The biggest smile on the Formula 1 grid belongs to Perth native Daniel Ricciardo, and at the conclusion of the 2014 Canadian Grand Prix, that smile got a whole lot bigger.
Coming into Sunday, very few fans would have bet against Mercedes again standing tall at the podium. Nico Rosberg took pole position while Lewis Hamilton was alongside his teammate. Sebastian Vettel took the 3rd spot, and the surprise Williams duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa taking 4th and 5th respectively. Ricciardo started his race back in 6th.
At the start, Hamilton got a good start going into turn 1, but Nico was able to close the door on his team mate to maintain P1, while Sebastian, sensing an opportunity just stuck to the rear of Rosberg’s car and slid past Lewis into turn 2.
It didn’t take long for the safety car to make an appearance, as Max Chilton on board his Marussia ran wide at turn 3. The backend slid out, hitting Jules Bianchi and forcing both Marrusias out of the race even before completing a single lap. As the marshals cleaned up the debris and oil spill, the safety car took control of the pace till the end of lap 7. When the cars were released, Rosberg once again sped off in the distance leaving Vettel and Hamilton in his wake. The Red Bull is nowhere near as fast as either Mercedes. It took Hamilton only two laps to re-take second, leaving Sebastian to fend off the equally fast Williams duo of Bottas and Massa.
Lap 16 saw a gaggle of cars in the pits for their scheduled pit stops, while the leaders opted to stay out. On lap 19, Nico dove for his required stop with Lewis stopping a lap later. Rosberg maintained his position over Hamilton who took 0.5 seconds longer during his stop.
On lap 26 Rosberg, sensing the pressure from Hamilton, locked his brakes at the penultimate corner and cut the chicane. This move added on to his lead over Lewis. The stewards were quick to investigate, but later found no fault and let the drivers race on.
Halfway through the race, it seemed that another Mercedes 1-2 was in the cards, but on lap 37 Lewis came over the radio and said, “I’ve got no power guys.”
“We’re looking into it,” came the reply from the garage. Rosberg similary had the same problem and as both cars powered down, the rest of the field came up from behind to threaten for the lead.
Vettel, on the other hand, had to contend with finding a spot to overtake Hulkenberg, and was only able to move up a position when Hulkenberg took to the pits.
Lap 45 saw Rosberg come in for his tires while Hamilton went a lap later, but as Hamilton emerged from the pits, smoke was coming from his rear tires. Brake failure was evident and Hamilton had to withdraw from the race—a bitter blow to his championship quest.
On lap 50, Daniel Ricciardo, who jumped Vettel at the pits, was hounding Sergio Perez for 2nd and with four laps to go, Ricciardo was able to move past the Force India and set his eyes on the Mercedes of Rosberg.
Fighting for 3rd, 4th, and 5th were Perez, Vettel and Massa, and on lap 69 Vettel made a lunge for 3rd and made it stick. Massa now hounded Perez but on the final lap. With Sergio running in 4th, he turned into Massa, causing Massa to loose control and head straight into the barriers narrowly missing Vettel. Perez was handed a five-place grid penalty for the Austrian GP. Causing a collision was the infraction.
The race then ended under the safety car, with Daniel Ricciardo winning the 2014 Canadian GP. Rosberg took 2nd and 3rd belonged to Vettel. This is the best result this year for the team from Milton Keynes. Nico Rosberg maintained his grip on the leaderboard with a 22-point lead over Hamilton, and 61 points over Ricciardo in 3rd.
Daniel now joins the ranks of F1 winners. will this be the turning point of the season and possibly Ricciardo’s challenge for the title? Well, if you ask Ricciardo and countless RBR fans, they surely hope so.
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