London: Lewis Hamilton stormed to his second win of the season, hailing his German Grand Prix victory performance as his most perfect ever.
Emerging victorious from a titanic struggle with Red Bull's Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, the British driver ensured that the gloom surrounding McLaren, which was almost as leaden as the skies above the Nurburgring, was finally lifted.
Stunned at how his team had managed to improve his car following the disappointments of the European and British Grand Prix, the 26-year-old extracted every drop of extra speed from his McLaren with a near faultless display.
"This race was as perfect as I have ever had," proclaimed a beaming Hamilton afterwards. "I am buzzing. I can't express the feeling inside when I win. I cannot imagine anything could feel like this."
The win was all the sweeter given the criticism both he and his team have had to endure following a roller-coaster first half of the 2011 season.
Energy
"It is a mixture of lots of things," said Hamilton. "Not expecting to win, the ups-and-downs, the things said against you and then the win. That is a victory for the whole team and I feel the energy from them. I can feel the whole team and the whole factory jumping.
"My dad always told me when I was growing up to do my talking on the track and it is very difficult to stick with that because sometimes you want to let off steam off the track, which I have. But today I did all my talking on the track."
Hamilton overtook pole-sitter Webber on the opening lap, but was forced to regain the lead a further three times on an afternoon where he declared himself back in the title fight with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.
The world champion could only manage fourth place in his home grand prix — the first time he has not been on the podium in 12 races.
The only disappointment for McLaren was Jenson Button's failure to finish for the second race in a row after a hydraulic problem forced him to retire in the pits at the end of lap 35.
Button had been battling his way through the field having slipped from seventh to 10th on the opening lap.
The 2009 world champion conceded: "I don't think we're fighting for the championship anymore. I'm just going to go out there and do the best I can in every race."
