Sebastian Vettel has achieved many things in his career, but prior to Sunday the Ferrari driver had never won nor led more than a handful of laps at Hockenheim – a venue only a handful of miles from where he grew up.

That was until rain showers swept over the German circuit late on and turned events on their head. Caught out by the slippery track, Vettel slithered into the barriers on lap 52, allowing title rival Lewis Hamilton – who’d started a distant 14th after his qualifying dramas – to make full use of a brilliant Mercedes strategy call to sweep into the lead, take victory and reclaim the advantage in the title race.

A post-race investigation followed, but on the weekend he signed a new two-year deal with Mercedes, the world champion wasn’t to be denied.

Hamilton, who had never previously won from outside the top six on the grid, led home team mate Valtteri Bottas to give the Silver Arrows their first ever one-two on home soil. In doing so Hamilton also equalled Michael Schumacher’s record of four German GP wins, as the seven-time world champion’s former team Ferrari had to make do with third place for Kimi Raikkonen.

Max Verstappen brought his Red Bull home in P4, a gamble to switch to intermediate tyres having failed to pay off, while Nico Hulkenberg took a superbly judged fifth for Renault in front of his home fans.

Haas’s Romain Grosjean pipped Force India’s Sergio Perez to sixth on the final lap, with the Mexican’s team mate Esteban Ocon, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley – all of whom had been out of the points before the rain came – completing the top ten points scorers.