Romain Grosjean took plenty of positives from a late fight back through the field to claim sixth place at the German Grand Prix, just his second points finish of the season.

The Haas team had looked in strong shape, once again qualifying 'best of the rest' but were involved in a big battle with Renault during the race at Hockenheim and would both drop out of the points after a decision to switch to intermediates backfired.

Able to get ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen, who would finish 11th, the Frenchman made his way past Marcus Ericsson and the two Force Indias in a frantic final 10 laps in the midfield.

"That was good fun. It was a good end to the race," Grosjean beamed. "Obviously, we didn’t quite get the right choice putting inters on, as the track dried really quickly for some reason.

"It was a bit of luck, a gamble, but we came back on slicks, and I had amazing fun through those last laps."

The result was also a sense of redemption for Romain, who came under fire from his team after Silverstone, where another strong result was lost through his own incidents.

"I was just pushing it to the limit and going for it. I think we would’ve been quite happy to be where we were before the rain came, and then, obviously, it rained," he said.

"The boys deserved a really good drive from me, and I had fun doing it."

Lewis Hamilton considered his victory at the German Grand Prix as one of the best after coming through from 14th on the grid and benefitting from a crash for championship rival Sebastian Vettel.

24 hours prior, the Mercedes driver appeared distraught as he crouched over the side of his car as a hydraulics problem saw him knocked out at the end of Q1, but after quickly making his way through the field in the opening 12 laps, a change in the weather would present the opportunity to capitalise.

Switching to new Ultrasoft tyres just before the rain began, that proved the right decision as the track was never fully wet enough for intermediates and the fresh grip allowed him to close in rapidly on the leaders.

It was Vettel's slide into the barriers at the Sachskurve that would put Hamilton in the lead, as Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen pitted ahead and from there, Mercedes introduced team orders telling their drivers to come home in formation.

“The mistake from Sebastian today has been a benefit to us at Mercedes,” Lewis admitted post-race.

“It is great to be here at Mercedes' home ground, our second home, and to get the 1-2 particularly after they just re-signed us and confirmed their confidence in us.

“It is just a tremendous day for us."

His 66th career win and 44th as car No. 44 was also Hamilton's first from starting outside the top six on the grid yet the 33-year-old admitted he never lost hope after qualifying.

“It’s obviously very, very difficult from that position and highly unlikely but you’ve always got to believe," he continued.

“I just wanted to stay calm and collected. I’m so grateful, I kept pushing and kept believing and it happened.

“After racing for so many years you never know when you are going to have another good race, to have a better race than your best, and this is now up there.”

There were a few nervy moments after the race, however, as he was called to the stewards for crossing the pit-lane entry line amid a moment of frantic confusion over the radio as to whether he was to pit under the Safety Car.

After the investigation, only a reprimand was given as the FIA cited that radio confusion and the safe manner with which Hamilton returned to the track.

“It’s been emotional, the most emotional day, up and down,” he added later. “No one ever wants to go and see the stewards. They have the hardest job, because every scenario is always different.

“They ask you to explain what happened, and I was 100% open with them. I’m very rarely there. There have been many times in the past, I was there a lot, but I hardly ever see them now."

Offering a brief explanation to the media, Lewis said: “I honestly thought that I was going to stay out, I was happy with my tyres, and then they said: ‘Come in,’ and I saw Valtteri ahead coming in, so I was like ‘are they sure about it?’

“By the time I got in it was ‘no, stay out’. It was literally go left, go right? I just slowed down and trundled over some grass and made sure I joined the track as safe as I could.”

Daniel Ricciardo conceded he probably won't remember much from the German Grand Prix after a tough race was ended early by more engine problems.

The Australian entered the weekend already on the back foot with the knowledge he would start from the back of the grid as Red Bull finally decided to introduce new engine components which would go beyond his allowance for the season.

While the 'Honey Badger' had pumped himself up for a fight through the field even that brought little joy as he struggled to make rapid progress on a strategy more geared towards the potential for rain.

"The first 10 to 15 laps were really hard on the Medium tyre and they were a handful," he explained.

"I was really struggling in the traffic. Even off the start just had no grip. Once I got into clean air we were able to so some low 18s, which seemed competitive at the time.

"It was looking alright. But we struggled that first part and then once we got a good run I think the race would probably have come to us."

The 29-year-old would never find out, however, as on Lap 29 he would become the first retirement at Hockenheim.

"I felt it braking for Turn 6," he said. "When I was downshifting, I heard something was sick and then once I accelerated I expected something when I got on power, and it was underpowered.

"I came on the radio straight away. I expected them to tell me to pull it over, and they did. I have not seen the team yet. I guess it is the engine or something.

"I feel like I have been in this position too often this season. It hurts, it always does."

