Lewis Hamilton says his German Grand Prix victory was so comfortable he was able to turn down his Mercedes engine on the second lap.

Hamilton beat Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg off the line and into Turn 1, claiming a lead he never relinquished. Rosberg dropped to fourth behind the Red Bulls at the start and that took him out of victory contention, allowing Hamilton -- who is one engine change away from a grid penalty -- to think about nursing his engine to the end.

Asked about how he managed the car, Hamilton replied: "I turned down my engine pretty much from the second, third lap, I think it was. From very early on I had already turned it down and then when he said 'it's hammer time' I was able to switch it back on and eek out the gap when needed."

"At the end I was trying to make that engine go as far as possible and when you turn it down it's just easier on the engine, rather than using all the horses. You keep a few on the side and I was hoping to prolong the life ... You just don't know when it's going to go, none of us do. I just wanted to treat it as well as I could and that's what I was doing."

After the final pit stops, with Hamilton on the soft tyre, Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo cut a significant chunk out of the lead. Hamilton says that was simply down to his engine conservation.

"I was 11 seconds ahead and I just took it really easy on my tyres. It got down to five, something like that, and I thought 'OK, probably got to get back on it now', which I did. I don't remember if I opened it up again after that but I felt fully in control the whole race, fortunately, which is not always a scenario you're in."