Mercedes' champ Lewis Hamilton wins rain-hit German Grand Prix to snatch lead in drivers' championship from Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel; says he never gave up despite poor qualifying
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton celebrates on the podium after winning the German GP at Hockenheim yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Lewis Hamilton snatched a remarkable win from a chaotic German Grand Prix for Mercedes, vaulting back into the championship lead after title rival and home favourite Sebastian Vettel crashed out.
Hamilton, whose two-year contract extension keeping him at Mercedes until at least 2020 was announced in the build up to the race, had started 14th after a technical gremlin forced him out of Saturday's qualifying.
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Capitalising on chaos
But he capitalised on the chaos caused by a late-race shower and safety car to eventually cross the line 4.5 seconds ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas, who sealed a one-two finish for Mercedes in their home race.
Stewards clear Sebastian Vettel's crashed Ferrari. Pic/AFP
It wasn't quite as happy a home-coming for Vettel. The German, cheered on by possibly the highest turnout of fans at Hockenheim since Michael Schumacher's glory days, had been favourite to win from pole. He led away from the start and looked to have the race in the bag. But rain a little over two-thirds of the way into the race shook the order up. The shower drenched only certain parts of the circuit and kept varying in intensity.
Hamilton had just pitted for the ultra-soft tyre was absolutely flying in fourth. Vettel and Raikkonen were on the less grippy soft tyre but still in the lead. The race turned on its head on the 52nd of the 67 laps when Vettel's Ferrari slid off and into the barriers in full view of his fans at the packed stadium section of the track.
"For f***'s sake!" Vettel, 31, exclaimed over the radio, slamming his steering wheel in frustration. Vettel's crash brought out the safety car which, ironically, allowed Hamilton to take the lead. The Briton rode out the threat of a thunderstorm in the closing laps to seal the win. "Love conquers all," said Hamilton, who had vowed to "die before I give in" after his qualifying setback, over the team radio. "I just kept pushing, I kept believing and it happened. I really manifested my dream today," he later added.
Yesterday's win was the 66th of Hamilton’s career and sees him pull out a 17-point lead in the overall standings over Vettel. It also snaps a string of setbacks that had blighted the Briton’s campaign and had seen him go into the weekend with an eight-point deficit to his Ferrari rival. Both men are now tied on four wins each in their battle for a fifth world title at the halfway stage of the season.
Vettel's crash denied him a maiden triumph at the Hockenheim track, located just a half-hour's drive from the town of Heppenheim where he was born. He has won his home race just once, in 2013, when it was held at the Nurburgring. Kimi Raikkonen, ordered to move over for Vettel after emerging ahead of him at the first round of stops, finished third.Max Verstappen was fourth for Red Bull. Nico Hulkenberg was best of the rest in fifth for Renault ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Haas.
Force India's in points
Force India pair Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were seventh and eight. Marcus Ericsson took ninth for Sauber ahead of Brendon Hartley, who took the final point on offer with tenth for Toro Rosso.
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