Mercedes driver Hamilton increases lead with German GP win

(AP Photo/Jens Meyer). Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany steers his auto during the Formula One qualifying in Hockenheim, Germany, Saturday, July 30, 2016.

Hockenheim: Lewis Hamilton cruised to an unchallenged victory in Sunday’s German Formula One Grand Prix to extend his lead over Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg at the top of the world championship standings.

The German finished behind both Red Bull drivers, with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen completing the podium places. The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel will be in the third row.

“At the time it wasn’t frustrating because I didn’t know”, Rosberg said.

“It will either be the next race or Monza, because I’m going to run out of engines soon”. “It’s a great atmosphere here in Hockenheim and I can’t wait for tomorrow”.

A rather glum Hamilton added: “It has been a good weekend with no problems”.

Rain drops at the end looked like they might make things tricky for everyone, but in the end Hamilton managed Ricciardo’s valiant challenge perfectly despite heavy lapped traffic, putting in quick laps when necessary. I came to do a job and it was a case of looking at it as a glass half full and filling it up today. “There’s still nine races to go, more than 200 points to collect” he said.

Hamilton suffered a costly lock-up on his final lap to fall short of his teammate. “Yeah, it’s just a work in progress”. “Yes it was a great feeling”, said Rosberg. “That’s something I have to handle and deal with … when you kind of kick yourself a little bit”.

“I’ll go hard and hopefully get in front and at least lead some of the race”. “I also had extra fuel to make sure I could get another shot … so (I am) really satisfied with that one, that was cool”.

That’s quite a margin when Rosberg was ecstatic at grabbing pole by just 0.107s the day before. This was his fifth pole of the season. However, he passed the Dutchman back later in the race, when they were on different tire compounds.

Massa, who suffered handling issues with his Williams all race, failed to finish, as did Sauber’s Felipe Nasr with technical trouble.

For his part, Verstappen acknowledged that leap-frogging Ferrari in the constructors championship had been a key part of the Red Bull plan. Ferrari is winless after 11 races this year, with 10 remaining. Tomorrow I think we’ll have a good chance.

Instead, he was involved in a scrap with Ricciardo, where he came off second best.

He was not only beaten by the guy in the other Mercedes, he was behind Daniel Ricciardo second and Max Verstappen third, as well. “I didn’t expect a penalty for that”.

“As I said, the supersoft worked a lot better, I was happier with that tire the last two stints”. Join The Roar as we live blog the race from 10pm (AEST) including all the race build-up and action.