Another dominant victory for Hamilton as well as an engine failure for Rosberg means that Lewis extends his championship lead to 53 points. Vettel finished in second, much to the delight of the Italian fans, with Massa beating his teammate to 3rd for Williams. A poor start for Raikkonen dropped him to the back of the field but he managed to work his way back up to 5th at the end.
Hamilton and Vettel got ahead at the start, with Rosberg dropping to fifth behind the Williams drivers. Hamilton pulled out a lead ahead of Vettel to win easily. Meanwhile, Rosberg got ahead of both Williams drivers in the pits and began to chase down Vettel. Nearing the end of the race, Rosberg’s engine failed and went up in flames to end his race, promoting Massa to third.
Bottas challenged Massa in the final laps but was unable to get ahead by the end, losing out by a fraction of a second. Raikkonen and Perez came through in fifth and sixth, ahead of Hulkenberg and Ricciardo. The final places in the top ten were taken by Ericsson and Kvyat.
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton P1, Nico Rosberg DNF
Hamilton built a safe lead over the race and won by over 25 seconds to Vettel. However, near the end of the race, there were concerns for Hamilton as Mercedes were told they could potentially receive a penalty for going below the limit for tyre pressure. They asked Hamilton to push harder in the final laps in order to pull out a good lead in case they received a time penalty. However, there was no more action regarding the tyre pressures and Hamilton kept first place. For Rosberg, the race was a disappointment. He had to use a six-race old engine and it failed near the end of the race.
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel P2, Kimi Raikkonen P5
After a brilliant qualifying for Raikkonen on Saturday to start on the front row, it was disappointing that he failed to start well and dropped to the back of the grid. However, he worked his way through the pack and was into the points before lap 20. He ended up finishing in 5th, after Rosberg suffered an engine failure. Vettel had a good start but was unable to challenge Hamilton for the lead. He encountered pressure from Rosberg nearing the end of the race but was saved by a failure for Rosberg.
Williams
Felipe Massa P3, Valtteri Bottas P4
A good race for Williams saw them score 27 points and a podium. After a good start, the Williams moved ahead of Rosberg to 3rd and 4th. Unfortunately for the team, both cars dropped behind Rosberg in the pits and they both dropped out of podium positions. Due to Rosberg’s engine failure Massa was able to finish in third, defending from Bottas in the closing laps.
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo P8, Daniil Kvyat P10
Starting near the back of the grid, Red Bull had a positive race to finish with both drivers in the points. It was a tough track for the team, with the poor performance from the Renault power unit. Helped by a good strategy and some good overtakes, the team scored a total of 5 points, making up many places throughout the race. Team Principal, Christian Horner said that:
“Considering our starting positions for the race, it was a great job from both drivers today. Ricciardo’s last lap in particular, to take that place from Ericsson, was impressive. The team work and strategy were solid and, given the penalties we faced, getting both cars to finish in the points at this track is a positive result.”
Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz P11, Max Verstappen P12
Starting at the back of the grid, they managed to move up the field, just missing out on the points. They were happy with their finishing positions, taking into account where they started. Verstappen said:
“I couldn’t do much today because the drive-through at the start of the race put me on the back-foot, but I think we can be happy with the car’s pace, it was really good…It wasn’t one of the easiest races, but I enjoyed some more good overtaking moves and I’m happy with that. I’m sure that if we hadn’t started from last in the race we would’ve finished in the points today.”
Force India
Sergio Perez P6, Nico Hulkenberg P7
A strong race for the team, means they move up to 5th in the constructor’s championship ahead of Lotus. Perez lost out on 5th to Raikkonen at the end of the race but still finished a strong sixth position. Hulkenberg held off Ericsson near the end to keep seventh.
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson P9, Felipe Nasr P13
After a good start, Nasr unfortunately suffered from a puncture after contact on lap one. This seriously compromised his race but he was still able to move into 13th. Ericsson had a better race and was eighth in the closing stages but was overtaken by Ricciardo at the end.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean DNF, Pastor Maldonado DNF
Major disappointment for the team, with both drivers out after a first lap incident. Grosjean was hit from behind and his suspension broke, therefore putting him out of the race. For Maldonado, it was a similar story. Contact on the first corner caused him to suffer damage to his front right suspension, ending his race.
McLaren
Jenson Button P14, Fernando Alonso DNF
Alonso lost power in the closing stages of the race and was told to retire the car. For Button, the race was disappointing and he finished ahead of the two Manor drivers but was a long way from the points.
Manor
Will Stevens P15, Roberto Merhi P16
A good race for the team, again showing good reliability meant they were able to get both drivers to the end of the race. Improved pace meant they were able to race with the cars behind in the opening laps.
See full race results here.