Victory for Ricciardo after Hamilton suffers an engine failure whilst leading. The Brit dominated the race until his car burst into flames, ending his race. This means Rosberg further extends his championship lead to 23 points, having fought back to third after spinning on the first corner.
(Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images)
A strong start from pole for Hamilton put him into the lead of the race. Behind, Vettel and Rosberg collided – breaking the suspension of the Ferrari and ending Vettel’s race. Meanwhile, Rosberg spun and dropped to the back of the pack. This gave him a big challenge to fight his way back through the order.
A brake failure for Grosjean brought out an early virtual safety car and many drivers opted to pit, including Max Verstappen who swapped to softs. So, when Hamilton pitted on lap 20, the Red Bull driver took the lead of the race.
However, Verstappen then pitted just 7 laps later, giving Hamilton control once again. But, when it all looked to be going Hamilton’s way once again, his race came to a cruel end when he suffered an engine failure. This triggered another VSC, with both Red Bulls opting to pit for fresh tyres.
With Rosberg over 30 seconds behind, a 1-2 was almost certain for the Red Bull team, their best result for some time. Ricciardo went into the final 13 laps of the race with just a 2.3 second advantage over his teammate. With no team orders, it was a fight to the finish. They raced hard, but in the final laps Verstappen began to drop back and it was Ricciardo who took the win.
Rosberg took the final podium spot, despite a 10-second time penalty for an earlier collision with Raikkonen – who finished 4th. Bottas took a strong fifth, ahead of the Force India of Sergio Perez. A great result for McLaren saw Alonso finish an 7th from the back of the grid, with Button just behind Hulkenberg, in 9th.
The final point went to Jolyon Palmer, his first ever in Formula One, after a brilliant drive from 19th to 10th.