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| Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG |
Reaching the halfway point in the 2014 Formula 1 race season, the 5.891-kilometer Silverstone Circuit becomes a place where competition is also accompanied with a firm sense of identity for this season. In this ninth race, drivers and teams can quickly assess their strengths and weaknesses as well as know who they need to beat. In 2014, everyone is chasing the Mercedes AMG cars throughout the initial eight rounds. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton have taken all but one race this season and has rekindled the historical recollections of the original 'Silver Arrows' of the 1950s. For the other drivers and teams Silverstone is going to serve as a chance to re-evaluate the season so far.
The race on the former World War Two bomber station is give several a chance to travel home to be stock in oneself. For many participants (drivers and race teams) in the 2014 grand prix tour, the British Grand Prix is home turf. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are racing on their country's circuit wanting to show in person to top of their abilities. Formula 1 teams such as Williams Martini Racing, McLaren as well as Lotus F1 Racing operate in England is differing results after eight races. With 52 laps at Silverstone, this grand prix is the realization of what has been proven and a threshold to the remainder of the Formula 1 season for 2014
Rain during Saturday qualifying at Silverstone resulted in an eventful outcome deeper through the grid. Mercedes AMG once again worked their season-long magic as Nico Rosberg took pole. Second-fastest was Sebastian Vettel who has been searching for the spell he used to bewitch grand prix races in past seasons. As for the Brits, Jenson Button mounted a solid third fastest charge in his McLaren-Mercedes while Lewis Hamilton mustered a sixth place run. The biggest shock of qualifying has been the cars belonging to Williams Martini Racing and Scuderia Ferrari found well outside the top-10.
A dry day with a threat of rain later, Sunday's British Grand Prix race started with the full roar of turbocharged V-6 engines coming to life. Drivers round turn one with practice and qualifying behind them ready to do battle for 52 laps at Silverstone. The flood of adrenaline heading into the first lap would be halted by a massive incident. Fighting to make up places in a hurry after an 18th place starting position, Kimi Raikkonen lost control of his Ferrari on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix crashing hard into a steel retaining barrier. The Williams-Mercedes of Felipe Massa spun to avoid Raikkonen but was unable to escape serious damage to his machine. Raikkonen's Ferrari hit with a maximum G force of 47Gs according to information gathered by BBC pit reporter Jennie Gow. Both drivers were not seriously hurt but would be retired from the British Grand Prix. The remaining drivers waited under a red flag for over an hour for the track's steel barrier to be repaired to allow the event's resumption.
Restarting behind the safety car, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes AMG race car stormed to a lap three green flag at Silverstone. However, the British eyes in the early stages of this Formula 1 race was set on Rosberg's teammate Lewis Hamilton. By the end of lap four, Hamilton climbed from sixth to second place in the British Grand Prix. Hamilton was not the only driver cutting his way through the field early on as the remaining Ferrari of Fernando Alonso gained a top-10 spot swiftly.
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| Photo Credit: Andrew Hone/ Pirelli Photo Service |
The British Grand Prix started with a major bang-up and action during the progression of the race. Ten laps into the race, Esteban Gutierrez delivered a massive shove towards the Lotus-Renault of Pastor Maldonado. Gutierrez was attempting to make a pass for position at an area of the track called Vale. While Maldonado continued to race after the contact, he retired his car three laps down to the leader at the end of the grand prix. Gutierrez was not as lucky as his Sauber-Ferrari drifted into the gravel on the lap 10 incident.
Much of the trouble on track avoided the Mercedes AMG cars through the first half of the British Grand Prix. However, while leading Nico Rosberg could not escape his race-altering fate. On lap 29th a gearbox problem occurred on German's car resulting in first his teammate Lewis Hamilton passing him for the lead and his first retirement from a grand prix race in 2014. Parking his Mercedes AMG car off-course, Rosberg stepped away disappointed contemplating the denial of sure victory and his lead in the Formula 1 Drivers' points.
After Rosberg falling out of the event, Hamilton was greeted with a giant lead over the second place running car of Valtteri Bottas. As impressive as Lewis Hamilton's quick surge was at the beginning of the British Grand Prix to an eventual lead on lap 30, the Finnish driver Bottas arrived in the runner-up spot from a 14th place on the starting grid. Though the lead did come down, the Mercedes-Benz customer engine car would never come within sight of the German factory-prepped counterpart in the closing stages.
