Hamilton Takes Second Win of Year in Germany

NURBURGRING, Germany- R.I.S.- After receiving a clear line by passing Mark Webber at the beginning of the race, Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a  quick pit stop to triumph Sunday afternoon at the Grand Prix of Germany at the famed Nurburgring circuit. Fernando Alonso finished second, while Webber himself finished in third.

For Hamilton, it is his second win of the season since last March in China, while Webber still trails series leader Sebastian Vettel by 77 points as the German just held off Felipe Massa for fourth place after a successful pit stop late in the race.

"I think every win is special but I think the emotion and all of the energy that the team put in to the car and the effort they've put in, when you don't see results like this I think it slowly builds up," Hamilton said. "So when you finally do hit the sweet spot and get it I think it's just even better."

While the start was clean, Hamilton’s start was not the only event that was getting attention. The real battle early on was with Nico Rosberg and Massa, who went wheel to wheel for laps before the Brazilian managed to pass the German for fourth place. Vettel kept even with the top drivers before he struck a wet paint line on lap 13 and spun his car, recovering enough to rejoin back in ninth. This gave the opportunity for Hamilton, Alonso and Webber to fight for the rest of the race on their own, and even with the three pit stops for each driver, Webber could only take the lead on his second pit stop, But the Englishman also had to pit as well as Alonso, and after all the confusion, Alonso finally found himself in first on lap 33, only to be passed by Hamilton for second. But while Hamilton was fighting up in the front, his Mclaren teammate Jenson Button endured a horrible weekend, retiring from the race with a hydraulics problem three laps later.

Webber continued to stay in first and held the lead with only three laps to go. But the 2009 race winner at this circuit could not repeat as a final pit stop was not good enough to keep his lead, and Hamilton lead for the rest of the race.

But despite Webber was disappointed, Alonso was very pleased with his results.

"I think in the last stint we could not get any closer to Lewis," Alonso said. "I think with the medium tires we were not too quick so we just controlled the gap with Mark and secured second place. For us it was a fantastic race, a fantastic Sunday again. We struggled a little bit in qualy being fourth yesterday but today again the car showed great pace and great degradation with the tires so we can keep the pace of the leaders. We jumped Vettel on the track and Mark in the pit stop and it was great."

"The second place [in Germany], after the win in Silverstone and the second place in Valencia, it is definitely a good moment in the championship for us, so next week [in Hungary] we have another opportunity."

The German fans received their money’s worth as Adrian Sutil, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher placed sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, while Kamui Kobyaschi and Vitaly Petrov rounded out the top ten.

Afterwards, Hamilton could not help stating that in his short career which includes one world driving title, this race was his best.

I couldn't feel any better, we really never expected to come here this weekend and be so fast. We were hindered in the last race a little bit but the guys did a fantastic job pushing really hard, even the guys back in Brickworth (engine facility) at HPE pushing very very hard, and the engine was great. I just feel great, one of the best races I think I've ever done."

Hamilton and the others will not have to wait long for another chance for victory, as the twisty and hot Hungarian Grand Prix takes place next weekend.