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Ricciardo sitting pretty at third in F1

Rosberg eventually finished in fourth behind Red Bull pair Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, as Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton claimed the win at the Hockenheimring.

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After his victory in Hungary, which enabled him to take charge of the championship for the first time this year, Hamilton described his spectacular collision with Rosberg in Barcelona as the turning point of his season.

The race was plain sailing for Hamilton, as he crossed the finish line in first ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

With the double podium, Red Bull has moved ahead of Ferrari into second in the constructors’ championship.

Ferrari’s form has faded over recent races and the best Sebastian Vettel could manage on his first appearance for the team on his home soil was a distant fifth ahead of stablemate Kimi Raikkonen.

At Hockenheim over the weekend, Hamilton (who started second) stormed past Nico Rosberg and romped home to victory, managing to secure a 19-point lead.

Hamilton won six of the last seven races, turning a 43-point deficit to teammate Nico Rosberg in the championship standings into a 12-point advantage over the same period. The Dutchman was quick to complain, leading to an investigation on the manoeuvre, which ultimately landed Rosberg with a five-second penalty.

“My little title sums it up, everything went wrong – it was a really crap day today, crap race”, he said. The matter was investigated by stewards, which led to Rosberg being given a 5 second penalty for forcing a driver off track.

“It is a very good streak and an impressive record”, Wolff added.

“This is two weekends in a row now with a podium”, said Australian Ricciardo.

Hamilton started second but flew past Rosberg off the start and led going into Turn One, never surrendering the lead thereafter.

“It is kind of insane that it’s gone by so quickly”, a jubilant Hamilton, whose defence of his third title had been fraught by a number of mechanical issues, said.

The three-time world champion was then able to maintain a gap over his pursuers, initially Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and then team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, while preserving his power unit. “It felt like I was sitting there forever”.

Formula One now heads into its annual summer break before reconvening for the Belgian Grand Prix on August 28.

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His mistake in Germany was very similar to his last-lap crash with Hamilton at the Austrian Grand Prix at the beginning of July, when he also turned extremely late in a tight corner.

Daniel Ricciardo celebrates his 2nd place on the podium during the Formula One Grand Prix of Germany