exactly that on a day that started with expectations of


damage limitation from 14th on the grid and ended with title rival
Sebastian Vettel in the wall and the Briton back in the championship
lead.

In between, Formula 1 showed its best face, as Hamilton


demonstrated all his remarkable skills - both before and after the
pivotal late rain shower - and the race turned into a thrill-a-minute
rollercoaster ride in which chaos was in as much evidence as amazing
driving skills and incredible engineering.

That chaos even afflicted Hamilton, as he aborted a decision to pit for


tyres during the safety car period following Vettel's crash amid one of
the most bizarre pieces of communication between a driver and his
engineer you will ever hear.

 'Stay out.... in, in, in, in!! .... no, sorry mate, just go' - Hamilton's
pit confusion

The drama was not even over after the race finished - Hamilton's
abortive pit stop meant he drove across the grass to rejoin the track,
a move that led to a stewards' investigation that ended with merely
a reprimand.

Wolff felt Mercedes were owed the luck - if we are to call it that -
which played a part in the victory after some difficult races, but the
old adage that you make your own luck in sport and life has rarely
looked truer.

Look... rain approaching! Hockenheim delivered a wet race, albeit briefly


Hamilton in imperious form

Starting the race in the midfield after a hydraulics failure in qualifying,


Hamilton said he had exercised his strong religious faith in his hopes of
making amends. "I said a long, long prayer before the race started,"
he said. "I just wanted to stay collected and stay calm.

"The team did such a great job, the car was fantastic. Honestly, I'm so
grateful. I would never have thought you could do something like that
today, but I just kept pushing, I kept believing and it happened.

"I really manifested my dream. So big, big thanks to God."

Whether it was down to divine intervention or not is an individual's


point of view. But while it is true that outside circumstances -
specifically the rain - led to the series of events that won him the race,
Hamilton put himself in the position to do it with one of the greatest
drives of his life.

First, there was his highly impressive first stint.

It was not so much that he fought through the field from 14th to fifth
in just 14 laps; the speed advantage the top teams have over the rest
of the field has made this relatively commonplace when a Mercedes or
Ferrari driver is in that sort of position.

It was that he did so while still keeping his tyres in good enough shape
that he was not only able to do a 42-lap opening stint on the soft tyre
- his old rival Fernando Alonso in the McLaren managed just 31 - but
was still able bang in competitive lap times throughout.

Ferrari played into his hands with a mix-up over strategy that led
Vettel, on fresher tyres, to be held up behind team-mate Kimi
Raikkonen because of divergent strategies. Vettel grumbled
intermittently about it being "silly" he was losing time, before the
team eventually ordered the Finn to let him by.

 Winner Hamilton reflects on 'emotional day'


 Hamilton wins after Vettel crashes out
 Chequered Flag podcast: Hamilton reigns supreme amid chaotic
race

But the upshot was that Hamilton's late stop enabled Mercedes to put
him on fresh ultra-soft tyres - the fastest - for a relatively short final
stint. The team gambled that the rain they knew was coming was not
going to be hard or extensive enough to require a change to
wet-weather tyres, that the ultra-softs would give the grip he needed,
and they were absolutely right.

Hamilton emerged 22.9 seconds behind Vettel with 23 laps to go. It


looked relatively comfortable for Vettel but the Mercedes began eating
rapidly into his lead.

Three laps later, with rain starting to fall, Hamilton had Vettel's
advantage down to 17.1secs. Three laps after that, as others began to
pit in the increasing rain, it was down to 12.1. Two laps after that,
Vettel was in the wall at the Sachs Kurve, swearing into his team
radio.

Hamilton goes off-piste in between the pit lane and track Hockenheim, triggering a
post-race investigation

A moment of madness

The safety car came out, Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas pitted.
Hamilton was now second behind Raikkonen. And then came
Mercedes' wild pit call.
Should Hamilton stay out on his now 10-lap-old tyres, or change to
fresh ones, as Bottas and Raikkonen would?

"Box, box, box, box," engineer Peter Bonnington said. "Kimi is staying
out," Hamilton replied. "Stay out," Bonnington yelled. "In, in, in, in, in,
in, in."

In the midst of all that, Hamilton made the call himself to stay out,
and it gave him the lead. "Hey, man," he said to Bonnington, who
replied: "Sorry, mate. Just go for it."

