But F1 is often unpredictable and when his McLaren team got their pit strategy wrong it left Hamilton down in fifth place.

Nevertheless the Stevenage star fought his way back to the front to take his second win in a row. Trackside’s Keith Collantine explains how he did it.

See our slide show of German Grand Prix action

There were sighs of relief at McLaren after the German Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton had been the fastest driver all weekend. He took pole position and scorched off into the lead, quickly building an 11 second advantage over his closest challenger – Felipe Massa in the Ferrari.

But in one of those sudden twists that transforms an ordinary Grand Prix into a race to remember, Hamilton lost his lead when his team made a tactical error.

On lap 36 Toyota’s Timo Glock crashed heavily into the pit wall. He lost control of his car on the exit of a 150mph bend and hadn’t scrubbed off much speed before he struck the barrier.

As the badly damaged car came to a rest with debris scattered across the circuit, F1’s race director Charlie Whiting wasted no time in calling for the safety car to control the field while the track was cleared.

F1 teams know the appearance of the safety car means they can make a pit stop without losing as much time as they usually would. With this safety car period being close enough to the end of the race that they could make their final pit stop, it was a surprise when McLaren chose not to bring Hamilton in. Meanwhile, almost every other car did come in for its last stop.

That left Hamilton leading from Nick Heidfeld, who also had to pit, and Nelson Piquet Jnr, who had made his only pit stop just before the safety car came out. Behind them were Massa, Heikki Kovalainen and Robert Kubica.

Hamilton had a mere seven laps in which to try and build up enough of a lead to be able to take his final pit stop without losing first place. It wasn’t nearly enough and after he came in on lap 50 he emerged fifth.

Hamilton now set about getting his lead back. Team mate Kovalainen did little to delay his progress, and when Heidfeld pitted Hamilton was up to third.

He rapidly hauled in Massa and passed the driver with surprising ease on lap 57.

That left only Piquet. The Renault driver has had a poor start to his F1 career and wasn’t about to throw away the best results of his – and Renault’s - season so far by colliding with Hamilton. He was largely powerless to stop Hamilton slipstreaming past for a memorable win.

Hamilton’s victory breaks the three-way tie in the F1 championship and put him first ahead of Ferrari duo Massa and Kimi Raikkonen.

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F1 championship standings

1. Lewis Hamilton - 58
2. Felipe Massa - 54
3. Kimi Raikkonen - 51
4. Robert Kubica - 48
5. Nick Heidfeld - 41
6. Heikki Kovalainen - 28
7. Jarno Trulli - 20
8. Mark Webber - 18
9. Fernando Alonso - 13
10. Rubens Barrichello - 11
11. Nelson Piquet Jnr - 10
12. Kazuki Nakajima - 8
13. Nico Rosberg - 8
14. David Coulthard - 6
15. Sebastian Vettel - 6
16. Timo Glock - 5
17. Jenson Button - 3
18. Sebastien Bourdais - 2

Next race: Hungarian Grand Prix, August 1st – 3rd

Video

Jackie Stewart explains the importance of getting race strategy right:

See our slide show of German Grand Prix action