German Grand Prix as it happened: Hamilton's glory, and Rosberg's disaster

ByEurosport

Updated 31/07/2016 at 14:29 GMT

Lewis Hamilton made a perfect start to the German Grand Prix as polesitter Nico Rosberg had a nightmare - and that proved to be decisive by the end of the afternoon.

Nicro Rosberg - German Grand Prix

Image credit: Reuters

Hamilton toying with his prey

Second-placed Daniel Ricciardo managed to trim the gap to Lewis Hamilton after the final set of stops, but the Mercedes driver proved that he was merely driving safely within himself as he picked up the pace to keep his healthy lead intact. With less than ten laps left to go, it seemed clear that nothing could stop Hamilton from recording a fourth consecutive win, and a sixth in the last seven races - and the British driver duly finished up his victory.

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Rosberg down to fourth

Rosberg's five-second penalty served during his pit stop sees him come out behind both Ricciardo and Verstappen - and with five seconds to make up and both Red Bulls clocking fine lap times, his hopes of a podium place are fading.

Vettel refuses to come into pits

Lap 45 witnessed the strange phenomenon of an argument between Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari crew: the team told the German to pit, but Vettel flat out refused since he felt the car was still perfect. After a bit of back and forth, the team finally relented - but will it prove to be the right call?

Rosberg slapped with five-second penalty, Hamilton still leads

The stewards were not happy with Rosberg - and slapped the German with a five-second penalty for driving an opponent off the track. He'll have to serve it at the Mercedes star's next pit stop, or else just add it to his overall race time at the end.

Rosberg was furious on the pit radio when told: "I was at full steering lock, he moved under braking, that was the big problem. That's completely not allowed."

Just a few laps later, Hamilton then got an even greater boost as he came in for his second stop, and got back out on the track still in the lead.

Rosberg finally makes a breakthrough - but did he do it illegally?

Nico Rosberg put soft tyres on once more in his second pit stop and used a section of clear track to close the gap on Verstappen - and having got up behind the Red Bull, he went past him on lap 29. There were loud cheers from the home crowd - but they didn't last long, with stewards quickly announcing an inquiry, for Rosberg seemed to simply drive Verstappen off the track, leaving him no space to turn.

Hamilton still cruising, Rosberg still struggling after 26 laps

Hamilton was barely breaking sweat at Hockenheim as he built and 8.5 second lead over Max Verstappen at the German Grand Prix, with the second round of pit stops set to start arriving in a flurry. And in even better news for the reigning champion, Rosberg remained back in fourth - but he was about to come into the pits to try and change things up a bit.

Nicro Rosberg - German Grand Prix

Image credit: Reuters

First pit stops

Nico Rosberg came into the pits on lap 12 of 67, hoping that the stop might help him close up on Max Verstappen, who came in at the same time - but the Red Bull's stop was perfect, and the cars re-entered the circuit with Verstappen's advantage intact.

After the first round of stops was finished, Hamilton was left with an advantage of over five seconds over Verstappen - with Ricciardo a second and a half further back in third place and Rosberg just under two seconds further back.