Lewis Hamilton made the perfect start, managed the whole race it seemed with the perfect car.

He took his 49th career victory – his second at the Hockenheim Circuit and sixth of the 2016 season so far. Nico Rosberg fought back from a slow start to reach P2 before a five second penalty dropped him back to P4 at the flag. Hamilton (217) leads the Drivers’ Championship by 19 points from Rosberg (198) in P2, and he’s going to need a lead if he’s to take the awaited engine penalty.

MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS (415) now leads Red Bull (256) by 159 points in the Constructors’ Championship.

Lewis Hamilton: “What a day! Just awesome! I wasn’t expecting to be as strong as I was today. I had a great start. We have been working really hard to get off the line faster and more consistently and that hard work has clearly paid off. A big thanks also to the guys in the garage, I’m glad they get a well-earned break now as they really deserve it.

“I’m super happy with today – especially after yesterday. When I personally fail, knowing from 23 years of experience that I could definitely have done better, I really kick myself. Today, I have the opposite feeling. I delivered the way I’m supposed to. I know that I had the pace, I worked the tyres just right and I was never under threat from the guys behind. No mistakes this time either, so I’m very happy with that.

“It’s awesome to go into the break on such a high. I was 43 points behind at one stage, so to keep working on the gap and turn it around like that is great. Lastly, I just want to say a big thank you to the fans. So many of them have turned up here in Germany and they’ve been so supportive. That positive energy really drives me on, so a big thank you once again to them and I hope they have a great holiday. I’m definitely going to!”

Nico Rosberg: “It was a difficult and disappointing day for me. I had a lot of wheel spin at the start. That was strange, because my start during the formation lap was good. That cost me the lead and then the next two places as well, which meant it was always going to be a difficult race from there.

“I was happy to fight back to P2 after a tough battle with Max and was very surprised that I got penalised. We also lost a lot of time in the pits, so a lot of things went wrong today. But that didn’t count really at the end. The penalty made it impossible beat the Red Bulls. In general, I didn’t feel as comfortable in the car as I have done in the past – especially with the rear tyres. I had some problems with them today, so I need to get my head down and find out with my engineers what went wrong. I look forward to the summer break now and want to come back stronger. I hope everybody in the team can charge the batteries. It’s very well-deserved.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “First of all, what a fantastic drive from Lewis and a great feeling to win the German Grand Prix once again with Mercedes. This has been a very special weekend for the team and Lewis delivered a pretty perfect drive today: great start, great speed, great management. He’s gone from a big deficit to now leading the championship, so it’s been a very good streak.

“We have seen these waves of momentum in both directions and he is riding the crest right now. But as well as the sweet part of the afternoon, for Nico it was more bitter. The start didn’t go well for him with big wheel spin but then he struggled for pace in the race, too. There were two big talking points. First the penalty. I think you will find lots of opinions but what we really look for is consistency in the decision making. Sometimes you see cars battling and there is no consequence, other times penalties are handed out. Today’s felt tough because I think the fans want to see hard racing – and that’s what it was.

“Then there was the pit stop to serve the penalty. In such a high-tech sport, we don’t often have to use a stop watch in a manual process. Today, it didn’t start, so we had to take the safe option to make sure Nico observed the right amount of time. Sometimes these things happen.

“Overall, I think we can be very pleased with our first part of the year. 11 wins from 12 is a nice statistic to take into the summer break – but we know that our rivals are continuing to improve, too. We will take the break, recharge the batteries and come back with fresh energy in Spa.”

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): “First, huge congratulations to Lewis and the team for a great victory at our home race here in Germany in front of our very supportive colleagues from Mercedes-Benz. It was enormously important to us to do a great job here, representing the 280,000 Mercedes employees worldwide.

“Lewis managed the race faultlessly from start to finish – delivering pace when necessary and saving the tyres when required. The pit crew, too, did a great job on all three of his stops, allowing him to maintain the gap he had worked hard to build to those behind. For Nico, it was a less straightforward afternoon. His clutch was over-engaged at the start, leading to excessive wheel spin and an instant drop to P4. That gave us some work to do to get him back up to second – which we managed through a combination of a good strategy and some bold overtaking on Nico’s part.

“Unfortunately, he was then given a five second penalty for the latter – which dropped him back once more. We did lose some time in the box as we took more safety margin than was required. But, as it turned out, this didn’t affect the result. It became clear quite soon into the final stint that we didn’t have the pace to compensate for the penalty. We were hoping that, with no soft tyres remaining, we would manage to catch and pass the Red Bulls at the end once they ran out of rubber on the super soft – but to their credit they managed it very well, so all respect to them.

“As they say in motorsport, you’re only as good as your last race – so it’s good to have something to savour over the next month, as that’s something we hadn’t managed in either of the previous two seasons. A very nice way to pick up the holidays, which will provide everyone with a very well-earned break before we come back even harder in the second half of the season.”

The high cost of attending races and reduced engine noise has been put forward for the fall in spectator numbers at venues such as the Hockenheimring, said Sebastian Vettel: “It’s clear nowadays, let’s say the last couple of years haven’t been that popular. There’s been a lot of negative in the press and obviously people, fans, follow that as well and that doesn’t help.

