Lewis Hamilton won the British GP to the delight of the home crowd but it's F1 fans the world over who really won. Sunday's race had almost all you could ask for in a race. Surprise, drama, fights and redemption. The only thing that could have made it better was if the Mercedes were not quite so dominant and you had one race rather than two separate ones.
In race #1, I'm not convinced Hamilton would have caught Rosberg despite the certainty British commentators seem to have. Hamilton only started making ground up when Rosberg's gearbox started acting up. In the end it had to be that the German's reliability streak would end and Hamilton inherited a win. He was so far ahead of the field Mercedes made an extra pit stop for safety, even with the extra stop, he finished 30 seconds ahead of second place Bottas.
Comparisons with Mohammed Ali aside, the championship is now reset which is more fun than if one of the two ran away with it and redemption for Hamilton after a string of unforced errors.
But the real treat was what happened in race #2 after the crazy qualifying and the nasty first lap accident for Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi's annus horribilis continues with no sign of respite. That was a 47G hit, head on into the guard rail. It took an hour for the British track workers to replace the piece of armco he bent. Not sure why he decided to go on the grass, perhaps he was thinking he was still on the lawnmower?
Great races from Bottas and Ricciardo, both going long on their tires, Bottas came from 14, while Daniel from 8th on the grid. fantastic drives from both.
Everyone would have loved to have seen Button on the podium, if anything just to see the expression on Ron Dennis' face after his somewhat harsh remarks before the race. But, that was not to be.
Alonso, after shooting himself in the foot twice, first in qualifying and then at the start of the race where he had a senior moment and overshot his grid spot, had just an epic drive. The sheer determination in dragging a car that was clearly nervous and twitchy from 16th on the grid all the way to fourth before his pit+ 5 sec. penalty stop.
He passed people in every possible place and in every possible way. His pass on Vettel, on the outside of Copse was epic. Interesting to watch the onboard and see how we was taking some very different lines in the slower corners to help with Ferrari's traction issues.
Vettel, on a two stopper, chased down Alonso who was on older tires and their dogfight was one of the best in many years. Alonso knew he did not have the speed but man did he make Vettel work for it.
What a show, fans won!
Enjoy this driving master class
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 2h26m52.094s
2. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +30.135s
3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault +46.495s
4. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +47.390s
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault +53.864s
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +59.946s
7. Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +1m02.563s
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +1m28.692s
9. Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Renault +1m29.340s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Renault -1 lap
11. Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes -1 lap
12. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault -1 lap
13. Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari -1 lap
14. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari -1 lap
15. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault -2 laps
16. Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari -2 laps
17. Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault -3 laps
Retirements:
Nico Rosberg Mercedes 28 laps
Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 11 laps
Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 9 laps
Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1 laps
Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 0 laps
Drivers' championship Constructors' championship 1. Nico Rosberg 165 1. Mercedes 326 2. Lewis Hamilton 161 2. Red Bull-Renault 168 3. Daniel Ricciardo 98 3. Ferrari 106 4. Fernando Alonso 87 4. Williams-Mercedes 103 5. Valtteri Bottas 73 5. Force India-Mercedes 91 6. Sebastian Vettel 70 6. McLaren-Mercedes 90 7. Nico Hulkenberg 63 7. Toro Rosso-Renault 15 8. Jenson Button 55 8. Lotus-Renault 8 9. Kevin Magnussen 35 9. Marussia-Ferrari 2 10. Felipe Massa 30 10. Sauber-Ferrari 0 11. Sergio Perez 28 11. Caterham-Renault 0 12. Kimi Raikkonen 19 13. Jean-Eric Vergne 9 14. Romain Grosjean 8 15. Daniil Kvyat 6 16. Jules Bianchi 2
(via Autosport)
