'Luck of the draw' as to whether he gets a good start, says Hamilton
A perfect start was the key to Lewis Hamilton’s victory in Germany as the World Champion got the jump on team mate Nico Rosberg and never looked back.
Hamilton logged his fourth win in July, and his sixth of the season, as he extended his championship lead to 19 points.
“It’s uphill from me going across to where Nico was,” said Hamilton. “Of course, I needed to put my car alongside him somehow. I was hoping for a great start. Those starts have been inconsistent and you never know what you’re going to get. But just trying to understand the circumstances ahead of me.
“It’s kind of the luck of the draw. We have worked very, very hard. Obviously I have a guy that I’m working with very, very closely and it’s been an up-and-down season and it’s not his fault or not my fault, it’s just the way these new clutch regulations are and how sensitive the clutches are.
“I think we’ve worked, and worked and worked, and just consistency and really trying to be precise with the whole procedure. And I think today the procedure, the last two races, the procedure’s been spot-on, pretty much. Today was definitely the best one I would say. It’s just a work in progress.
“I think today I didn’t make any mistakes, so in my heart I’m happy with what I did today. I came to do a job… Yesterday wasn’t perfect, but you learn from those things and today was a real show of looking at the glass half full and filling it up today.”
Hamilton paced himself in the final stint, allowing Ricciardo to get within 5.7s at one point, as he tried to protect his engine.
“Today I saved my engine a lot which is why they closed up as much as they did. I only needed a six second gap really, they wanted me to keep six seconds. It went from eleven to seven quite quickly and then I had to get back on it, but generally I was looking after the engine up front, and never felt like I was under threat.
“Without a doubt, they [RBR] were fantastically quick this weekend. I think naturally it wasn’t a problem for me, but obviously I assume Nico struggled behind them so it looks like it’s going to be close. Hopefully I’ve saved enough of my engine today hoping that I would be able to use it at the next race. It will either be the next race or Monza, because I’m going to run out of engines soon.”
