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It’s arguably the mark of a true champion to turn near defeat into a winning position on their main rival’s home turf. That’s exactly what Lewis Hamilton did at the 2016 German Grand Prix; dialling in relentless pace on race day to score a dominant lights to flag win.
Right up until the start lights snuffed out on Sunday, teammate Nico Rosberg had been the racer in charge; clocking in what was possibly one of the finest qualifying laps of his career, to score his 27th pole position, as well as the privilege of starting his second home race – Monaco being the other – on the all important pole position grid slot.
Unfortunately for Nico, barely 12 hours later, once Lewis planted his right foot on the gas at the start of the 67 lap Grand Prix, he didn’t look back. The triple world champion’s charge – consisting of three stops and quick fire tyre changes – secured him the win. The victory is Lewis’ sixth in seven races – and gives him a further 25 points in the championship fight; now pushing him 19 clear of Nico in the drivers standings.
The win couldn’t have come at a better time for Lewis either, as he can now grab a month’s long R&R safe in the knowledge that he leads the drivers’ championship, and delivered the Mercedes-powered Silver Arrows squad the best result possible in their backyard.
An ecstatic Lewis told us: “It’s crazy that the time has gone by so quickly. Only a few 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 trees. But I kept going and kept believing the light is beyond the bushes. My mechanics have shown no signs of giving up and that’s inspired me to do the same.
“I’m super happy with today – especially after yesterday. When I personally fail, knowing from 23 years of experience that I could definitely have done better, I really kick myself. Today, I have the opposite feeling. I delivered the way I’m supposed to. I know that I had the pace, I worked the tyres just right and I was never under threat from the guys behind. No mistakes this time either, so I’m very happy with that. It’s awesome to go into the break on such a high.”
Although Nico eventually finished the race in fourth place – after a stop-go penalty left him unable to make a fight back to the podium, the German racer looked truly disappointed not to have been able to replicate his last visit to Hockenheim’s podium in 2014 and lift the silverware in front of the 55,000 strong home crowds.
Nico said after the race: “It was a difficult and disappointing day for me. I had a lot of wheel spin at the start. That was strange, because my start during the formation lap was good. That cost me the lead and then the next two places as well, which meant it was always going to be a difficult race from there. I was happy to fight back to P2 after a tough battle with Max and was very surprised that I got penalised. We also lost a lot of time in the pits, so a lot of things went wrong today.
“Lewis doesn’t just seem strong, he is strong. A big difference there. It’s always going to be a battle against him. Today I’m disappointed. I had an awesome qualifying and was really optimistic I could bring it home today, so disappointed that everything went wrong. I look forward to the summer break now and want to come back stronger. I hope everybody in the team can charge the batteries. It’s very well deserved.”
The action at Hockenheim was the perfect end to the first half of the 2016 Formula One season – which now heads into it’s trademark summer break, before screaming back into action at Spa Francorchamps, in Belgium, on August 28th.
Credit Monster