"It was the most confusing second and a half," Hamilton said later. "I
thought I was going to stay out. I was happy with my tyres and then
they said come in and then I saw Valtteri coming in and I was like, 'Are
they sure?' And by the time I got in, then they said stay out.

"It was go left, go right and I just trundled over the grass and made
sure I rejoined as safe as i could. I think it was still relatively exciting."

That doesn't even begin to describe one of the maddest races in


memory, as drivers pitted and pitted again, spun, battled, ran wide,
places swapped.

By the time it had all settled down, Hamilton was in the lead from
Bottas behind the safety car. At the re-start, there was a brief scrap,
which Hamilton won the first round of, before Mercedes called it off
from the pits.

"If it had been Valtteri first and Lewis second, we would have made the
same call," Wolff said.

"It was important to score the double podium to recover some of the
points we lost through bad luck."
He was referring to the team's double retirement in Austria and
Hamilton being biffed from behind by Raikkonen on the first lap at
Silverstone, among other incidents.

He insisted it did not mean Hamilton was now the favoured one in the
championship.

"Racing is most important. We always said if the championship goes


into the last third or quarter and there is a big difference between the
drivers then we might make these unpopular calls. But it is much too
early."

Is the pressure to win a home race too much this season? As Hamilton and Vettel take
one another's home race wins

Was Vettel's error down to pressure?

Vettel is somewhat under scrutiny for being vulnerable to mistakes


under pressure - after Baku last year, when he rammed Hamilton in
a fit of pique, Singapore last year when he triggered a multiple
start-line pile-up, and Baku this year when he ran wide trying to pass
Bottas after a safety-car restart and dropped from what would have
been a win or second to fourth.

Was this another one?

Hamilton said: "It would be hard for me to answer that. I don't know.
The only way that is possible is if they've said: 'Lewis is this far behind.'
Ultimately the pressure was huge on all of us, particularly in the tricky
conditions."

Vettel tried to play it down. He said: "It was a small mistake with a big
impact on the race result.
"It is something I have done wrong and I should have done better but
it wasn't the biggest mistake I have done. It was probably one of the
most costly ones but that's how it goes sometimes."

He was left to rue the consequences of what had looked like being a
comfortable win slipping away through his own error - but then
Hamilton was in the same position at Silverstone two weeks ago, when
a bad start from pole gave Vettel the lead and led to his collision with
Raikkonen.

In the end, Vettel's mistake was more costly. But he has the
consolation that Ferrari are on the crest of a wave of performance at
the moment. "We have a strong car," he said. "So we can be as
confident as 鈥?more than anybody else, it was a very positive
weekend, it was just one of those moments."

 Listen: Vettel shatters hopes of winning in Germany


 Sebastian Vettel bemoans throwing away home victory

How good was Hamilton's drive?

Mercedes savoured a one-two finish on home soil

As if Vettel needed reminding, though, Hockenheim provided evidence


of the strength of the man he is fighting to become the first of their
generation to win five world titles.

How good was Hamilton's performance in Germany? His former


team-mate Nico Rosberg, with whom he is not exactly on good terms
after their fractious time together from 2014-16, described it as
"absolutely phenomenal".

Hamilton said: "Every time there is a day like this it is a chance to show
what you can do. Driving from the back is always more fun than
driving from the front but you never know how far you can go.
Sometimes you get the shorter straw. Today I feel like I drove the best
I can remember driving."

In his whole career?

"I have had a lot of other races and there have been other great ones.
Silverstone 2008 was pretty great but I went off (on one lap) so it was
99.8%. This one I did not make any mistakes at all, which I'm really
proud of."

At Silverstone in 2008, Hamilton crushed the field, lapping at times


five seconds faster than anyone else, in a drive that has been compared
with the greatest of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

That's how good he felt he was on Sunday. And who is anyone else to
argue?

 Hamilton retakes the lead as Vettel crashes out


 German GP - full result

"Love conquers all," said Hamilton over the Mercedes team radio after his victory

Hamilton's victory saw him match Michael Schumacher's record of four wins at the
German 聽

German Grand Prix: Lewis


Hamilton justifies price tag as F1
shows its best face
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

 From the sectionFormula 1

 645

Sharethis page

Hamilton's 66th career win will go down as one of his most satisfying

The German Grand Prix weekend started with the news that Lewis
Hamilton had signed a new Mercedes contract worth up to 拢 40m a
year, and ended with a demonstration of why he justifies that sort of
money.

