Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in action during the German Grand Prix on Sunday Reuters

Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion, took the chequered flag for a record-equalling fourth German Grand Prix win

Lewis Hamilton raced from 14th to first to seize a "miracle" German Grand Prix victory in a Mercedes one-two on Sunday and retake the Formula One championship lead from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who crashed.

Vettel, now 17 points behind the Briton after starting eight ahead, led his home race from pole position until rain caused chaos in the closing laps, with the German sliding off and into the barriers.

"The difference between the best and the very good is that on the very difficult days they are able to make the difference."

Lewis Hamilton's performance at the #GermanGP went some way to showing why Mercedes gave him such a lucrative contract.