Hockenheim, Germany – Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton extended his roaring comeback to a sixth win in seven races on Sunday after shooting past Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg at the start of the German Grand Prix.
The Briton led the driver standings for the first time this season after last weekend’s victory in Hungary and produced exactly the same trick at Hockenheim by passing polesitter Rosberg before the first corner to go 19 points in front overall.
Germany’s Rosberg ended up fourth after another shocker of a start, being overtaken by Hamilton and the Red Bulls of Australian Daniel Ricciardo and Dutchman Max Verstappen, who finished second and third.
“Fantastic job, awesome pit-stops. Summer break, I will really enjoy it,” Hamilton, who has won the last four races, screamed over the radio.
F1 now heads for its mid-season break before returning on August 28 in Belgium for the 13th race of the 21-strong calendar.
Rosberg’s slowness on the grid in his home race and later incurring a five second penalty for an illegal move followed an otherwise strong weekend where he had topped practice in all three sessions and pulled off a marvellous lap to clinch pole.
But yet again the German, who had a storming start to the season, failed to make the most of his chance and pundits will again question whether he has the bottle to fight for the title having been eclipsed by Hamilton in the previous two years.
An early Rosberg pitstop to try to boost speed with new tyres made little difference despite a fastest lap, with the supersofts actually degrading quicker than expected and forcing him to soon switch to softs.
Rosberg then forced Verstappen off the track when overtaking the Red Bull, prompting the five-second penalty from the stewards.
“Can you explain to them I was full lock in steering and he moved when braking and that is not allowed,” Rosberg said on the radio after several drivers moaned about Verstappen’s driving in previous races.
He was second before the penalty which Mercedes appeared to take too long over and he slipped back to fourth.
Disappointing weekend
It was all a kick in the teeth for German Grand Prix organisers, who had to scrap the 2015 race at the Nurburgring because of financial issues and had hoped a German winner could boost the popularity of the flagging event on its return to Hockenheim this year.
Four-time German world champion Sebastian Vettel also had a disappointing weekend and finished fifth with Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen sixth.
With Michael Schumacher’s son Mick watching on from stands, German F1 fans can only have been thinking back to the glory days.
Hamilton had looked disgusted with himself on Saturday for allowing Rosberg to gain pole and having suffered himself from poor starts in the past, the three-time world champion was desperate to get past Rosberg as early as possible just like in Budapest.
The decision of Hamilton to use soft tyres after his first change rather than the supersofts which degraded quickly for Rosberg and Verstappen further strengthened his hand.
Verstappen had been third after doing well to jump Ricciardo early on but he quickly complained about the tyre choice and slipped back.
Germany’s Nico Huelkenberg was seventh in a Force India and there was rare joy for British veteran Jenson Button who was eighth in his McLaren, his second best result of the season.
Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10.
RESULTS
1 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 1:30:44.200
2 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull +6.996s
3 Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull +13.413
4. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes +15.845
5 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari +32.570
6 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari +37.023
7 Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Force India +1:10.049
8 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren +1 lap
9 Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams +1 lap
10 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India +1 lap
11 Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico) Haas +1 lap
12 Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren +1 lap
13 Romain Grosjean (France) Haas +1 lap
14 Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso +1 lap
15 Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso +1 lap
16 Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Renault +1 lap
17 Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Manor +2 laps
18 Marcus Ericsson (Sweden) Sauber +2 laps
19 Jolyon Palmer (Britain) Renault +2 laps
20 Rio Haryanto (Indonesia) Manor +2 laps
R: Felipe Nasr (Brazil) Sauber +10 laps
R: Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams +31 laps
Fastest Lap: Daniel Ricciardo - 1:18.442, lap 48.
POINTS - Drivers
1 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) Mercedes 217
2 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 198
3 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Red Bull 133
4 Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari 122
5 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Ferrari 120
6 Max Verstappen (Netherlands) Red Bull 115
7 Valtteri Bottas (Finland) Williams 58
8 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Force India 48
9 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Williams 38
10 Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) Force India 33
11 Carlos Sainz Jr (Spain) Toro Rosso 30
12 Romain Grosjean (France) Haas 28
13 Fernando Alonso (Spain) McLaren 24
14 Daniil Kvyat (Russia) Toro Rosso 23
15 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 17
16 Kevin Magnussen (Denmark) Renault 6
17 Pascal Wehrlein (Germany) Manor 1
18 Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) McLaren 1
Constructors Points
1 Mercedes - 415
2 Red Bull - 256
3 Ferrari - 242
4 Williams - 96
5 Force India - 81
6 Toro Rosso - 45
7 McLaren - 42
8 Haas - 28
9 Renault - 6
10 Manor - 1
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