Lewis Hamilton has described his performance in winning the German Grand Prix as one of the best of his entire career. The British driver came from 14th on the grid to take victory and noted that his experience in karting was crucial to his ability to come through the pack.

The Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, also insisted that the instruction from the team to Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas not to attempt to pass him was a one-off order and that their drivers would continue to race freely in future. “If it had been the other way round with Valtteri in the lead and Lewis second we would have made an identical call,” Wolff said.

Hamilton took an unlikely win at Hockenheim, carving his way through the pack and then taking advantage when rain affected the final third of the race. The race had looked to be in his title rival Sebastian Vettel’s hands until the German crashed out after losing control of his car on the damp surface.

Hamilton opted not to take a pit stop when the circuit was treacherous, gaining track position and was able to hold on for the win despite a ferocious attack from Bottas. The victory was a blow to Vettel who had gone into the race leading the championship by eight points and now heads to the next round in Hungary on Sunday with a 17-point deficit to Hamilton.

Play Video 0:37 'I've never had a race like this' – Lewis Hamilton on German GP victory – video

The British driver has never won a race from lower than sixth on the grid before and having started in the midfield after a mechanical failure in qualifying his expectation was of damage limitation at best. However he turned in a remarkable performance.

“Saturday was a difficult day,” said Hamilton. “You have to turn all your positive energy to try and make something out of it. Every time there is a day like this it is a chance to show what you can do. Driving from the back is always more fun than driving from the front but you never know how far you can go. On Sunday I feel like I drove the best I can remember driving.”

The four-time world champion has often referred to his win at the British Grand Prix in 2008 as a stand-out performance. There he drove superbly to take the win in the wet from fourth on the grid. He was in a class of his own, persistently lapping quicker than the rest of the field but he rated the German Grand Prix as a superior run.

“I have had a lot of other races and there have been other great ones,” he said. “Silverstone 2008 was pretty great but I went off, so it was 99.8%. This one I did not make any mistakes at all, which I’m really proud of.”

He also recalled the kart he had started out with and how it had informed his success. “The kart I had was real old, it had been owned by five different families. I would always start at the back and would have to make my way through more experienced and faster karts and that’s where I learned to do it.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sebastian Vettel looks dismayed after sliding out. Photograph: Pixathlon/REX/Shutterstock

With Hamilton in the lead after the restart in the wake of Vettel’s crash, he was chased down hard by Bottas who almost passed him but was then ordered to hold station by Mercedes. The team was anxious not to lose the result after such an eventful race but would not impose further orders on Bottas.

“Racing is most important,” said Wolff. “We always said that if the championship goes into its last third or last quarter and there’s a big difference between the drivers, we might make these unpopular calls. But it’s much too early in the season to do this. Today we made it in order to bring a one-two home. If it had been the other way around with Valtteri in the lead and Lewis second we would have made the same call, an identical call.”

There was further drama after the race with Hamilton summoned to the stewards for crossing the pit-lane entry line when he opted not to pit at the last moment after a series of conflicting messages from his team. He could have lost the win but was issued with a reprimand, almost three hours after the chequered flag.

The FIA race director, Charlie Whiting, said that Ferrari had not issued a protest against Hamilton’s actions and explained why it had taken so long. “It just takes a little bit of time to make sure that, if you’re going to call a team, you have good reason for calling them,” he said. “We wanted to wait until after the race to take a look at it because we were getting quite close to the end of it. By the time everything had calmed down we needed to have a good look at it and the stewards decided they should discuss it with the team.”