Formula One: Hamilton’s greatest win?

Lewis Hamilton has enjoyed some remarkable victories in his career, said Joe Downes in the Daily Mail. There was the 2008 British Grand Prix, in which he prevailed by a staggering 68 seconds; there was Bahrain in 2014, where he somehow held off Nico Rosberg’s attacks. But his “flawless” win in Sunday’s German Grand Prix stands comparison with any of those triumphs. To think this was meant to be an exercise in damage limitation, said Giles Richards in The Guardian. Hamilton’s car had suffered a mechanical failure in qualifying, forcing him to start from 14th on the grid. But by the 14th lap, he had zoomed into fifth place. And he kept his tyres in such good shape that he was able to go 42 laps without pitting. At that point, Sebastian Vettel still seemed to be cruising to victory. But then “the race turned in a moment”: as rain poured down, Vettel lost his grip and crashed out. Hamilton’s remaining rivals quickly pitted, giving him the lead – and with his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, ordered not to challenge him, he held on. Never before had he won a race after starting behind sixth. He now has a 17-point championship lead over Vettel – and this could prove to be the moment the battle for the title “truly swung in his favour”.

It was only recently that Hamilton signed a £40m-ayear contract with Mercedes, said Andrew Benson on BBC Sport online. And this win demonstrated “why he justifies that sort of money”. Both before and after that “pivotal late rain shower”, the driver showcased “all his remarkable skills”. Vettel, by contrast, was guilty of a “stunning” mistake, said Phil Duncan in The Daily Telegraph. And not for the first time. He has now made seven high-profile errors over the past two seasons, most recently in Austria earlier this month. In that same period, “it is hard to recall Hamilton making a significant mistake”.