Formula 1: Ranking Lewis Hamilton’s 4 gift-wrapped victories of 2018

#2 – German Grand Prix

It was hard to not put the German Grand Prix, which was the 11th race of the season, at #1. Lewis Hamilton started this 67-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.842-mile (4.574-kilometer) Hockenheimring in Am Motodrom, Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 14th place after dropping out of qualifying following the first qualifying session with a mechanical failure.

Hamilton entered this race with 65 career Formula 1 victories to his name, and he had never won a race after starting from further back than sixth place on the grid. But that changed in this race, and it changed in dramatic fashion.

On lap 52 of the race, light rain was coming down, but it had been coming down for several laps. Race polesitter Sebastian Vettel appeared to have the race well in hand, as he led second place Valtteri Bottas by more than nine seconds. Kimi Raikkonen trailed Bottas in third while Hamilton had worked his way up to fourth.

But in turn 12, Vettel, who would have taken the lead of the driver standings by winning this race, lost control of his car and crashed into the barriers, bringing out a safety car.

Here is a video of this incident.

Bottas and Raikkonen both took advantage of this safety car period to pit for new tires. That was Hamilton’s plan as well, but he backed out of pitting at the last second, causing him to inherit the lead on old tires.

After the restart, Bottas had a few great chances to pass Hamilton for the lead, but he failed to do so. Shortly after Mercedes saw how close their two drivers were to one another, they ordered Bottas to hold his position, allowing Hamilton to take one of the most improbable victories of his career.

And it wouldn’t have happened had Vettel not crashed with a potential race victory all but locked up.