F1 Race Analysis: How Hamilton won the race of his life

Observing the final checks being conducted on Lewis Hamilton's car in the throng of the midfield cars, it seemed impossible to think he would be celebrating the 65th - and perhaps the finest - victory of his Formula 1 career a couple of hours later.

Hamilton said himself on Saturday after qualifying he doubted he could repeat the kind of fightback we saw at Silverstone, when he recovered from a first-lap incident to charge from 18th to second. Realistically, a top-five finish would be the best he could hope for.

But what followed was a race that, when the time does come for Hamilton hang up his helmet and retire from F1, we consider to be one of his greatest. It had everything: great overtakes, impressive pace throughout, a slice of luck - and even some controversy.

The early part of Hamilton's race was pretty routine. That may appear to downplay a charge from 14th to fifth in the space of just 14 laps, yet the pace advantage the 'big three' teams have over the rest of the field means it's not really a challenge. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo struggled a bit more, coming from further back and on the Medium compound tyre, but Hamilton's charge was hardly a surprise.

Once Hamilton got into fifth is where the hard work really began. As Ferrari pulled a strategic blinder (or blunder, depending on your point of view) with Kimi Raikkonen by accident, getting the undercut on teammate Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton knew he had to extend his Soft tyre stint out long enough so he could make the switch across to Ultrasofts for the final stint.

Despite his Soft tyres being much older than Raikkonen's set, Hamilton was able to keep pace well. Raikkonen did not pull away after pitting and coming out just ahead of the Mercedes driver. On Lap 12, the difference was just over two seconds. Some 30 laps later when Hamilton finally pitted, that gap has only swelled marginally to four seconds.

This was the stint that really put Hamilton in the frame for victory. It meant he was close enough to the front-runners should drama strike. Ferrari had tripped over itself a bit, but untangled itself enough for Vettel to pull out a decent gap to Raikkonen, who was now more occupied with Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes behind. Hamilton, meanwhile, had bolted on a set of Ultrasofts for the charge to the flag - and what a charge it would be.

At first, it looked like Mercedes might have missed a trick. The rain was arriving, first hitting Turn 6. While isolated, it was causing enough of a problem for drivers to consider making the switch to wet tyres, anticipating the showers growing. Charles Leclerc, Fernando Alonso, and Max Verstappen all switched to intermediates, while Pierre Gasly doubled down with a move on to full wets. Had Mercedes missed the chance to save a stop?

Just moments later, the rain eased off, leaving the drivers who had moved off slicks coming back into the pits to change back, having cooked their tyres on the still largely-dry circuit. Hamilton, now armed with his fresh Ultrasofts and in conditions to his liking, was on a mission, carving into the front-runners. On Lap 43, he was 23 seconds behind Vettel. By Lap 50, the gap was down to 12 seconds. Even without Vettel's shunt into the barrier, Hamilton was on course to catch him late on.

But then Vettel made Hamilton's job much, much easier. With the rain having returned in anger, conditions were becoming very, very difficult for the slick runners. The weather system would pass, meaning it was not worth coming in, with Vettel managing to extend the gap to second - now held by Bottas after Raikkonen lost out in traffic - to nine seconds. He had plenty of time to react anything his rivals may do. A maiden victory at Hockenheim was his for the taking.

And he fluffed it in a fashion that once again leads to questions about his ability to stay cool under pressure, Baku being another example from this year. Coming into the Sachs Kurve, Vettel slid off the track at relatively slow speed, bobbled across the gravel and nosed into the barrier. He thumped the steering wheel in anger, before apologising to the Ferrari team over the radio with a sniffle in his voice. As cool as Vettel seemed post-race, at that moment, his emotions were laid bare.

The Safety Car was quickly called for, putting the race into Hamilton's hands. Bottas and Raikkonen had the track position advantage, but their Soft tyres were heavily worn, having completed 24 and 39 laps respectively at that point. Staying out was a risky option given Hamilton was on Ultrasofts which, while degrading quickly in practice on Friday, were now holding up far better in the cooler conditions.

