Hamilton wins British Grand Prix; Sahara Force India boys in top ten

Lewis Hamilton has won the 70th British Grand Prix for Mercedes AMG Petronas followed by his teammate Nico Rosberg in 2nd and Sebastian Vettel in 3rd for Scuderia Ferrari in the midst of a surprise on the weather front when the heavens opened.

For Sahara Force India, it was a proud moment as both their boys Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finished in the first ten to earn some valuable points for the team. Force India had introduced a major - and very productive - upgrade package to their car for the team’s home race at Silverstone, with the most obvious change being these two distinctive vents in the nose. Resembling nostrils, the vents feed the lower section of the nose with a channel of air. The starting point for the idea was last year’s finger-shape noses, and to ensure their legality the vents are not completely open - when viewed from above, you cannot see the ground through them. Viewed from an angle of 45 degrees, you can.

As the lights went out, Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas of Williams Martini Racing, got brilliant starts from the second row of the grid to take 1st and 2nd away from Mercedes.  As the track was on fire with the fight between the Williams and Mercedes, Lotus F1 Team’s Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean both decided to crash into each other, and in sympathy, the McLarens Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button of McLaren Honda)  also decided to crash into each other all on the first lap. The crash left both Lotus’ and Jenson Button to retire while Alonso was forced to head into the pits for a wing change. The stopped cars on track brought out the safety car on the first lap.

When the safety car came in on lap 3, Max Verstappen spun his Toro Rosso with cold tyres and into the wall to end his race as well.

When the safety car came in, the grid was led by the Williams, trailed by the Mercedes with Nico Hulkenberg in 5th for Force India ahead of Raikkonen, Kvyat and Vettel.

As the four Mercedes powered cars drove away from the pack, Ferrari decided to pit both cars on lap 14 and 15 with Raikkonen and Vettel respectively to get them into clean air.

As Massa couldn’t pull away from Bottas, Massa in turn was holding up Bottas in 2nd. Hamilton was called into the pits on lap 20 from 3rd place to try the undercut. On lap 21, Williams replied to that by pitting Massa, as Rosberg followed him into the pits. Both cars exited the pits wheel to wheel but Massa inched ahead of the German at the exit, and Hamilton managed to take the lead from the Brazilian. Valtteri Bottas pitted on that lap to give the lead to Hamilton.

Lap 32 saw Daniel Ricciardo facing issues with his engine and was forced to retire. 10 laps later, Carlos Sainz also ff Scuderia Toro Rosso faced problems with his Renault engine and retired his car on the final corner of the track. The virtual safety car was brought out for a lap to clear the car and we went racing again.