Hamilton's 'Ring winposted in F124 | 07 | 2011
McLAREN'S LEWIS HAMILTON delivered a controlled, aggressive performance to win the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. It was the former world champ's first win since China in April.
But there was disappointment and frustration for Scotland's Paul di Resta who finished 13th after his Force India car was hit up the rear and spun by Nick Heidfeld's Renault on the second corner of the race.
Hamilton, building on his dazzling performance in qualifying, started from second on the grid and rocketed into the lead sweeping past the Red Bull of polesitter Mark Webber.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso overtook the Aussie during the pitstops and the leading three rapidly pulled away from an out-of-sorts Sebastian Vettel; the world championship leader never appeared to feel at ease with his car right through the weekend.
And while Felipe Massa finished fifth, having lost out in a last-lap pitstop challenge with Vettel's pitcrew, Hamilton was delighted with the result.
"Driving lap after lap within tenths of each other was about real perfection," Hamilton (pictured) said, "and with my aggressive style, I felt the moves I made were some of the most precise I have pulled in a while.
Highlander Lewis splashes to second in GP3
"Being able to drive with your head all the time and getting it just right is massively satisfying. I was in a good space, and days like this pay off more than you could imagine.
"Every win is special, but with the emotion, effort and all the energy the team put into the car and the effort they put in, it just couldn't feel better.
"Coming into this weekend I said I would take it one race at a time. To win is massively positive for us, but there is a long way to go and it is about getting consistency.
"If I say something now it could be a disaster, as the next race is going to be very, very hard. We are back in the fight though, and I hope we can carry this forward and keep the momentum going."
Alonso too was delighted with his second-place finish and believes it signals the start of s resurgent second-half of the season for the Italian team
"I am extremely happy with today's result," beamed Alonso, who is now 86 points behind Vettel in fourth place in the title race, three points adrift of Hamilton and nine behind second-placed Webber.
"We had a weekend that probably was not the easiest one. We struggled a bit on Friday, in qualifying we were fourth, half a second from pole so no doubts that we struggled a bit more with the weekend.
"But even with the difficulties we are second and fighting for victory, so this is a fantastic achievement. Second in Valencia, first at Silverstone and second here.
"With three different rules, three different maps, we were constantly first and second on three different circuits and with different temperatures, so with all these conditions we saw consistency that put us in a good position to enjoy this final part of the championship."
And the Spaniard believes Ferrari could be even stronger in the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend thanks to the higher temperatures and the softer tyres.
"I am looking forward to a bit more temperature on the track," he continued. "The soft and super soft tyre should be an advantage for us in terms of how we take on the tyres. In a week we will have a very interesting weekend again."
Watch Jackie Stewart's stunning drive on old Nurburgring
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/scotcars
Craig James
Photo: McLaren F1