Maybe but the racing is as good as it ever was. Nico Rosberg pipped his Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton to pole position this afternoon at the German Grand Prix in a dramatic qualifying session. The result marks the 300th and 301st Formula One front row grid slots for Mercedes-Benz Power. Both drivers completed a single run in Q1 (Soft) and Q2 (Supersoft), with Rosberg completing one run and Hamilton two in Q3 (Supersoft).

Nico Rosberg: “That was a difficult qualifying for me! I had an electronic problem with my throttle on my first quick run in Q3, so I had to abort. That meant I had a bit more fuel on my final run. I did a pretty good lap but I wasn’t sure if that was enough.”

Lewis Hamilton: “There was nothing particularly wrong today. My final lap just didn’t work out. It was pretty close out there and sometimes you get it right, sometimes you don’t. The car was feeling great. The team did a great job to get it where I needed it to be and it was definitely on for pole.

“I was two tenths up coming out of T2 – but from T8 onwards it started to deteriorate and I couldn’t maintain the gap. I’ve missed out on pole, so I didn’t do what I was supposed to do – but it’s in the past now, so you just let it go and look forwards. It doesn’t mean the race isn’t there to win tomorrow. I’ll try to get a good start and see how it goes from there.

“I don’t know what the strategy will be – we’ll look through that tonight. But this is a track where you can overtake, so I don’t have to go for it at the first corner. It can be somewhere else. Last time we raced here I started dead last and finished on the podium, so this is definitely a big step up from that! The pace is clearly there, so it’s still been a good day and I’m generally pretty happy. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be able to do something from where I am. I’m just focused on trying to move forward and if I can drive like I have done in the past few races then anything can happen.”

Finally… Lewis Hamilton took his 48th career victory – his fifth at the Hungaroring and fifth of the 2016 season so far. Nico Rosberg completed a third Silver Arrows 1-2 of the season in P2. Hamilton (192) now leads the Drivers’ Championship by six points from Rosberg (186) in P2. MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS (378) leads Ferrari (224) by 154 points in the Constructors’ Championship.

Lewis Hamilton: “I don’t know what the secret is here. Naturally, having a great team and everything coming together is key. But it’s a track that I think really works well for an aggressive driver. Sunday was one of the hottest races I can remember here. Looking after the tyres in those conditions was really hard, so I’m glad I managed. Thank you to everyone in the team for all their hard work – and to all the fans I have here. I don’t know why but, when I go to Budapest, I always seem to have a lot of support. I love it here so it makes for a great week.

“I didn’t know how long the tyres were going to last, so trying to spend the money wisely in terms of tyre life and being able to push when I needed to push was a tricky balance to find. The race was going really well and I was just thinking ‘huh, no mistakes so far’ when I managed to lock up and went off at T12! At that point I was like ‘hey, stay focused and get back on it!’ which luckily I managed to do.

“I’ve not really thought about the standings much but it’s definitely a good feeling to get the job done here – particularly as it’s not been my strongest weekend. Not as strong as Silverstone, for example. But it’s been an awesome few races and I’ve just got to keep that kind of form up for the rest of the season.”

Nico Rosberg: “Really, I lost the win in the first corner when I dropped down two positions, so I’m disappointed as I wanted to win the race and was confident I had a strong possibility to do so. It wasn’t the best start from me, so it was good to catch Daniel directly in T1 and get P2 back. But behind Lewis it was impossible to overtake on this track. I had great pace in the race, which is very positive – but unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the most of it. It’s great that my second home race is coming up so soon. I look forward to Hockenheim and will be pushing flat out to repeat the win from 2014.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “We’re delighted with today’s result. To take a one-two finish at a circuit that hasn’t been so good to us in the past two years is really satisfying. This place has been Red Bull and Ferrari territory, so it just shows what a great place we have got to with our chassis and engine package that we were able to take such a strong finish and control the race like we did. It was a race that needed a lot of management and we had told the drivers all weekend that winning would depend on making the tyres last. They both did this really well – though when things got a bit close for comfort in the second stint, we asked Lewis to pick up the pace and he responded well to build the gap we needed after Red Bull rolled the dice with Ricciardo’s strategy.

“The back markers were a challenge like always here, particularly some of the usual suspects, but they didn’t end up influencing the outcome which was good. There has been a lot of talk about the Championship situation but, if this was a football match, we’d have only just completed the first half. There’s still a very long way to go this season. We have seen a lot of action so far and I am sure there will be much more to come…”

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): “After the rather drawn out excitement of yesterday’s Qualifying session we were hoping for something slightly more straightforward today – and so it proved to be. Strong starts from all of the top five drivers meant they came into T1 in close formation. It looked for a moment like Lewis might lose the lead he’d grasped off the line and that Nico would find himself down to third. However, great driving from both saw Lewis hang on in front while Nico produced a fantastic manoeuvre around the outside at T2 to re-establish a 1-2 for the team. From there, it was a matter of controlling the pace and tyre usage through a two-stop strategy.