Though the reasoning has yet to be confirmed, should the issue be linked to the MGU-K, control electronics or battery it could result in yet another grid penalty this weekend in Hungary, a race Red Bull hope to win.

Certainly, Ricciardo hopes that won't be the case and will want to create better memories than from his trip back to Germany.

"I may not remember this race but I will remember the crowd, they all showed up today which was really nice to see and I guess they know it may be the last time we come here for a while," he said.

"It’s been a good show for them, but not for me. Hopefully, I can go and win in a week’s time before we all head off for the summer break."

Lewis Hamilton soon put the demons of qualifying behind him as he made the most of a mid-race rain shower to claim an unlikely victory at the German GP from 14th on the grid.

Despite concerns overtaking would be too difficult, the world champion made his way through the field upto fifth in the first 12 laps and then, as two short rain showers intervened, long-time race leader Sebastian Vettel would find himself in the barrier at the Sachskurve, leaving the Mercedes driver ahead to claim a fourth win of the season.

The race began under cloudy but dry conditions with Vettel in complete control as he held the lead into Turn 1 from Valtteri Bottas and would go on to build a gap of around four seconds in a repeat of the first stint at Silverstone.

The main battle on the opening lap was between Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen for third, as the Dutchman got a tremendous slipstream on the run to Turn 6, however, the Finn defended well and the Red Bull was unable to get past.

On a subdued opening lap, with no incidents of note, even Hamilton didn't make any progress until he pulled off two moves on Sergey Sirotkin and Esteban Ocon through the Stadium section.

By Lap 12 though, all the midfield runners had put up little resistance to the Briton's charge and he was up to P5, with Ferrari deciding to react by pitting Raikkonen early to ensure he stayed ahead of the recovering Mercedes.

Also making his way through was Daniel Ricciardo from 19th, having opted to start on the Medium tyres to ensure the longest possible stint with the threat of rain.

The Red Bull driver would get back upto sixth at one stage, once the final midfield runners had pitted, but he would never get far enough to see any benefit of his strategy as a loss of power saw him pull over just before the Stadium section and become the first retirement.

Out front, Raikkonen's pace on the Soft tyre after his early stop put him in the lead ahead of Vettel when the German, sticking to a one-stop strategy, pitted for new tyres some 11 laps later.

Sebastian would close up but would end up sat behind his teammate for several laps, growing increasingly frustrated with lock-ups into the hairpin and radio messages asking to be moved ahead.

Eventually, that order would come but the time lost proved crucial as the weather was about to intervene.

Hamilton would be the last to pit for new Ultrasoft tyres, having started on the Soft, but two laps later the first downpour would arrive at the hairpin causing some drivers, including Verstappen, to scamper onto the intermediates.

Confined to just one corner though, the circuit would never be wet enough all around for the wet compound and instead, the fresh Ultrasoft was giving Hamilton a two-second pace advantage over the field.

A second rain shower would damp the Hockenheim surface just enough to cause drivers to start struggling for grip and it was then that Vettel locked his rears approaching the Sachskurve and would slide helplessly into the gravel and the barrier much to his annoyance.

A Safety Car would be called to clear the stricken Ferrari with Raikkonen and Bottas opting to pit for a second time while Hamilton stayed out after a moment of confusion over the radio.

As a result, he would move into the lead but would have his teammate and the sole Ferrari right behind on new rubber.

When the race resumed, unsurprisingly it was Bottas who had better instant grip and he looked to challenge the Briton into the hairpin and through to Turn 8, soon after chief strategist James Vowles came over the radio to inform the Finn to stay in second, which he would do.

Raikkonen could not get close enough in third with Verstappen also just too far back to challenge in fourth.

The chaos with the weather and Safety Car allowed Nico Hulkenberg upto fifth for Renault as Haas slipped down the field.

Romain Grosjean would recover some places late on to secure sixth for the American team with the two Force India's seventh and eighth, as Sergio Perez led Esteban Ocon.

Marcus Ericsson benefitted from staying on slicks to claim ninth for Sauber with Brendon Hartley taking 10th after Carlos Sainz was given a 10-second penalty for passing behind the Safety Car.

Outside the points, Kevin Magnussen was unable to make the late progress of his Haas partner and was P11 with Sainz dropping to P12 after his penalty.

Stoffel Vandoorne would be 13th as Pierre Gasly bizarrely switched to full wets as the first shower arrived and ruined his race in 14th.

Charles Leclerc would be one of the first to switch to inters and would then struggle back on slicks, spinning at Turn 1 with a perfect 360 before continuing to P15.

Finally, Fernando Alonso would pull into the pits from last in the closing laps as the two Williams joined Ricciardo and Vettel in the retirements section with mechanical problems.

A full finishing order can be seen below:

Kimi Raikkonen was nonchalant about Ferrari's decision to move him out of the way for Sebastian Vettel during the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Finn was on a different strategy to his teammate during the race at Hockenheim, pitting early on Lap 16, and his pace was such that when Vettel made his own stop 11 laps later, Kimi emerged in front.

