Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s British driver Lewis Hamilton, centre, waves after winning next to second placed Red Bull Racing’s Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo, left, and Red Bull racing’s Belgian-Dutch driver Max Verstappen, right, at the Hockenheim circuit, southern Germany.
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The German fell further off the pace at last weekend’s race in Hockenheim, and he is now 19 points behind reigning champion Hamilton heading into the summer break.
Rosberg crossed the line fourth-placed as Hamilton claimed his 49th Formula One win, the sixth victory this year. Rosberg finished fourth while the two Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were on the podium in second and third, respectively.
Rosberg fought back however, and at mid-distance dived down the inside of Verstappen for second at the hairpin – only for the stewards to decide he had forced the Dutchman off track, and therefore deserved a penalty which dropped him back to fourth. “The start went completely wrong, none of it was good”, said Rosberg, who swept the first four races of the season but has won only one since.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says championship leader Lewis Hamilton is “unbeatable” when he is having a good day.
The German therefore lost all the time he gained by overtaking Verstappen, and also ended up spending more than the five second penalty in the pits as the stop-watch being used by the team stopped working abruptly.
“He didn’t turn in, he just kept driving straight, so I had to go off the track, otherwise he would’ve crashed”.
After what seemed a lifetime, and in a sport measured in one-thousandths of a second, the team got to work, but by now the German had been stationary for over 8s.
“Only a few weeks ago we were in Barcelona and I was 43 points behind thinking: ‘Jeez, I might come away 50 points behind.’ I was finding it hard to find a way through the trees but I kept going and kept believing the light was beyond the bushes”.
“I was very surprised to get that penalty”, a downbeat Rosberg said later.
“This is two weekends in a row now with a podium and one of the most refreshing things is seeing so many fans back in Germany”, Ricciardo said after the race.
However, despite Hamilton gaining a crucial psychological edge heading into the sport’s annual summer break, Rosberg – victor of the opening four races – said he was confident he could turn the momentum back in his favor.
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Hamilton’s win was Mercedes’ 11th of the season after he seized control of the race on the opening corner from Rosberg.
