Lewis Hamilton wins German Grand Prix

But he said he is acutely aware that as a result of his mechanical problems in the opening four races of the season, when German Rosberg won all four in a row, he will nearly certainly have to suffer an engine penalty.

The reaction from Toto Wolff and Nico Rosberg to Lewis Hamilton’s fourth consecutive victory this season spelt bad news for anyone hoping to beat the three-time world champion in the years to come, with the Mercedes pair conceding that on his day, Hamilton is unbeatable.

With this win, the British driver extended his championship lead over German Rosberg by 19 points.

The Australian claimed his second successive podium at Sunday’s German Grand Prix, finishing second to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, but above teammate Max Verstappen on the podium.

“It feels like only a couple weeks ago we were in Barcelona and I was 43 points behind thinking, “jeez, I might come away 50 points behind”. I don’t remember if I opened it up again after that but I felt fully in control the whole race, fortunately, which is not always a scenario you’re in”.

Hamilton seized the advantage at the start from pole-sitter Rosberg, who drove an underwhelming race in front of his home fans at Hockenheim, and was never headed.

On the other hand, Rosberg fell back to fourth position.

“[It was] different positioning, I was clearly ahead this time”, he said.

Over the last two years, Rosberg has been criticised for being too soft in head-to-head battles.

Despite the rate at which Hamilton has caught and passed Rosberg, the Briton can not afford to ease off and needs to put more distance between him and his rival. He served the penalty during his second pit stop on Lap 44, and joined the race at fourth position.

“I was 11 seconds ahead and I just took it really easy on my tyres”.

Fifth and sixth in the 67-lap race on the fast and brake-intensive Hockenheimring were the Ferraris of Sebastien Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, with Nico Hulkenberg seventh for Force India.

For Rosberg, who was seeking to repeat his 2014 triumph, it ended up as a day of bitter disappointment.

“You kick yourself when things go wrong”, he said.

“I was finding it hard to find a way through the woods, through the trees, having to navigate through that, not giving up, to keep going and keep believing the light is beyond the bushes”. Perhaps that is because many of his aggressive manoeuvres-such as the aforementioned ones in the USA and Canada-occurred on the first lap, when the close bunching of the cars means the stewards are more lenient.