Lewis Hamilton has won a thrilling British Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
The start of the race began in dramatic fashion as Williams’ Felipe Massa, from third on the grid, overtook the two Mercedes drivers to lead the British Grand Prix for the first time in his career. Bottas briefly got ahead of Hamilton however the latter re-overtook the Williams driver within a couple of corners.
The safety car appeared on the opening lap after Button collided with his team-mate Fernando Alonso and the two Lotus drivers of Grosjean and Maldonado.
Hamilton tried to overtake Massa at the restart, but ran wide after locking up his tyres, dropping behind Bottas. Bottas was slightly quicker than team-mate Massa however was unable to pass the Brazilian. The team had ordered Bottas to not race Massa but the former ignored and tried to pass.
Hamilton pitted on lap 19, in a bid to under-cut both Williams drivers. Williams decided to bring Massa in just one lap later, with Mercedes also pitting Rosberg on the same lap. The two drivers emerged from the pit lane side-by-side, but it was Massa who managed to stay ahead, however in second place, behind Massa.
As the rain came down on lap 35, Rosberg made the most of the changeable conditions by overtaking Bottas and Massa. He reduced the gap to his team-mate to 1 second before Hamilton pitted for intermediate tyres.
Once the pit-stops played out, Hamilton led by 9 seconds. The biggest winner was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who jumped both Williams drivers.
Vettel came home third ahead of the two disappointed Williams drivers of Massa and Bottas in fourth and fifth. Kvyat finished a strong sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg. Raikkonen finished seventh after a poor tyre call with Perez and Alonso rounding out the top ten – scoring his first points of 2015.
Images Courtesy of Mercedes AMG F1 Team
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