The 2015 Formula 1 British Grand Prix saw Silverstone - and the fickle English weather - throw up a typically unpredictable race. Lewis Hamilton made all the right calls to secure a well-deserved - and very popular - home win, while Williams somehow went from P1 and P2 to missing the podium completely. There were mixed fortunes for Ferrari and Red Bull, but it was an afternoon of disaster for Lotus. We take a team-by-team look at Sunday's action...
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton, P1 Nico Rosberg, P2
For a while, things looked a bit tense for Mercedes as the Williams duo leapt into the lead at the start, and then Bottas reclaimed second from Hamilton on the fourth lap restart when the latter’s attempt to wrest the lead from Massa went awry at Club. Thereafter Hamilton bided his time before jumping both with a perfect first pit stop. Later he called the switch to intermediate tyres just as perfectly on the 43rd lap, and thereafter it was plain sailing - almost literally - to a third British Grand Prix triumph which brought him level with the Silverstone scores of legends Jim Clark and Nigel Mansell, and broke Jackie Stewart’s 45 year-old record of leading 17 consecutive races between 1968 and 1970.
Rosberg got trapped behind both Williams for the first half of the race, but finally got by them when the rain came. Then he was really flying, slashing Hamilton’s lead as the latter had lost front tyre temperature during the Virtual Safety Car period necessitated by Sainz’s retirement. But just as the Austrian Grand Prix winner was looking very dangerous, Hamilton pitted for intermediates at exactly the right moment, leaving an initially sceptical Rosberg to do another lap. After that his hopes were dashed, and he had to settle for second.
1 / 5
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel, P3 Kimi Raikkonen, P8
In the early stages Ferrari looked a mess, with Raikkonen sixth and Vettel eighth after starting fifth and sixth respectively. But a good early pit stop for Vettel, allied to his own sound call to stop for intermediates on lap 43rd, secured him a deserved podium finish. Raikkonen looked more like his old self, but lost out on a likely fourth or fifth when he came in five laps too soon for inters, which meant he had to stop again for more as the rain intensified and thus dropped to eighth.
Williams
Felipe Massa, P4 Valtteri Bottas, P5
At one stage Williams seemed a potential winner after Massa and Bottas made brilliant starts to get ahead of the front-row Mercedes. Even when the two of them were fighting one another the red, white and blue cars looked strong, but things began to go wrong when Hamilton jumped both of them in the first pit stops, and then the rain sealed their fate. A podium at the least had looked certain until then, but they were beaten by their own strategy, Ferrari’s and the FW37’s dislike of the wet.
Red Bull
Daniil Kvyat, P6 Daniel Ricciardo, Retired lap 22, electrics
Ricciardo lost a lot of time after nudging the Lotuses into one another at the start, and later retired with electrical gremlins, but Kvyat had a great race to sixth, right on Bottas’ tail. The Russian said his RB11 was handling really well - in stark contrast to his post-race comments in Austria - and suggested that without a spin he could have fought for the podium. He was, after all, running ahead of Vettel in the early stages.
Force India
Nico Hulkenberg, P7 Sergio Perez, P9
Force India looked great as Hulkenberg sat fifth behind the Mercedes and Williams until his pit stop, but he lost three places there and fought back to gain one on his way to seventh. Perez was ninth, giving them a decent haul of points, and overall they came out of the race highly encouraged by the heavily revised VJM08’s debut.
McLaren
Fernando Alonso, P10 Jenson Button, Retired lap 1, accident/engine switch off
Things just don’t get any better for McLaren. This time they lost an innocent Button on the opening lap, after Alonso inadvertently clobbered his team mate while trying to avoid the Ricciardo melee with the Lotuses. After a stop for a new nose the Spaniard scored his first point since rejoining the team, when he lucked into 10th after Ericsson’s four stops.
1 / 6
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson, P11 Felipe Nasr, Did not start, gearbox
Ericsson would have been the recipient of the final point, had Sauber not got themselves muddled to the point where he made four pit stops, two within a lap of each other. A tough race also saw them lose Nasr even before the start, after his car stopped at Stowe, stuck in sixth gear.
Marussia
Roberto Merhi, P12 Will Stevens, P13
Merhi once again led Stevens home in the upgraded MR03Bs, after a prolonged run on worn intermediates saw the Briton slide off the road and damage his front wing on the 47th lap. It was a case of so close and yet so far as they needed three more retirements to reach the points.
Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz, Retired lap 32, engine cut out Max Verstappen, Retired lap 4, accident
What had seemed such a promising weekend on Friday ended in disaster for Toro Rosso, as Verstappen crashed out early and was unable to reverse and get back into the race after damaging his front wing, and Sainz suffered complete engine shutdown.
Lotus
Romain Grosjean, Retired lap 1, accident Pastor Maldonado, Retired lap 1, accident
The race was a catastrophe for Lotus, as an impact from Ricciardo pushed Grosjean into Maldonado on the first lap and resulted in both cars retiring. Shades of Melbourne!
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