“Red Bull chose to make a very early final stop for Ricciardo which put some pressure on us – as I’m sure it was intended to do. But both cars were able to respond with enough pace to keep him covered and stick to our original plan. Overall an excellent 1-2 finish and an excellent way to cap off the first half of the season, which we can be very proud of thus far. Congratulations to the drivers – and also to the pit crew, who achieved a second consecutive fastest race pit stop. We now very much look forward to our home race in Germany next week.”

A brief respite from the misery as we see success in cycling, tennis and Formula One as home race heroics from Lewis Hamilton followed for the third time by Nico Rosberg complete a Silver Arrows 1-2 at Silverstone.

In the words of the boys…

Lewis Hamilton: “Best weekend of the whole year! I couldn’t believe it started raining at the beginning of the race. I thought: ‘are you serious?’ It makes it so much harder for everyone when that happens. I couldn’t really see the safety car either. It was going really slowly and my rear brakes were getting way too cold, so I was trying to heat them up and before I knew it I’m heading straight for the back of the thing! Thank goodness I could turn!

“Luckily it was okay and from there I was feeling great in the wet conditions. A huge thank you first of all to the team for doing such an amazing job. Our performance this weekend has been outstanding. The engineers and mechanics did a great job, so big thanks to all of them once again. And then the crowd… I mean, where do they all come from? It’s absolutely amazing! Nothing we see in any other country even comes close – and that for me just shows the passion us Brits have for sport, regardless of the weather. It’s pouring down and these guys are just like ‘yeah, we love it!’

“This is beyond my wildest dreams, honestly. When I was younger I didn’t see the other stuff that comes with being a Formula One driver. I was just in awe of the racing and it wasn’t until I grew up that I started to understand. I’m just trying to bask in the glory and enjoy it because one day I’ll be watching someone else, hopefully a young Brit, winning here and I want to make the most of these moments. For now though, it’s my time – our time. Thank you so much to everyone out there today. It’s just been unbelievable.”

Nico Rosberg: “Lewis did a better job over the whole weekend and deserved the win, so congratulations to him. I was happy to have finished the race as my gearbox issue at the end was really serious and I almost had to retire the car – but luckily I got it fixed. Generally, though, it felt great out there and I had a great pace on the medium tyres. The battle with Max was good fun. It took a bit of time but I managed to overtake him on the outside. Over the whole weekend the atmosphere here at Silverstone was really outstanding.

“Okay, I recognise that some guys out there don’t like me as much as Lewis. But that’s normal in his home country and I felt that the majority was very supportive of me. That’s why the British fans are the best and most passionate racing fans in the world, so thank you to them for making it a really great event. Now I look forward to the last two races before the summer break including my home Grand Prix in Germany.”

Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “This afternoon was Formula One at its best: probably the best fans in the world, a wet-dry race, loads of incidents and overtaking, and a fantastic home winner at the end of it all. On days like this, Lewis is unstoppable: he pulled the gap in the early laps, we made the perfect call on the strategy, then he controlled the race from there. He was calm all day, had everything under control and just nailed the race. Brilliant.

“For Nico, it was a bit trickier: running in the spray in the wet always costs lap time, then he had a long battle with Max. He lost out on the intermediates, but then was able to hunt him down after switching to the dry tyres and pulled off a great outside move in to Stowe, one of the fastest points on the circuit. In the final laps, he was stuck in seventh gear, which was clearly a critical problem that would have resulted in failure.

“Our understanding of the rules is that this kind of message is allowed – it’s not the kind of driver coaching the rules were designed to prevent – so we gave him the necessary information and he did a great job to hold his position and bring the car home. It’s an amazing feeling for the whole team to win a fourth British Grand Prix in a row, in front of so many of our colleagues from our factories in Brixworth and Brackley. It will be a big celebration with our families this evening and then back hard to work in the morning. After so much drama already in 2016, it’s amazing to think we haven’t yet even reached the halfway point of the season…”

Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical): “A fantastic race result as the home Grand Prix for everyone at Brackley and Brixworth. We haven’t had a 1-2 since Russia, so it’s great to have both drivers up there on the top two steps once again. Our congratulations first and foremost to Lewis on a third consecutive home victory – his fourth in total thus far – and a really perfect weekend overall. We were spared the variability of a standing race start with the last-minute downpour. From there, we had two clean rounds of pit stops – benefiting nicely from a convenient VSC period for the switch to intermediates. Both were double-stops with the drivers arriving in quick succession, which is never an easy task, but were immaculately executed by the crew, so well done to them.

“As the race settled down from there, it was clear that Lewis was in control while Nico had a battle on his hands with Verstappen. The Red Bull was strong in the wet – likely due to their choice to run with a higher wing level over ultimate top speed. It was a great duel between the two of them, with Max managing to make his car very wide indeed but Nico eventually pulling off a fantastic move around the outside at Stowe corner to take the place.

“A crisis then developed six laps from the end when Nico’s gearbox got stuck in seventh gear. To finish the race with minimal use of that gear while also fending off the advances of the Red Bull behind really was a great piece of driving, so we applaud him for that. A huge thank you and congratulations to everyone at Brackley and Brixworth for bringing us such performance from the car and the result today. A proud day for the team in front of a truly fantastic crowd.”