As team boss Toto Wolff put it after the race: "The difference between
the best and the very good is that on the very difficult days they are
able to make the difference."

Hamilton did exactly that on a day that started with expectations of


damage limitation from 14th on the grid and ended with title rival
Sebastian Vettel in the wall and the Briton back in the championship
lead.

In between, Formula 1 showed its best face, as Hamilton


demonstrated all his remarkable skills - both before and after the
pivotal late rain shower - and the race turned into a thrill-a-minute
rollercoaster ride in which chaos was in as much evidence as amazing
driving skills and incredible engineering.

That chaos even afflicted Hamilton, as he aborted a decision to pit for


tyres during the safety car period following Vettel's crash amid one of
the most bizarre pieces of communication between a driver and his
engineer you will ever hear.

 'Stay out.... in, in, in, in!! .... no, sorry mate, just go' - Hamilton's
pit confusion

The drama was not even over after the race finished - Hamilton's
abortive pit stop meant he drove across the grass to rejoin the track,
a move that led to a stewards' investigation that ended with merely
a reprimand.

Wolff felt Mercedes were owed the luck - if we are to call it that -
which played a part in the victory after some difficult races, but the
old adage that you make your own luck in sport and life has rarely
looked truer.

Look... rain approaching! Hockenheim delivered a wet race, albeit briefly

Hamilton in imperious form

Starting the race in the midfield after a hydraulics failure in qualifying,


Hamilton said he had exercised his strong religious faith in his hopes of
making amends. "I said a long, long prayer before the race started,"
he said. "I just wanted to stay collected and stay calm.

"The team did such a great job, the car was fantastic. Honestly, I'm so
grateful. I would never have thought you could do something like that
today, but I just kept pushing, I kept believing and it happened.

"I really manifested my dream. So big, big thanks to God."

Whether it was down to divine intervention or not is an individual's


point of view. But while it is true that outside circumstances -
specifically the rain - led to the series of events that won him the race,
Hamilton put himself in the position to do it with one of the greatest
drives of his life.

First, there was his highly impressive first stint.

It was not so much that he fought through the field from 14th to fifth
in just 14 laps; the speed advantage the top teams have over the rest
of the field has made this relatively commonplace when a Mercedes or
Ferrari driver is in that sort of position.

It was that he did so while still keeping his tyres in good enough shape
that he was not only able to do a 42-lap opening stint on the soft tyre
- his old rival Fernando Alonso in the McLaren managed just 31 - but
was still able bang in competitive lap times throughout.

Ferrari played into his hands with a mix-up over strategy that led
Vettel, on fresher tyres, to be held up behind team-mate Kimi
Raikkonen because of divergent strategies. Vettel grumbled
intermittently about it being "silly" he was losing time, before the
team eventually ordered the Finn to let him by.

 Winner Hamilton reflects on 'emotional day'


 Hamilton wins after Vettel crashes out
 Chequered Flag podcast: Hamilton reigns supreme amid chaotic
race

But the upshot was that Hamilton's late stop enabled Mercedes to put
him on fresh ultra-soft tyres - the fastest - for a relatively short final
stint. The team gambled that the rain they knew was coming was not
going to be hard or extensive enough to require a change to
wet-weather tyres, that the ultra-softs would give the grip he needed,
and they were absolutely right.
Hamilton emerged 22.9 seconds behind Vettel with 23 laps to go. It
looked relatively comfortable for Vettel but the Mercedes began eating
rapidly into his lead.

Three laps later, with rain starting to fall, Hamilton had Vettel's
advantage down to 17.1secs. Three laps after that, as others began to
pit in the increasing rain, it was down to 12.1. Two laps after that,
Vettel was in the wall at the Sachs Kurve, swearing into his team
radio.

Hamilton goes off-piste in between the pit lane and track Hockenheim, triggering a
post-race investigation

A moment of madness

The safety car came out, Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas pitted.
Hamilton was now second behind Raikkonen. And then came
Mercedes' wild pit call.

Should Hamilton stay out on his now 10-lap-old tyres, or change to


fresh ones, as Bottas and Raikkonen would?

"Box, box, box, box," engineer Peter Bonnington said. "Kimi is staying
out," Hamilton replied. "Stay out," Bonnington yelled. "In, in, in, in, in,
in, in."

In the midst of all that, Hamilton made the call himself to stay out,
and it gave him the lead. "Hey, man," he said to Bonnington, who
replied: "Sorry, mate. Just go for it."

