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LEWIS HAMILTON took a sensational victory in a thrilling, rain-hit German Grand Prix as rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out to hand the Mercedes driver an unexpected gift in the championship battle.

Vettel had been cruising to victory in his Ferrari ahead of Hamilton’s Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas until rain started to fall with just over 25 laps to go.

But the weather, which hit only part of the track, turned the race on its head and brought Hamilton into the mix when he had been looking at a fourth-place finish after fighting up from his 14th place on the grid following hydraulic failure in qualifying.

Hamilton began to carve into the advantage of the three leading drivers – Vettel, his Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Bottas – as chaos erupted down the field.

And then, as the rain became heavier, Vettel lost control at the Sachs Kurve hairpin in Hockenheim’s Stadium section in front of tens of thousands of his home fans.

He swore over the radio as he took in the potential damage to his title hopes – and Hamilton pulled away at the front after a safety car period for Vettel’s crash, ending the race with a 17-point advantage when it looked like he would lose further ground.

It was a remarkable result in a remarkable race, which had started as a damage-limitation exercise and ended with his 66th career victory – and one of his best.

“Get in there, Lewis,” his engineer Peter Bonnington said after the race. “Miracles do happen.”

“Great job by you guys,” Hamilton said, but it had been far from smooth sailing for the world champion.

The race was thrown into disarray by the rain and Mercedes were not immune from the chaos, as evidenced by a breathless radio exchange when the safety car was deployed following Vettel’s crash.

Hamilton was told to keep pit, then told the team Raikkonen was pitting in front of him, was told to stay out and then was immediately: “In, in, in, in,” as he aborted his decision to pit stop for fresh tyres and cut across the grass to rejoin the track.

“Hey, man,” Hamilton said, expressing his opinion that he could do without that sort of confusion. “Just go for it,” Bonnington said.

His race was remarkable in a number of different ways.

He made his soft tyres last 42 laps despite having to carve through the field from 14th on the grid, and Mercedes decided to pit him for the softest ultra-soft tyres even though they knew rain was imminent.

The team were gambling on the rain only hitting part of the track and they were exactly right. Many backmarkers gambled on wet tyres, but the leading runners all stayed out, and Hamilton began to gain on the three men in front of him.

It looked at one point as if he had the pace to win even if the rain did not get any worse – but it did.

Vettel was trying to maintain his lead and was pulling away from Raikkonen, who was passed for second by Bottas on lap 52, with 15 laps to go.

But then, two laps later, as the rain spread across more of the track, Vettel was slithering through the Stadium, was slightly wide on entry to the hairpin at the centre of it and could not keep the car on track.

He slid slowly into the barrier on the exit and punched his steering wheel in dismay, knowing that a potentially decisive moment in the title race had happened through his own mistake.

“I don’t think it was a huge mistake,” Vettel told Sky Sports. “It’s not like I will have huge difficulties sleeping tonight because I made a big mistake. We didn’t need the rain.

“We have a strong car, so we can be as confident, more confident, than anybody else. It was one of those moments. My mistake. Apologies to the team.

“Small mistake, big disappointment. The tyres weren’t fresh, but it was slippery for everyone.” — BBC Sport