Battles for third and fifth place did provide an amusing close to the British Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso's Ferrari was being chased by the Red Bull-Renault of Sebastian Vettel through the closing laps. On lap 48, Vettel makes a daring move on Alonso through Brooklands resulting a short and tight drag race. The Red Bull driver ultimately overhauled the Ferrari for the fifth place position. Also through the final laps, McLaren's Jenson Button proceeded chasing down Daniel Ricciardo for the third and final podium place. Hungering to stand on the podium at Silverstone, Button shortened a 7.8-second gap on lap 44 to a 2.9-second interval on the final lap. Despite the fierce charge at the end that resulted in the Red Bull-Renault triumphing by 0.8 seconds, Button was denied a first podium place finish for 2014. Racing on a home track, the 15-year Formula 1 veteran has never secured a podium finish in the British Grand Prix.
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| Photo Credit: Andrew Hone/Pirelli Photo Service |
The day belonged to Britain's own Lewis Hamilton as the lone Mercedes AMG cruised to an easy victory. "Winning in front of your home crowd is just the best feeling. We really do have the greatest fans here and thank you so much to everyone for your patience after yesterday. To see the support all around the track is just amazing. I said before that I´d never give up but it was a tough qualifying and I really needed to dig deep and come back positive this morning. A huge thank you to my family and all of the fans for pushing me on - I couldn´t have done it without them." commented Hamilton following the British Grand Prix. The 2014 win is the 2008 world drivers' champion's second at Silverstone with his first coming in his title-clinching season. In regards to the title for 2014, the scoreless day for Nico Rosberg has resulted in Lewis Hamilton cutting deeply into what was a large gap. Rosberg's advantage in the championship is only four points after nine races. As for Mercedes AMG, their manufacturer point lead continued to receive a steady padding with 326 points (almost double the amount of points collected by reigning title-holder Red Bull Racing).
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| Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG |
In addition to Hamilton's victory, the British fans also celebrated the effort of Williams Martini Racing with Valtteri Bottas scoring a second-place finish. A career-best for the sophomore Formula 1 pilot, the runner-up spot for Bottas is the Finnish driver's second-straight podium finish. Both Bottas and the Williams Martini Racing team has been far improved so far this season compared to a dismal 2013.
Daniel Ricciardo continues to outshine his higher profile teammate at Red Bull Racing with another podium result in 2014. The fourth podium result in the past five grand prix races, Ricciardo's effort came with Jenson Button threatening. The hybrid Renault powered machine fielded by the Austrian-based team has been the best-of-the-rest compared to the dominance of the Silver Arrows this season.
With Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso capturing fourth through sixth those past champions of the sport will enter the next round in Germany sensing they're missing something so far this season. Making for a much-needed double-point scoring race for McLaren, Kevin Magnussen coasted home seventh. Nico Hulkenberg grabbed eighth place while the two Toro Rosso-Renault race cars of Daniil Kvyat and Jean-Eric Vergne took the final point-scoring position for the British Grand Prix.
The next race for the 2014 Formula 1 tour will be the German Grand Prix taking place July 20th at the Hockenheimring.
2014 Formula 1
British Grand Prix
Race Results
| Pos # |
Car # |
Driver |
Team |
Engine |
|
|
|
|
|
| 1 |
44 |
Lewis Hamilton |
Mercedes AMG |
Mercedes-Benz |
| 2 |
77 |
Valtteri Bottas |
Williams F1 |
Renault |
| 3 |
3 |
Daniel Ricciardo |
Red Bull |
Renault |
| 4 |
22 |
Jenson Button |
McLaren |
Mercedes-Benz |
| 5 |
1 |
Sebastian Vettel |
Red Bull |
Renault |
| 6 |
14 |
Fernando Alonso |
Ferrari |
Ferrari |
| 7 |
22 |
Kevin Magnussen |
McLaren |
Mercedes-Benz |
| 8 |
27 |
Nico Hulkenberg |
Force India |
Mercedes-Benz |
| 9 |
26 |
Daniil Kvyat |
Scuderia Toro Rosso |
Renault |
| 10 |
25 |
Jean-Eric Vergne |
Scuderia Toro Rosso |
Renault |
| 11 |
11 |
Sergio Perez |
Force India |
Mercedes-Benz |
| 12 |
8 |
Romain Grosjean |
Lotus |
Renault |
| 13 |
99 |
Adrian Sutil |
Sauber |
Ferrari |
| 14 |
17 |
Jules Bianchi |
Marussia |
Ferrari |
| 15 |
10 |
Kamui Kobayashi |
Caterham |
Renault |
| 16 |
4 |
Max Chilton |
Marussia |
Ferrari |
| 17 |
13 |
Pastor Maldonado |
Lotus |
Renault |
| 18 |
6 |
Nico Rosberg |
Mercedes AMG |
Mercedes-Benz |
| 19 |
9 |
Marcus Ericsson |
Caterham |
Renault |
| 20 |
21 |
Esteban Gutierrez |
Sauber |
Ferrari |
| 21 |
19 |
Felipe Massa |
Williams |
Mercedes-Benz |
| 22 |
7 |
Kimi Raikkonen |
Ferrari |
Ferrari |
