Rosberg breezes to home win
Rosberg wins his home grand prix at Hockenheim for Mercedes
Nico Rosberg strolled to victory at the German Grand Prix as he won by a clear margin at his home race. The championship leader extended his gap to 14 points over Lewis Hamilton, who was involved in a great late fight with Valtteri Bottas. It seemed a simple 1-2 was on the cards for Mercedes but Bottas held on to take second and earn Williams' 300th podium.
Hamilton drove really well to come through from 20th after taking a penalty for changing his gear-box. His progress again emphasised how fast the Mercedes car is and how dominant it is over the rest of the field.
Hamilton was involved in several high quality scraps with Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in a superb race at Hockenheim. The beginning was littered with some breathless driving as Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo made their way through.
Ricciardo was sent wide after the opening lap crash between Massa and Kevin Magnussen. The McLaren driver had the inside line at the start but caught Massa and sent him flying, flipping his car upside down. He was, fortunately, okay.
In a frantic opening few laps, Hamilton made a bold move down the inside of both Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen to get past them both. The driving on show was tremendous as they all showed why they are race winners. Raikkonen was later in a scrap with Vettel and Alonso, where they all somehow managed to avoid a massive crash as Raikkonen was squeezed out by his rivals
Vettel managed to come fourth, ahead of Alonso, Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Button, Magnussen and Perez.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W05
Rosberg may have won but all the action surrounded Hamilton. By starting on the soft tyres, Hamilton ran a different strategy to the rest of the field and went on a long first stint. He opted for a two-stop strategy which relied on the cars extra pace to get him through the field. But after an incident with Button, which damaged his front wing, Hamilton’s tyre wear increased.
The Brit was forced to change to a three stop, just to get round. He was forced into his final stop early after a spin from Adrian Sutil. The Sauber man stalled the car on the straight so, assuming a safety car would come, they pitted him. However, no safety car arrived and Hamilton was forced to drag the tyres to the end. It was because of this that he failed to get past Bottas in the final laps.
Hamilton may be driving well but luck has favoured Rosberg this year. He now leads Hamilton by 14 points and looks relaxed in the title fight. If he can win at Hungary next week, he will be the firm favourite for the championship.
See 2014 German F1 GP race results.
See 2014 F1 drivers championship standings
See 2014 F1 constructors championship standings
Buy F1 tickets 2014 Grand Prix of Hungary
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