Hamilton opportunistic winner in Germany, Vettel gives up

Started 14th at Hockenheim, Lewis Hamilton achieved incredible success by perfectly exploiting a downpour that occurred in the last third of the race. The Briton takes in his wake Valtteri Bottas to sign a solid double Mercedes while Ferrari, so strong all weekend, took on water.

Brilliant poleman on his land, Sebastian Vettel seemed to be going for a home victory when he made a mistake in the rain and ended up in the gravel. Kimi Räikkönen saves the furniture for the Scuderia by snatching the last step of the podium aboard the remaining SF71H.

Hamilton took advantage of Vettel's retirement to regain control of the Drivers' championship, while Mercedes returned to the lead among the Manufacturers as well. Indeed, Valtteri Bottas allowed the Star brand to achieve the double, even if the Finn was encouraged not to attack his team partner at the end of the event.

Nico Hulkenberg allows to Renault to equal his best result in F1 since returning in 2016 with a fifth place. The German did better than the two Force Indias of Sergio Pérez (7th) and Esteban Ocon (8th), while his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr received a 10-second penalty for overtaking under neutralization regime.

Romain Grosjean (Haas) is the best Frenchman of the day thanks to his sixth position. Kevin Magnussen (Haas, 11th) has largely fallen back despite a strategy identical to the French.

Helped by the arrival of rain, Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) and Brendon Hartley (Toro Rosso) score valuable points for themselves in the Drivers' classification without having fitted rain tires. Pierre Gasly followed a daring strategy by wearing ultra rain gear, but had to return to the pits once the track dried (14th).

Daniel Ricciardo didn't even see the rain. The pilot Red Bull parked on the side of the road due to a sudden loss of power before the halfway point.

2018 German Grand Prix ranking:

Discover the analysis of the German Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2175 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.