Mercedes was not convinced about Hamilton's tyres, though, leading to some serious indecision about whether or not to pit him - indecision that almost cost him the win hours after the race. For a team that is constantly looking for areas to improve in, the strategy calls need work. Hamilton was told to pit, then stay out, then come "in in in in in" all in the space of a couple of seconds. He'd kept his car out, cutting across the grass at the pit entry to return to the start-finish straight in a move that would later take the interest of the stewards.

"It was the most confusing second and a half, and I honestly thought I was going to stay out," Hamilton explained. "I was happy with my tyres and then they said 'come in' and I saw Valtteri ahead coming in so I was like ‘are you sure about it’ and by the time we got in they were like ‘no stay out’ and it was literally twice, ‘go left, go right’.

"So I just slowed down and trundled over some grass. I made sure that I returned to the track as safely as I could."

With the rain subsiding once again, the stage was set for a final fight to the flag between Hamilton and Bottas, the latter having pitted for a set of fresh Ultrasofts. Hamilton had already been on his set for 11 laps, meaning they lacked that immediate pace on the restart.

Bottas quickly closed on Hamilton, angling for a move at the outside of the hairpin. Hamilton took to the inside, but compromised his line for Turn 7 and Turn 8, allowing Bottas to get side-by-side. Hamilton held firm with some excellent defensive driving, forcing the Finn to drop back, with a small error then creating some breathing room at the front.

Mercedes gave the call for Bottas to "hold position", fearing too much of a push could compromise its chances of a one-two finish. Hamilton was also given the hurry up at the front, with the team considering the possibility of a penalty for cutting the pit entry - some excellent foresight.

Hamilton's victory came after a perfect storm - literally and metaphorically - at Hockenheim. Just two weeks after a galling defeat on home soil at Silverstone, the championship momentum had swung massively back in his favour.

"It’s obviously very, very difficult from that position and highly unlikely, but you’ve always got to believe," Hamilton said when asked after the chequered flag if he still thought he could win the race from 14th on the grid.

"The team did such a great job, the car was fantastic today. Honestly, I’m so grateful. I would never have though you could do something like that today, but I just kept pushing, I kept believing and it happened. I really manifested my dream today."

The stewards had a look into his pit entry antics but deemed it only worthy of a reprimand. He'd not caused any safety issues to any other driver in a largely-isolated incident sparked by the mixed messages on the radio.

After spending time with the stewards, Hamilton came to meet with the media corps and had an air of confidence about him. "It's not going to be taken away from me," he said of the win. About 10 minutes later, the stewards delivered their final verdict, confirming he kept the win.

Throughout the final briefing of the weekend, as the rain thundered down outside, Hamilton seemed more relaxed than he's been for some time. He spoke with a happy exasperation, induced by disbelief. He even chuckled about the radio shenanigans.

Following his Instagram stories through the weekend, Hamilton had regularly been taking aim at his detractors. Be it those who questioned why he tried pushing his car back to the pits after the Q1 issue, or the fans booing him on the drivers' parade, to him, there were external forces acting against him. This kind of pressure is something that appears to bring the best out of Hamilton.

"Yesterday was a difficult day. When I was sat by the car, I was heartbroken," Hamilton said. "But when I stood up, I was like, 'there’s nothing you can do about what’s just happened'. You can only do the best job you possibly can tomorrow. Every time there is a day like this there’s always a chance to show what you can do and driving from the back is so much more fun than driving from the front. But you never know how far you can go.

"Today I feel like I drove the best I remember driving. I’ve had a lot of races and there’s been some great ones. Silverstone 2008 was pretty great but I went off [once] so it was 99.8%. This one I did not make any mistakes at all, which I'm really proud of."

Much like the frantic action last year's Singapore Grand Prix produced to become the key moment in the 2017 F1 world title fight, the German GP could prove to be a telling chapter in this season's championship tale. With Hamilton staring down adversity, just as he did after qualifying at the Marina Bay Circuit last year, a near-flawless drive added an slice of rain-coated fortune seeing his main adversary crash out gave credentials to his claims that is was one of his best-ever drives in his illustrious F1 career.