Lewis Hamilton wins thrilling German Grand Prix

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton won a thrilling German Grand Prix with a feisty drive at a chilly Nurburgring to move third in the championship.

Hamilton jumped Mark Webber's Red Bull at the start for the lead, lost and regained it before beating Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Webber to the line.   An error-strewn drive saw Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel finish fourth but his championship lead remains 77 points.

McLaren's Jenson Button retired for the second race in a row.   An aggressive qualifying lap had earned Hamilton second on the grid behind Webber and the 26-year-old delivered more of the same when it counted most.   A second victory of the season - and his 16th career victory - leaves Hamilton 82 points behind Vettel with nine races left to go.

Hamilton celebrated on his pit-to-car radio: "Great job guys, great job. Keep pushing, these are the results we can get, it's amazing."  The 2008 world champion jumped pole-sitter Webber at the start to take the lead and although the Australian passed him a few laps later, Hamilton used the Red Bull's slip stream to re-take the lead.

Lewis Hamilton hails 'one of best laps I've ever done'

Lewis Hamilton said McLaren have answered their critics after he delivered one of his best qualifying laps at the German Grand Prix.  After two tough races for the team, Hamilton qualified second behind Red Bull's Mark Webber with a stunning lap.

"It was one of the best laps I've ever done," said the 2008 champion.  "What we were able to do reminds me of what a strong team I have and how they never give up - which is what we've been telling people for a long time."

Hamilton's ability to split the front-running Red Bulls of Webber and his team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who was third, represented an impressive turnaround in form.  After Friday's two practice sessions, Hamilton bleakly summed up his chances of challenging Red Bull and Ferrari saying: "We won't find an answer tomorrow. We definitely can't challenge them for pole."

But despite cool track conditions at the fast and flowing Nurburgring, Hamilton came to within only 0.055 seconds of denying Red Bull pole for the first time this season.

Mark Webber pips Sebastian Vettel to British Grand Prix pole

Mark Webber won a close battle with Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso to claim pole for Sunday's British Grand Prix.

It is only the second time in nine races this season that Vettel has been beaten to pole and Alonso was closer than Ferrari were expected to be here.

But McLaren struggled, with Jenson Button qualifying fifth for his home race and Lewis Hamilton only 10th.

Scot Paul di Resta was impressive in taking sixth for Force India.

The 26-year-old has now out-qualified his experienced team-mate Adrian Sutil for the seventh time in nine races.