When you watch one of your rivals lock up and slide off the track on one lap, and the other drop out with a tyre blowout a lap later, you know fortune is on your side.

Lewis Hamilton understands what it takes to win grands prix better than any other driver on the grid, this was his 63rd grand prix victory, and after winning a race he described as "a lottery" the Mercedes driver was quick to pick holes in a performance he felt fell short of his usual high standards.

This wasn't an undeserved victory, far from it, but - as race engineer Pete Bonnington said over the radio after Hamilton took the chequered flag - lady luck was with them in Azerbaijan. But to capitalise, Hamilton had to show all of the grit and determination you'd expect of a world champion to take advantage of how the Azerbaijan GP played out.

About Edd Straw

Edd Straw is a former Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Autosport, who is now Motorsport Network’s Digital Content Manager.

Originally from Guernsey in the Channel Islands, he joined Autosport in 2002 having graduated from Warwick University. He went on to cover a wide range of categories from club motorsport to the World Touring Car Championship and Le Mans to Formula 3 before switching to F1 full-time at the 2008 French Grand Prix. He then became Autosport Magazine Editor in November 2014.

After becoming Editor-in-Chief of Autosport in June 2016, he took up his current wider Motorsport Network role in October the following year and continues to contribute as a writer, F1 correspondent and as host of The Autosport Podcast.

In his spare time, he was formerly a club racer whose abilities did not match his enthusiasm in a variety of categories ranging from Stock Hatch to the European Ferrari Challenge.