"It was the most confusing second and a half," Hamilton said later. "I
thought I was going to stay out. I was happy with my tyres and then
they said come in and then I saw Valtteri coming in and I was like, 'Are
they sure?' And by the time I got in, then they said stay out.
"It was go left, go right and I just trundled over the grass and made
sure I rejoined as safe as i could. I think it was still relatively exciting."

That doesn't even begin to describe one of the maddest races in


memory, as drivers pitted and pitted again, spun, battled, ran wide,
places swapped.

By the time it had all settled down, Hamilton was in the lead from
Bottas behind the safety car. At the re-start, there was a brief scrap,
which Hamilton won the first round of, before Mercedes called it off
from the pits.

"If it had been Valtteri first and Lewis second, we would have made the
same call," Wolff said.

"It was important to score the double podium to recover some of the
points we lost through bad luck."

He was referring to the team's double retirement in Austria and


Hamilton being biffed from behind by Raikkonen on the first lap at
Silverstone, among other incidents.

He insisted it did not mean Hamilton was now the favoured one in the
championship.

"Racing is most important. We always said if the championship goes


into the last third or quarter and there is a big difference between the
drivers then we might make these unpopular calls. But it is much too
early."

Is the pressure to win a home race too much this season? As Hamilton and Vettel take
one another's home race wins

Was Vettel's error down to pressure?


Vettel is somewhat under scrutiny for being vulnerable to mistakes
under pressure - after Baku last year, when he rammed Hamilton in
a fit of pique, Singapore last year when he triggered a multiple
start-line pile-up, and Baku this year when he ran wide trying to pass
Bottas after a safety-car restart and dropped from what would have
been a win or second to fourth.

Was this another one?

Hamilton said: "It would be hard for me to answer that. I don't know.
The only way that is possible is if they've said: 'Lewis is this far behind.'
Ultimately the pressure was huge on all of us, particularly in the tricky
conditions."

Vettel tried to play it down. He said: "It was a small mistake with a big
impact on the race result.

"It is something I have done wrong and I should have done better but
it wasn't the biggest mistake I have done. It was probably one of the
most costly ones but that's how it goes sometimes."

He was left to rue the consequences of what had looked like being a
comfortable win slipping away through his own error - but then
Hamilton was in the same position at Silverstone two weeks ago, when
a bad start from pole gave Vettel the lead and led to his collision with
Raikkonen.

In the end, Vettel's mistake was more costly. But he has the
consolation that Ferrari are on the crest of a wave of performance at
the moment. "We have a strong car," he said. "So we can be as
confident as 鈥?more than anybody else, it was a very positive
weekend, it was just one of those moments."

 Listen: Vettel shatters hopes of winning in Germany


 Sebastian Vettel bemoans throwing away home victory
How good was Hamilton's drive?

Mercedes savoured a one-two finish on home soil

As if Vettel needed reminding, though, Hockenheim provided evidence


of the strength of the man he is fighting to become the first of their
generation to win five world titles.

How good was Hamilton's performance in Germany? His former


team-mate Nico Rosberg, with whom he is not exactly on good terms
after their fractious time together from 2014-16, described it as
"absolutely phenomenal".

Hamilton said: "Every time there is a day like this it is a chance to show
what you can do. Driving from the back is always more fun than
driving from the front but you never know how far you can go.
Sometimes you get the shorter straw. Today I feel like I drove the best
I can remember driving."

In his whole career?

"I have had a lot of other races and there have been other great ones.
Silverstone 2008 was pretty great but I went off (on one lap) so it was
99.8%. This one I did not make any mistakes at all, which I'm really
proud of."

At Silverstone in 2008, Hamilton crushed the field, lapping at times


five seconds faster than anyone else, in a drive that has been compared
with the greatest of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

That's how good he felt he was on Sunday. And who is anyone else to
argue?

 Hamilton retakes the lead as Vettel crashes out


 German GP - full result
"Love conquers all," said Hamilton over the Mercedes team radio after his victory

Hamilton's victory saw him match Michael Schumacher's record of four wins at the
German 聽

German Grand Prix: Lewis


Hamilton justifies price tag as F1
shows its best face

By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

 From the sectionFormula 1

 645

Sharethis page

Hamilton's 66th career win will go down as one of his most satisfying

The German Grand Prix weekend started with the news that Lewis
Hamilton had signed a new Mercedes contract worth up to 拢 40m a
year, and ended with a demonstration of why he justifies that sort of
money.
As team boss Toto Wolff put it after the race: "The difference between
the best and the very good is that on the very difficult days they are
able to make the difference."

