Lewis Hamilton has further extended his championship lead after taking a comfortable German Grand Prix victory at Hockenheim.

The Mercedes driver made the most of a stunning start to claim the lead as pole-sitter Nico Rosberg bogged down and dropped to fourth, behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.

Hamilton quickly established a healthy lead which he maintained through a three-stop strategy to take the chequered flag for the sixth time this season.

The reigning world champion has now opened up a 19 point lead over Rosberg.

Ricciardo ultimately emerged as Hamilton’s nearest rival in second after beating team-mate Verstappen, who came home in third.

The Australian was forced to play second fiddle to Verstappen in the early stages as the latter stormed to second at the start.

However, an impressive stint on the super-soft tyres saw Ricciardo catch and pass Verstappen for second, which he held to the finish.

After a surprisingly slow getaway at the start, Rosberg managed to recover to second through smart strategy, but his race unravelled when he was awarded a five second time penalty.

Stewards issued the penalty after the German was deemed to have forced Verstappen off the road when he overtook the Red Bull driver at the hairpin.

Mercedes called Rosberg in for his third stop early to serve the penalty and offer him time to recover, but he was unable to improve on fourth spot.

It proved to be another frustrating day for Ferrari as both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen failed to make an impression on the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers.

Vettel crossed the finish line in fifth ahead of his team-mate as Ferrari slipped behind Red Bull in the constructors’ standings.

A solid drive from Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg saw the German finish his home race in seventh.

A late pass on a struggling Valtteri Bottas saw McLaren’s Jenson Button take eighth, while Sergio Perez (Force India) pipped Esteban Gutierrez (Haas F1) to the final points paying position.

Felipe Massa retired from the race at the halfway point after suffering handling issue following contact from Jolyon Palmer on the opening lap.

The Sauber of Felipe Nasr was the only other retirement in the closing stages.

Result: Formula 1 German Grand Prix

Championship Standings