After a heavy rainfall just
when the race was about to begin, to a dry spell later, the Formula 1 race in
Silverstone in England saw local boy Lewis Hamilton win a thriller. Team mate
Nico Rosberg came in second while great driving by Max Verstappen of Red Bull
Racing saw the youngster finish with a podium at 3rd position. Max’s
team mate Daniel Ricciardo managed a good fourth.
Hamilton’s hat-trick also makes it his 47th F1 win. The gap between
leader Rosberg is now down to only four points - 171 to 167.
For the Sahara Force India
team, it was a good result with both the drivers Sergio Perez and Nico
Hulkenberg finishing sixth and seventh respectively. For Lewis Hamilton it was
his fourth F1 win at Silverstone
RACE RESULTS
Position DRIVER TEAM
1 LEWIS HAMILTON MERCEDES
2 NICO ROSBERG MERCEDES
3 MAX VERSTAPPEN RED BULL RACING
4 DANIEL RICCIARDO RED BULL RACING
5 KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN FERRARI
6 SERGIO PEREZ FORCE
INDIA
7 NICO HULKENBERG FORCE INDIA
8 CARLOS SAINZ TORO
ROSSO
9 SEBASTIAN VETTEL FERRARI
10 DANIIL KVYAT TORO
ROSSO
The opening laps were run
behind the safety car after a heavy downpour shortly before the start, but once
the rains abated, the drivers went all out on the track. Immediately there was
a rush to the pit lane to change the tyres from wet to intermediate and then
slick rubber during the course of the race.
Hamilton managed his lead most
of the time but it was an all out battle between Rosberg and Verstappen. Rosberg
drove well despite experiencing transmission issues during the closing phase of
the race. This required him to avoid using seventh gear. Rosberg, however is
under investigation over the radio instructions Mercedes gave him relating to
the problem.
It was not so good for Ferrari
as Kimi Raikkonen managed a poor fifth and his team mate Sebastian Vettel came
in ninth after picking up a penalty for forcing another car off track. There
were quite a few retirements in the race. On Lap 7 Pascal Wehrlein aquaplaned
his Manor off into retirement. In fact his team mate Rio Haryanto retired later
in the race. Both drivers for Renault -- Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer too
retired. The latter picked up a stop-go penalty after his crew released him
from a pit stop with his right-rear wheel not properly attached.
Sauber’s Felipe Nasr and
Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez took 15th and 16th as their respective team mates
Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean failed to go the distance.