Lewis Hamilton restores championship advantage with German Grand Prix win

Hockenheim [Germany], July 22 (ANI): Lewis Hamilton reclaimed the lead in the driver's championship as a dramatic German Grand Prix saw his championship rival Sebastian Vettel crash out, thus allowing the British racer to finish in first place.

Hamilton had never in his career won a race for which he qualified in sixth place or below. The odds were steeper when a mechanical failure in the qualifying rounds ensured he would start in the 14th place on the grid.

Regardless, the four-time World Champion equalled Michael Schumacher's record of four German Grand Prix wins as he led home a first ever Mercedes one-two on German soil.

Vettel was looking set to register his first ever win in Hockenheim as he was comfortably leading until the 52nd lap, however, a late downpour caused him to crash into the barriers and out of the race, the fifth time in his career that he had dropped out of a lead in a race.

Having signed a new two-year contract with the Silver Arrows on Thursday, Hamilton made an excellent recovery to claw back into the podium spots and made full use of a brilliant tactical call by the Mercedes team around the 42nd lap to switch to the ultra soft tyres, the fastest ones, to try and catch up with the rest of the pack.

The win takes him up to 188 points, 17 more than Vettel at 171, with ten more races to go in the season for either one to try and add a fifth to their four World Championships.

Teammate Valtteri Bottas finished second to complete the one-two, thus giving Mercedes an eight point advantage over Ferrari in the constructer's championship.

Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen finished third to consolidate the podium places, Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen finished fourth, while Renault Sport's Niko Hulkenberg finished fifth. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI