Lewis hits Nico for a home run
LEWIS HAMILTON will head into Formula One’s summer holiday with a huge smile on his face after extending his lead in the championship to 19 points by winning the German Grand Prix.
While his deflated title rival Nico Rosberg endured a miserable home race at Hockenheim, crossing the line only in fourth, Hamilton sauntered to his sixth win in seven races for Mercedes.
Having been 43 points behind Rosberg in May, Hamilton is now comfortably ahead of his team-mate after an unbeaten July with victories in Austria, Britain, Hungary and here.
“It is kind of crazy that it has gone by so quickly,” said Hamilton. “It feels like only a couple of weeks ago we were in Barcelona and I was 43 points behind thinking, ‘Jeez, I might come away 50 points behind’.
“I was finding it hard to find a way through the woods, through the trees, having to navigate through that, not giving up, to keep going and keep believing the light is beyond the bushes.
“My mechanics all stayed super focused which enabled me to do the same. They have shown no signs of giving up and that inspired me to do the same, and this result shows to never give up. So, I owe it to them. This is the best way to go on holiday.”
Hamilton was left kicking himself on Saturday after a mistake in qualifying paved the way for Rosberg to nick pole. But the champion vowed
SPORT IN BRIEF
to bounce back with a victory in Rosberg’s back yard, and he did not disappoint.
Just as in Hungary seven days ago, Hamilton roared off the line to beat Rosberg on the short run down to turn one, and from there his victory never looked in doubt.
Rosberg will be desperate to forget a race which turned sour from the moment the lights flicked to green. The German was fourth after a bad start and spent much of the opening phase behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. He emerged from his second pit stop behind Verstappen and on the run down to the hairpin on lap 29 dived underneath the 18-year-old Dutchman. But as with the Austrian Grand Prix, in which he collided with Hamilton on the final lap, Rosberg left little room for Verstappen and he was hit with a fivesecond time penalty for forcing his opponent off the road. “He did a pretty bad job of it,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. “The golden rule in a job like that is to lock your fronts up and look as if you can’t stop. The problem was, it looked like he kind of stopped, and Not Classified: then kept going as if he was off to Cologne and that’s a bit naughty.”
Rosberg will now head into the three-week summer break having seen his 43-point lead over Hamilton turn into a 19-point deficit in just seven grands prix. And with nine races left, Hamilton is now the overwhelming favourite to win title number four.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth for Ferrari while Jenson Button finished eighth for McLaren, passing Valtteri Bottas’s Williams on the penultimate lap.
British rookie Jolyon Palmer started 14th and made three places at the start but a collision with Felipe Massa on lap one saw him drop to last and he finished 19th.