Hamilton win piles the pain on struggling rival Rosberg

WITH a puff of his cheeks, Lewis Hamilton had only one word to describe the seismic shift in this season’s title race. ‘Crazy’. The Briton heads into the summer break buoyant after winning the German Grand Prix — his sixth victory in seven races — and extending his championship lead to 19 points. Their first lap collision in Spain meant Rosberg had a 43-point advantage and Hamilton said that adversity inspired this staggering turnaround. ‘I didn’t know I was 19 points ahead, that’s crazy,’ said Hamilton. ‘I was 43 points behind and now it’s swung the other way. I’m very happy with that. It’s gone by so quickly. Only a few weeks ago we were in Barcelona and I was thinking, jeez, I might come away more than 50 points behind. ‘I was finding it hard to find a way through the trees, but I kept going. This result shows to never give up.’ Hamilton wasn’t even on full power here as he beat Daniel Ricciardo by seven seconds with Max Verstappen third in the other Red Bull. ‘I turned down my engine pretty much from the second or third lap,’ he revealed. ‘I was trying to make that engine go as far as possible because you just don’t know when it’s going to go. ‘I didn’t make any mistakes, so I feel really happy with my performance today and there’s better still to come.’ After claiming pole position under intense pressure, Rosberg quickly slipped to fourth. The German crawled off the line, gobbled up by both Red Bulls as Hamilton streaked away. ‘There was too much engagement in the clutch,’ said Rosberg of his slow getaway. ‘It took me by surprise. I didn’t expect that at all.’ He later emerged just behind Verstappen from a pit-stop and pulled a similar move he tried on Hamilton in Austria, Rosberg driving straight on at the corner, leaving it as late as possible to turn in and forcing Verstappen off the road. ‘He forced me off the track,’ said Verstappen after the race, before nudging Hamilton, seated next to him, and saying: ‘Lewis knows!’. Rosberg was penalised in Austria and again here — five seconds on this occasion, enough to ruin his hopes of a podium finish. The German failed to reel in the Red Bull pair. Rosberg added: ‘Today I’m disappointed. I was really optimistic I could bring it home but everything went wrong. Being 19 points behind is not tough. Tough is losing the race in the way I did and that will take some time to digest.’