Hamilton did exactly that on a day that started with expectations of


damage limitation from 14th on the grid and ended with title rival
Sebastian Vettel in the wall and the Briton back in the championship
lead.

In between, Formula 1 showed its best face, as Hamilton


demonstrated all his remarkable skills - both before and after the
pivotal late rain shower - and the race turned into a thrill-a-minute
rollercoaster ride in which chaos was in as much evidence as amazing
driving skills and incredible engineering.

That chaos even afflicted Hamilton, as he aborted a decision to pit for


tyres during the safety car period following Vettel's crash amid one of
the most bizarre pieces of communication between a driver and his
engineer you will ever hear.

 'Stay out.... in, in, in, in!! .... no, sorry mate, just go' - Hamilton's
pit confusion

The drama was not even over after the race finished - Hamilton's
abortive pit stop meant he drove across the grass to rejoin the track,
a move that led to a stewards' investigation that ended with merely
a reprimand.

Wolff felt Mercedes were owed the luck - if we are to call it that -
which played a part in the victory after some difficult races, but the
old adage that you make your own luck in sport and life has rarely
looked truer.

Look... rain approaching! Hockenheim delivered a wet race, albeit briefly


Hamilton in imperious form

Starting the race in the midfield after a hydraulics failure in qualifying,


Hamilton said he had exercised his strong religious faith in his hopes of
making amends. "I said a long, long prayer before the race started,"
he said. "I just wanted to stay collected and stay calm.

"The team did such a great job, the car was fantastic. Honestly, I'm so
grateful. I would never have thought you could do something like that
today, but I just kept pushing, I kept believing and it happened.

"I really manifested my dream. So big, big thanks to God."

Whether it was down to divine intervention or not is an individual's


point of view. But while it is true that outside circumstances -
specifically the rain - led to the series of events that won him the race,
Hamilton put himself in the position to do it with one of the greatest
drives of his life.

First, there was his highly impressive first stint.

It was not so much that he fought through the field from 14th to fifth
in just 14 laps; the speed advantage the top teams have over the rest
of the field has made this relatively commonplace when a Mercedes or
Ferrari driver is in that sort of position.

It was that he did so while still keeping his tyres in good enough shape
that he was not only able to do a 42-lap opening stint on the soft tyre
- his old rival Fernando Alonso in the McLaren managed just 31 - but
was still able bang in competitive lap times throughout.

Ferrari played into his hands with a mix-up over strategy that led
Vettel, on fresher tyres, to be held up behind team-mate Kimi
Raikkonen because of divergent strategies. Vettel grumbled
intermittently about it being "silly" he was losing time, before the
team eventually ordered the Finn to let him by.

 Winner Hamilton reflects on 'emotional day'


 Hamilton wins after Vettel crashes out
 Chequered Flag podcast: Hamilton reigns supreme amid chaotic
race

But the upshot was that Hamilton's late stop enabled Mercedes to put
him on fresh ultra-soft tyres - the fastest - for a relatively short final
stint. The team gambled that the rain they knew was coming was not
going to be hard or extensive enough to require a change to
wet-weather tyres, that the ultra-softs would give the grip he needed,
and they were absolutely right.

Hamilton emerged 22.9 seconds behind Vettel with 23 laps to go. It


looked relatively comfortable for Vettel but the Mercedes began eating
rapidly into his lead.

Three laps later, with rain starting to fall, Hamilton had Vettel's
advantage down to 17.1secs. Three laps after that, as others began to
pit in the increasing rain, it was down to 12.1. Two laps after that,
Vettel was in the wall at the Sachs Kurve, swearing into his team
radio.

Hamilton goes off-piste in between the pit lane and track Hockenheim, triggering a
post-race investigation

A moment of madness

The safety car came out, Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas pitted.
Hamilton was now second behind Raikkonen. And then came
Mercedes' wild pit call.
Should Hamilton stay out on his now 10-lap-old tyres, or change to
fresh ones, as Bottas and Raikkonen would?

"Box, box, box, box," engineer Peter Bonnington said. "Kimi is staying
out," Hamilton replied. "Stay out," Bonnington yelled. "In, in, in, in, in,
in, in."