Now with the faster car, the long-time leader closed up but was frustrated at being unable to get past Raikkonen and complained over the radio that he was ruining his tyres.

Later the call would come from Jock Clear to allow Vettel through, however, trying to use the tyres as the reasoning for the switch, the Ferrari engineer's wording simply annoyed the 'Iceman'.

“If you want me to let him go, just tell me…,” he said.

“Affirm, Kimi, affirm,” was the response, with the move done at the hairpin just as it was when Felipe Massa let Fernando Alonso by in 2010.

“We have certain rules but it wasn’t clear,” Raikkonen said later. “I had the speed and it was at a moment in the race that I needed to two-stop and it was what happened."

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• Vettel rues the "big impact" of a "small mistake" during the German GP
• Bottas: Mercedes team order made "complete sense"

The decision ultimately came to nothing as Vettel would slide into the barriers at the Sachskurve as rain ultimately ruined the Scuderia's race, as Kimi too lost out on second to Valtteri Bottas.

“It was a tricky race with the rain, pretty slippery in some places," the 38-year-old said.

“I had a moment with one of the lappers, the Sauber, and then Valtteri got past me.

“Happy to finish, a bit disappointed but I’ll take it today and we’ll try next time again.”

Sebastian Vettel made the most of mechanical problems for championship rival Lewis Hamilton as he claimed pole position for the German Grand Prix on Sunday.

Though the Briton went out at the end of Q1, as a hydraulics failure left him 14th on the grid, the local favourite still faced a stern challenge from the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas in a brilliant Q3 battle at Hockenheim.

First, it was the Ferrari driver who set the benchmark on the first runs before the Finn hit back with his second attempt, Vettel though was not going to be deprived of top spot and set a blistering new lap record of 1m11.212s to hold a two-tenths advantage over the field.

A poor middle sector on his second attempt left Kimi Raikkonen down in third, while Friday pacesetter Max Verstappen had to settle for fourth as once again Red Bull's engine deficit over a single lap held the Dutchman back.

The main story early on was the demise of Hamilton, however, as the Mercedes driver ground to a halt on the circuit in the final moments of Q1 after already setting a time good enough to make the second part of qualifying.

Initially, some thought a bumpy ride across the exit kerbs and run-off area at Turn 1 had caused the hydraulics problem which left him without drive, but later the team confirmed it was, in fact, the other way around as heavy steering put Lewis wide.

Aware that stopping on track would see him out of the session, the 33-year-old tried to push his car back with the entire Stadium section between him and the pits, soon though marshals caught up Hamilton and pushed his car away leaving him distraught at the side of the track.

Also facing a comeback through the field in the race is Daniel Ricciardo as the Australian was already facing a 20-place grid penalty for new engine components. As a result, he would complete Q1 but would not go out in Q2 and will start from P20.

With two leading drivers out of the equation, that allowed Haas cars to continue as the fourth best team and secure their best ever qualifying as Kevin Magnussen beat teammate Romain Grosjean into fifth with the Frenchman sixth.

The two Renaults closely followed with Nico Hulkenberg in seventh ahead of Carlos Sainz, with the Spaniard having to battle his way through to Q3 after narrowly avoiding early eliminations.

Charles Leclerc made it three top 10's in four qualifying sessions in P9 for Sauber as Sergio Perez completed the Q3 order in P10 in the Force India.

Q2 was a disrupted session as Marcus Ericsson spun off through Sachskurve and dragged gravel onto the circuit, requiring a red flag to clear it away.

The timing was awful for Verstappen as he was set to improve his lap time on the Soft tyre, trying a different strategy for the race start, but would have to return to the pits.

Ericsson would end up 13th as only three drivers were eliminated in the second stage with Fernando Alonso P11 and Sergey Sirotkin producing a strong performance to put his Williams in 12th.

With Ricciardo's grid drop, the Q1 order will all move up one place, meaning Esteban Ocon starts 15th after falling at the first hurdle for the first time since Monaco last year.

The two Toro Rosso's were possibly compromised by Hamilton's problems but 16th for Pierre Gasly and 17th for Brendon Hartley was still not far off their likely expectations.

Lance Stroll will start 18th as Stoffel Vandoorne's dreadful weekend continued as he set the slowest time overall and lines up on the back row alongside the Red Bull.

The full results from qualifying can be seen below:

Perhaps with the ink still drying on his new contract, Valtteri Bottas insists he fully understood the team's decision to tell him to stay behind Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps of the German GP.

For the Finn, it was another case of what might have been as he ran second behind Sebastian Vettel for the first half of the race and would move ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the damp conditions as his fellow countryman was caught out by traffic.

