Lewis Hamilton wins the 2018 German GP

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has won the 2018 German GP held at Hockenheim as championship leader Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) crashed out in the closing stages of the race. Valtteri Bottas in the other Mercedes came in second ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.

Mercedes were summoned by the stewards after the race for an incident involving Hamilton under the safety car, for which he received a reprimand.

Vettel started from pole position ahead of Bottas and Raikkonen. Ferrari called Raikkonen to the pits early in a bid to upset the Mercedes up ahead. However, with rain predicted, Mercedes opted to stay out. Hamilton started down in fourteenth place after a hydraulics issue forced him out of qualifying on Saturday. By lap 11, he was up in 6th place but still a long way off the leader.

Despite the scattered showers, the front runners opted to stay out on slick tires, while a few other gambled on Intermediate rubber. By this time, Mercedes had pitted Hamilton for the faster Ultrasoft tyres which gave him an advantage over the cars in the front, especially the Ferraris which were on much older Soft tyres. 

The slippery conditions finally got the best of Vettel as he lost control and crashed into the barriers on lap 52. The incident brought out the safety car. After the restart, Hamilton was in the lead with Bottas behind him followed by Raikkonen and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. Verstappen finished in fourth. Nico Hulkenberg in the Renault finished fifth ahead of Romain Grosjean's Haas.

Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in the Force Indias finished in seventh and eighth respectively ahead of Marcus Ericsson (Alfa Romeo Sauber). Brendon Hartley finished in the final points place for Torro Rosso.

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo started at the back of the grid but failed to finish the race following a mechanical issue. Fernando Alonso (McLaren) and the Williams' Lance Stroll and Sergei Sirotkin also didn't finish the race.

Lewis Hamilton now leads the driver's championship by 17 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Mercedes leads Ferrari in the constructors championship by 8 points.

World Drivers' Championship standings:

Lewis Hamilton - 188

Sebastian Vettel - 171

Kimi Raikkonen - 131

World Constructors' Championship standings:

Mercedes - 310

Ferrari - 302

Red Bull - 211