In the midst of all that, Hamilton made the call himself to stay out,
and it gave him the lead. "Hey, man," he said to Bonnington, who
replied: "Sorry, mate. Just go for it."

"It was the most confusing second and a half," Hamilton said later. "I
thought I was going to stay out. I was happy with my tyres and then
they said come in and then I saw Valtteri coming in and I was like, 'Are
they sure?' And by the time I got in, then they said stay out.

"It was go left, go right and I just trundled over the grass and made
sure I rejoined as safe as i could. I think it was still relatively exciting."

That doesn't even begin to describe one of the maddest races in


memory, as drivers pitted and pitted again, spun, battled, ran wide,
places swapped.

By the time it had all settled down, Hamilton was in the lead from
Bottas behind the safety car. At the re-start, there was a brief scrap,
which Hamilton won the first round of, before Mercedes called it off
from the pits.

"If it had been Valtteri first and Lewis second, we would have made the
same call," Wolff said.

"It was important to score the double podium to recover some of the
points we lost through bad luck."
He was referring to the team's double retirement in Austria and
Hamilton being biffed from behind by Raikkonen on the first lap at
Silverstone, among other incidents.

He insisted it did not mean Hamilton was now the favoured one in the
championship.

"Racing is most important. We always said if the championship goes


into the last third or quarter and there is a big difference between the
drivers then we might make these unpopular calls. But it is much too
early."

Is the pressure to win a home race too much this season? As Hamilton and Vettel take
one another's home race wins

Was Vettel's error down to pressure?

Vettel is somewhat under scrutiny for being vulnerable to mistakes


under pressure - after Baku last year, when he rammed Hamilton in
a fit of pique, Singapore last year when he triggered a multiple
start-line pile-up, and Baku this year when he ran wide trying to pass
Bottas after a safety-car restart and dropped from what would have
been a win or second to fourth.

Was this another one?

Hamilton said: "It would be hard for me to answer that. I don't know.
The only way that is possible is if they've said: 'Lewis is this far behind.'
Ultimately the pressure was huge on all of us, particularly in the tricky
conditions."

Vettel tried to play it down. He said: "It was a small mistake with a big
impact on the race result.
"It is something I have done wrong and I should have done better but
it wasn't the biggest mistake I have done. It was probably one of the
most costly ones but that's how it goes sometimes."

He was left to rue the consequences of what had looked like being a
comfortable win slipping away through his own error - but then
Hamilton was in the same position at Silverstone two weeks ago, when
a bad start from pole gave Vettel the lead and led to his collision with
Raikkonen.

In the end, Vettel's mistake was more costly. But he has the
consolation that Ferrari are on the crest of a wave of performance at
the moment. "We have a strong car," he said. "So we can be as
confident as 鈥?more than anybody else, it was a very positive
weekend, it was just one of those moments."

 Listen: Vettel shatters hopes of winning in Germany


 Sebastian Vettel bemoans throwing away home victory

How good was Hamilton's drive?

Mercedes savoured a one-two finish on home soil

As if Vettel needed reminding, though, Hockenheim provided evidence


of the strength of the man he is fighting to become the first of their
generation to win five world titles.

How good was Hamilton's performance in Germany? His former


team-mate Nico Rosberg, with whom he is not exactly on good terms
after their fractious time together from 2014-16, described it as
"absolutely phenomenal".

Hamilton said: "Every time there is a day like this it is a chance to show
what you can do. Driving from the back is always more fun than
driving from the front but you never know how far you can go.
Sometimes you get the shorter straw. Today I feel like I drove the best
I can remember driving."

In his whole career?

"I have had a lot of other races and there have been other great ones.
Silverstone 2008 was pretty great but I went off (on one lap) so it was
99.8%. This one I did not make any mistakes at all, which I'm really
proud of."

At Silverstone in 2008, Hamilton crushed the field, lapping at times


five seconds faster than anyone else, in a drive that has been compared
with the greatest of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

That's how good he felt he was on Sunday. And who is anyone else to
argue?

 Hamilton retakes the lead as Vettel crashes out


 German GP - full result

"Love conquers all," said Hamilton over the Mercedes team radio after his victory

Hamilton's victory saw him match Michael Schumacher's record of four wins at the
German 聽

German Grand Prix: Lewis


Hamilton justifies price tag as F1
shows its best face
By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 writer

 From the sectionFormula 1

 645

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Hamilton's 66th career win will go down as one of his most satisfying

The German Grand Prix weekend started with the news that Lewis
Hamilton had signed a new Mercedes contract worth up to 拢 40m a
year, and ended with a demonstration of why he justifies that sort of
money.

