Hamilton Reasserts his Authority

The ASM driver came from second on the grid to overhaul pole-sitter Lucas di Grassi by the first corner. Thereafter he controlled proceedings, often adding more than a second per lap to his advantage in typically changeable Nurburgring conditions.

Things weren't so straightforward for the rest of the pack, however. Di Grassi collided with Manor teammate Paul di Resta at the first corner and retired at the end of the opening lap.

There was similar intrateam chaos at Signature - James Rossiter clouted Loic Duval at the opening corner, and the Briton then slid into countryman Danny Watts at the next turn, forcing them both out of the race.

The first-corner chaos allowed Adrian Sutil and Marco Bonanomi to hold second and third initially, but the Italian was soon dispatched by a charging Sebastian Vettel, and the young German then nipped past Sutil when the second ASM driver slid wide on the damp surface at Turn One.

Hamilton cruised to the finish almost 20 seconds clear of the pack, with Vettel holding off Sutil in second. Bonanomi, Giedo van der Garde and Franck Perera rounded out the top six.

"After yesterday I really wanted to push today, just to show people that I hadn't cracked," said Hamilton. "I did my fastest lap when I had a 17-second cushion because I didn't want to give anything away.

"I was overwhelmed when I went across the line - it's such a good end to what's been a difficult weekend for me."

CLASSIFIED:

Pos  Driver             Team                     Time
 1.  Lewis Hamilton     ASM F3                   30:18.782
 2.  Sebastian Vettel   ASL Mucke Motorsport     +  19.615
 3.  Adrian Sutil       ASM F3                   +  22.411
 4.  Marco Bonanomi     Prema Powerteam          +  29.406
 5.  G. van der Garde   Team Rosberg             +  29.533
 6.  Franck Perera      Prema Powerteam          +  31.557
 7.  Kohei Hirate       Team Rosberg             +  34.572
 8.  Guillaume Moreau   Signature                +  35.737
 9.  Greg Franchi       Prema Powerteam          +  38.664
10.  Loic Duval         Signature-Plus           +  41.855
11.  Hannes Neuhauser   HBR Motorsport           +  45.055
12.  Esteban Guerrieri  Team Midland Euroseries  +  47.448
13.  Fabio Carbone      Signature                +  52.430
14.  Alejandro Nunez    HBR Motorsport           +  54.535
15.  Thomas Holzer      AM-Holzer Rennsport      +  57.782
16.  Stephan Jelley     Team Midland Euroseries  +1:08.767
17.  Atila Abreu        ASL Mucke Motorsport     +  1 Lap
18.  Julia Kuhn                                  +  1 Lap
19.  Filip Salaquarda   Team I.S.R.              +  5 Laps

NOT CLASSIFIED/RETIREMENTS:

     Driver             Team                 On Lap
     Paul di Resta      Manor Motorsport        9
     Lucas di Grassi    Manor Motorsport        1
     James Rossiter     Signature-Plus          0
     Danny Watts        HBR Motorsport          0

Fastest lap: Lewis Hamilton, 1:22.744