Formula One 2014 British Grand Prix: homeboy Hamilton wins

The Silverstone Circuit has been on the F1 calendar for the longest time, and is pretty much a permanent fixture. 2014 sees Silverstone celebrating its 50th edition. Silverstone is a two-hour drive from London, and shuttle services to the circuit run all day during the Grand Prix weekend.

 

Qualifying saw a wet session, and it caught a few teams out, notably Ferrari, Catherham and Williams. The surprise qualifier of the day was Max Chilton in his Marussia, having made it past Q2 for the very first time.

 

At the end of qualifying, the front of the grid was composed of Nico Rosberg on pole, Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull-Infiniti in 2nd, and Jenson Button in his McLaren-Mercedes in 3rd. Nico Hulkenberg was 4th, while rookie Kevin Magnussen in the sister McLaren slotted in 5th. Reports had it that Hamilton and Rosberg were on different tire strategies.

 

As the lights went out, Lewis made a cracking start snaking his way to 4^th. Just as brilliant if not more so, Valtteri Bottas jumped 11 spots just as the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen slid out at turn 3. Kimi then rejoined, lost control, and crashed into the armco, taking out with him Felipe Massa in the Williams. The chaos resulted in race control bringing out a rare red flag (signifying race stopped). The marshals took about an hour to repair the damaged barrier, prompting fans to appreciate the efforts made to guarantee the safety of the drivers.

 

After everything was sorted, the race was started behind the safety car. After the train of cars was released, Nico took control and left the field to fight amongst themselves. Lewis took Magnussen for 3rd before the end of the lap 3. Hamilton set his sights on fellow Brit Jenson Button, and disposed of him easily a lap later. Lewis then overtook Bottas a few laps later, and found himself behind the leader. All fans were seeing another Mercedes 1-2 in the works.

 

But as fate would have it, Nico Rosberg came over the radio, and complained of a downshift problem. On the onset it seemed that the problem got sorted, and Nico kept his foot down leading Lewis by as much as 2.5 seconds. Mercedes were in a class of their own, while the rest were just made to appear as pretenders—they were that dominant. As the teams made their round of first pit stops, analysts noticed that the Mercedes team placed their drivers on different strategies, with Lewis stopping on lap 26. In theory, Hamilton could do a one-stop race unlike Rosberg who had to make at least another stop.

 

As the race progressed, Alonso was climbing and set his sights on grabbing much needed points. But, race control gave him a five-second stop and go penalty, for jumping the start. Alonso served the penalty during his pit stop. This is an amendment to existing rules, and now penalties can be served during a pit stop.

 

On lap 29, the prayers of the British fateful were heard: Nico crawled to a stop, with his car stuck in 5th gear. Lewis took the lead to the thunderous cheers of everyone in attendance.

 

The other places were up for grabs, and Fernando Alonso was up to the challenge, as was Sebastian Vettel.  The two drivers diced for the place a couple of times, with Fernando deliberately making his car “wider” than usual. This forced Sebastian to make some unconventional lunges for a chance to pass. Alonso made Sebastian work for the position. It was fair and square, but the Ferrari eventually had to concede much needed points to Vettel to maintain his championship fight.

 

Lewis Hamilton took the checkered flag, and quite far behind was Valtteri Bottas in the FW36 Williams Martini Racing car. Daniel Ricciardo, who had a quiet race, made up for his bad starting position and got the last step of the podium. Jenson Button came in 4th , while Vettel took up 5th and Alonso 6th.

 

The championship standings still find Rosberg on top, but with just four points between him and 2nd place man Lewis Hamilton on 161 points. Daniel Ricciard is in 3rd followed by Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas who, with his second-place finish, leaped ahead of Vettel in the rankings.

 

The next race weekend is in Germany on July 18-20. Can Mercedes still hoard the top steps of the podium, or can someone really take the fight to the Mercedes doorstep? Will it be Williams, Ferrari, or maybe even Red Bull?  Unless teams step up their game, it will be another parade to the finish for the German GP.

 

Catch all the action on July 18-20 at Hockenheim, and, maybe just maybe witness a non-Mercedes driver take the silverware in Germany.