As team boss Toto Wolff put it after the race: "The difference between
the best and the very good is that on the very difficult days they are
able to make the difference."

Hamilton did exactly that on a day that started with expectations of


damage limitation from 14th on the grid and ended with title rival
Sebastian Vettel in the wall and the Briton back in the championship
lead.

In between, Formula 1 showed its best face, as Hamilton


demonstrated all his remarkable skills - both before and after the
pivotal late rain shower - and the race turned into a thrill-a-minute
rollercoaster ride in which chaos was in as much evidence as amazing
driving skills and incredible engineering.

That chaos even afflicted Hamilton, as he aborted a decision to pit for


tyres during the safety car period following Vettel's crash amid one of
the most bizarre pieces of communication between a driver and his
engineer you will ever hear.

 'Stay out.... in, in, in, in!! .... no, sorry mate, just go' - Hamilton's
pit confusion

The drama was not even over after the race finished - Hamilton's
abortive pit stop meant he drove across the grass to rejoin the track,
a move that led to a stewards' investigation that ended with merely
a reprimand.

Wolff felt Mercedes were owed the luck - if we are to call it that -
which played a part in the victory after some difficult races, but the
old adage that you make your own luck in sport and life has rarely
looked truer.

Look... rain approaching! Hockenheim delivered a wet race, albeit briefly

Hamilton in imperious form

Starting the race in the midfield after a hydraulics failure in qualifying,


Hamilton said he had exercised his strong religious faith in his hopes of
making amends. "I said a long, long prayer before the race started,"
he said. "I just wanted to stay collected and stay calm.

"The team did such a great job, the car was fantastic. Honestly, I'm so
grateful. I would never have thought you could do something like that
today, but I just kept pushing, I kept believing and it happened.

"I really manifested my dream. So big, big thanks to God."

Whether it was down to divine intervention or not is an individual's


point of view. But while it is true that outside circumstances -
specifically the rain - led to the series of events that won him the race,
Hamilton put himself in the position to do it with one of the greatest
drives of his life.

First, there was his highly impressive first stint.

It was not so much that he fought through the field from 14th to fifth
in just 14 laps; the speed advantage the top teams have over the rest
of the field has made this relatively commonplace when a Mercedes or
Ferrari driver is in that sort of position.

It was that he did so while still keeping his tyres in good enough shape
that he was not only able to do a 42-lap opening stint on the soft tyre
- his old rival Fernando Alonso in the McLaren managed just 31 - but
was still able bang in competitive lap times throughout.

Ferrari played into his hands with a mix-up over strategy that led
Vettel, on fresher tyres, to be held up behind team-mate Kimi
Raikkonen because of divergent strategies. Vettel grumbled
intermittently about it being "silly" he was losing time, before the
team eventually ordered the Finn to let him by.

 Winner Hamilton reflects on 'emotional day'


 Hamilton wins after Vettel crashes out
 Chequered Flag podcast: Hamilton reigns supreme amid chaotic
race

But the upshot was that Hamilton's late stop enabled Mercedes to put
him on fresh ultra-soft tyres - the fastest - for a relatively short final
stint. The team gambled that the rain they knew was coming was not
going to be hard or extensive enough to require a change to
wet-weather tyres, that the ultra-softs would give the grip he needed,
and they were absolutely right.
Hamilton emerged 22.9 seconds behind Vettel with 23 laps to go. It
looked relatively comfortable for Vettel but the Mercedes began eating
rapidly into his lead.

Three laps later, with rain starting to fall, Hamilton had Vettel's
advantage down to 17.1secs. Three laps after that, as others began to
pit in the increasing rain, it was down to 12.1. Two laps after that,
Vettel was in the wall at the Sachs Kurve, swearing into his team
radio.

Hamilton goes off-piste in between the pit lane and track Hockenheim, triggering a
post-race investigation

A moment of madness

The safety car came out, Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas pitted.
Hamilton was now second behind Raikkonen. And then came
Mercedes' wild pit call.

Should Hamilton stay out on his now 10-lap-old tyres, or change to


fresh ones, as Bottas and Raikkonen would?

