Exactly
six years since Lewis Hamilton first claimed his first British Grand Prix
victory, he won his second Formula One race on July 6, 2014 for Mercedes AMG
Petronas at Silverstone. Valtteri Bottas finished 2nd for Williams Mercedes,
the highest of his career with Daniel
Ricciardo taking the final podium place for Red Bull Racing Renault to conclude
the 50th British Grand Prix.
The
drama filled race saw action of all sorts from the word go as in the first lap itself
Kimi Raikkonen driving his Ferrari went wide on the turn to the Wellington
straight, losing control and crashing his car into the barriers, damaging Max
Chilton’s Marussia-Ferrari and Kamui Kobayashi’s Caterham-Renault. In fact,
Kobayashi did some excellent driving to avoid the tumbling Ferrari car.
Fillipe
Massa showcased his reflexes by heroically avoiding a head-on collision with
the Finn’s scarlet Ferrari during the incident but did have an impact on the
rear of his Williams leading him to retire from the race before the race
restarted. The Finn limped away into the medical car. Ferrari claims the impact
generated 47G force on the driver which is a horrific number and it was a relief
to all to learn that Kimi did withstand it and walked away from a near fatal
crash.
The
race start was delayed for an hour with Niki Lauda, (former world champion)
stating that Formula 1 is over regulated. Once the race was restated, Fernando
Alonso of Ferrari was awarded a 5 second penalty for being out of position
during the restart which was a blow for the Spaniard . He fought a hard battle
with Sebastian Vettel for the 5th place but the latter eventually defeated Alonso
for the position leaving the Ferrari driver quite unhappy and complaining in 6th
place.
On
lap 29, then race leader Nico Rosberg faced gearbox issues in his Mercedes AMG
Petronas being stuck in 6th gear and eventually retiring after being over taken
by his team mate Lewis Hamilton who went
on to win the race.
Esteban
Gutierez in his Sauber seemed to return the favour to Maldonado in his Lotus,
after colliding into the back of the Lotus driver just like the Columbian did
at Bahrain to Gutierez, sending him flying into the air and Gutierez breaking
his front wing and retiring on lap 11.
Jenson
Button in his Mclaren finished 4th ahead of Vettel and Alonso, followed by
Magnussen (Mclaren), Hulkenburg (Force India), Kvyat and Vergne for Torro Rosso
to complete the top 10.
With
Rosberg’s first DNF this year, Hamilton closes the gap in the championship. The
Driver’s championship stand as: Rosberg with 165 points, Hamilton 4 points
behind with 161 and the Aussie Daniel Riccairdo in 3rd with 98. The
constructors Championship stand with Mercedes leading with 326 points, followed
by Redbull Racing with 168 and Ferrari with 106 points as we head to the German
Grand Prix at Hockenhiem on the 18th–20th of July
Picture of Lewis
Hamilton during the qualifying race. Pic courtesy Daimler.