However, a decision to pit under the Safety Car caused by Vettel's off into the barriers, put teammate Hamilton into the lead.

Bottas would attack on the first lap after the restart, trying to make a move into the hairpin and into Turn 8, but soon after the call came from chief strategist James Vowles to hold formation until the chequered flag.

“From my side, no hard feelings on the call. It made complete sense for me,” he said afterwards.

“We had the battle in the first lap, that was it. I had already lost the race before that with the Safety Car. For me, it was really bad timing so it didn’t really go my way.”

The 28-year-old would claim he was free to challenge his teammate in those first few corners after the restart, however.

"I think we had a nice battle with Lewis the first lap after the Safety Car,” he said.

“Here you need quite a big pace difference to overtake and being more or less on equal tyres it would have been really tricky.”

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• Hamilton hails "tremendous" German GP win after surviving post-race investigation

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff also explained the decision, believing the circumstances made holding station the only choice.

"First of all, we didn’t have the quickest car here and we just need to progress for the next races because that is the most important,” the Austrian said.

“But it was still raining at the time and the fight was so intense. It was all to lose with the bad luck we have had in the last few races and we wanted to keep it calm at that stage.”

Fiat CEO and Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne is set to leave his position in coming days with the board of the Italian carmaker poised to discuss his replacement.

Marchionne has been very outspoken during his time in charge, since taking over from Luca di Montezemolo in 2014, particularly regarding Liberty Media's vision for Formula 1 in 2021 as he has threatened to pull the iconic Scuderia out if an agreement wasn't reached.

The Italian-Canadian also brought the Alfa Romeo name back into F1 for the first time since 1985 as a title sponsor and technical partner at Sauber, helping to push the Swiss team up the grid.

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• FIA president Todt confident Ferrari won't follow through on 2021 quit threat

Now though a new name, with board member and former Phillip Morris chairman Louis Carey Camilleri considered the favourite, will take over and have to conclude the negotiations with Liberty and decide if Ferrari will continue in the sport.

Marchionne's departure is not a surprise as he was already expected to leave later in the year, however, health complications following shoulder surgery appear to have brought forward that timeline.

Sebastian Vettel admits his overriding emotion was simply frustration as a "small mistake" had a "big impact" on his German Grand Prix on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver was in control of his home race at Hockenheim for the first half, pulling out a comfortable margin over Valtteri Bottas in second, but things turned sour after his pit-stop as he grew frustrated at being stuck behind teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who had jumped ahead having switched to a two-stop strategy.

Eventually, the 2018 version of 'Fernando is faster than you' would take place as the pit-wall introduced team orders, but as the second of two light rain showers fell later on, the track was just wet enough for Vettel to lock his rear brakes entering the Sachskurve and slide helplessly into the barrier and out of the race.

His disappointment was clear over the radio with a series of expletives and the 31-year-old admitted it was just one of those things.

“I was in the barrier and realised I don’t get out from there so how do you process that," he said. “I don’t think it was a huge mistake but it was a huge impact on the race as we retired there.

It is not like tonight I’ll have difficulties falling asleep because of what I’ve done. I think it is disappointing because up until that point everything was sweet.

“As I said we didn’t need the rain.”

What made it worse was the subsequent Safety Car put championship rival Lewis Hamilton into the lead and allowed him to claim victory, opening up a 17-point lead in the Drivers' standings.

That didn't concern the 31-year-old, however.

“We have a strong car so we can be confident more than anyone else,” he claimed.

“It was just one of those moments. My mistake so apologies to the team as they did everything dead right.

“I had it in my hands, small mistake, big disappointment.”

With Mercedes confirmed and Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull set to follow, attention may soon switch back to Fernando Alonso and whether he stays at McLaren in 2019.

Earlier in the year, amid the problems and after his win at Le Mans, speculation grew stronger that the Spaniard could be ditching Formula 1 to follow on IndyCar and the Indy 500, the final leg of motorsport's 'triple crown'.

After McLaren's personnel shake-up prior to the British GP though, some believe plans for an IndyCar entry, which Alonso could have been part of, have been put on hold. Still the 36-year-old is not ready to make a decision just yet.

“I didn’t have time to think in June or July, to be honest,” said Alonso, who had five F1 races and Le Mans commitments in seven straight weeks.

“Probably in August, when I’m at the beach tanning, it will be time to think a little bit more.”

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As for teammate Stoffel Vandoorne, he is anticipating another year in orange despite another difficult season that has seen him fail to take the fight to his double world champion partner.

“I’m pretty sure,” the Belgian said ahead of the German Grand Prix weekend. “For sure it’s not been a year and a half I was hoping to have in Formula 1. Ultimately we’ve been struggling a lot in terms of the results.

“We’ve had both years a car that struggled to fight for points let’s say and it’s not always easy to show the right things in those circumstances. But that’s the situation we’re in.”