"Box, box, box, box," engineer Peter Bonnington said. "Kimi is staying
out," Hamilton replied. "Stay out," Bonnington yelled. "In, in, in, in, in,
in, in."

In the midst of all that, Hamilton made the call himself to stay out,
and it gave him the lead. "Hey, man," he said to Bonnington, who
replied: "Sorry, mate. Just go for it."

"It was the most confusing second and a half," Hamilton said later. "I
thought I was going to stay out. I was happy with my tyres and then
they said come in and then I saw Valtteri coming in and I was like, 'Are
they sure?' And by the time I got in, then they said stay out.
"It was go left, go right and I just trundled over the grass and made
sure I rejoined as safe as i could. I think it was still relatively exciting."

That doesn't even begin to describe one of the maddest races in


memory, as drivers pitted and pitted again, spun, battled, ran wide,
places swapped.

By the time it had all settled down, Hamilton was in the lead from
Bottas behind the safety car. At the re-start, there was a brief scrap,
which Hamilton won the first round of, before Mercedes called it off
from the pits.

"If it had been Valtteri first and Lewis second, we would have made the
same call," Wolff said.

"It was important to score the double podium to recover some of the
points we lost through bad luck."

He was referring to the team's double retirement in Austria and


Hamilton being biffed from behind by Raikkonen on the first lap at
Silverstone, among other incidents.

He insisted it did not mean Hamilton was now the favoured one in the
championship.

"Racing is most important. We always said if the championship goes


into the last third or quarter and there is a big difference between the
drivers then we might make these unpopular calls. But it is much too
early."

Is the pressure to win a home race too much this season? As Hamilton and Vettel take
one another's home race wins

Was Vettel's error down to pressure?


Vettel is somewhat under scrutiny for being vulnerable to mistakes
under pressure - after Baku last year, when he rammed Hamilton in
a fit of pique, Singapore last year when he triggered a multiple
start-line pile-up, and Baku this year when he ran wide trying to pass
Bottas after a safety-car restart and dropped from what would have
been a win or second to fourth.

Was this another one?

Hamilton said: "It would be hard for me to answer that. I don't know.
The only way that is possible is if they've said: 'Lewis is this far behind.'
Ultimately the pressure was huge on all of us, particularly in the tricky
conditions."

Vettel tried to play it down. He said: "It was a small mistake with a big
impact on the race result.

"It is something I have done wrong and I should have done better but
it wasn't the biggest mistake I have done. It was probably one of the
most costly ones but that's how it goes sometimes."

He was left to rue the consequences of what had looked like being a
comfortable win slipping away through his own error - but then
Hamilton was in the same position at Silverstone two weeks ago, when
a bad start from pole gave Vettel the lead and led to his collision with
Raikkonen.

In the end, Vettel's mistake was more costly. But he has the
consolation that Ferrari are on the crest of a wave of performance at
the moment. "We have a strong car," he said. "So we can be as
confident as 鈥?more than anybody else, it was a very positive
weekend, it was just one of those moments."

 Listen: Vettel shatters hopes of winning in Germany


 Sebastian Vettel bemoans throwing away home victory
How good was Hamilton's drive?

Mercedes savoured a one-two finish on home soil

As if Vettel needed reminding, though, Hockenheim provided evidence


of the strength of the man he is fighting to become the first of their
generation to win five world titles.

How good was Hamilton's performance in Germany? His former


team-mate Nico Rosberg, with whom he is not exactly on good terms
after their fractious time together from 2014-16, described it as
"absolutely phenomenal".

Hamilton said: "Every time there is a day like this it is a chance to show
what you can do. Driving from the back is always more fun than
driving from the front but you never know how far you can go.
Sometimes you get the shorter straw. Today I feel like I drove the best
I can remember driving."

In his whole career?

"I have had a lot of other races and there have been other great ones.
Silverstone 2008 was pretty great but I went off (on one lap) so it was
99.8%. This one I did not make any mistakes at all, which I'm really
proud of."

At Silverstone in 2008, Hamilton crushed the field, lapping at times


five seconds faster than anyone else, in a drive that has been compared
with the greatest of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

That's how good he felt he was on Sunday. And who is anyone else to
argue?

 Hamilton retakes the lead as Vettel crashes out


 German GP - full result
"Love conquers all," said Hamilton over the Mercedes team radio after his victory

Hamilton's victory saw him match Michael Schumacher's record of four wins at the
German 聽

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