Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton started from pole with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg next to him. Right after lights out McLaren's Jenson Button, Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo overtook Hulkenberg. On the first lap Hulkenberg managed to take one position back from Ricciardo and was now 4th. Behind Ricciardo Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was flying and overtook Ricciardo quickly for 4th.
On lap 3 we saw another retirement from Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat. This time it was a technical issue. It doesn't look good for him at the moment. He really needs to start showing some great races or his career in F1 will be over after this season. Seriously...
Ricciardo had been overtaken by many cars and got now overtaken by his teammate Max Verstappen as well. Then Verstappen also overtook Hulkenberg easily.
Lap 6 was already here and Rosberg continued to overtake both Hulkenberg and Verstappen. Are you guys still following me? A lot of overtakings right?! That's how it should be!
On the next lap it was Räikkönen's turn to overtake Button for 2nd place. Then Rosberg also overtook Button.
Hamilton pitted on lap 22 and Räikkönen on lap 23. When they came out on track Hamilton was still fine and seemed to be on the right spot but Räikkönen had dropped to 6th even though he had a faster pitstop. What happened?! Ferrari should have taken Räikkönen in to the pits at the same time as Hamilton. It was a stupid mistake to wait a lap. Räikkönen got stuck in traffic and his tyres were not good. He was far from Hamilton now.
On lap 27 Räikkönen's teammate Sebastian Vettel retired when his rear tyre exploded because Ferrari waited too long with his pitstop as well. The safety car was deployed of course and now Rosberg was in the lead! The race continued on lap 32.
Lap 58 Räikkönen overtook Ricciardo for 4th. In front of him the Mercs were fighting against a very fast Verstappen. It was not a surprise that the Mercs managed to overtake him but it took a while.
Now Räikkönen was really catching Verstappen on every lap more and more. Verstappen made a few mistakes and his tyres were in bad shape. It seemed that 3rd place was Räikkönen's but then something happened....
The Mercs crashed on the last lap!! Hamilton tried to overtake Rosberg from the outside and then Rosberg just forced him off track. It was a very dirty move and it was very clear what he did. He blamed it on his brakes for some reason.
When Hamilton tried to come back on track Rosberg was in the way again and clearly on purpose. They crashed again and Rosberg lost his front wing and the lead as well! Hamilton was now flying and Rosberg dropped behind Verstappen and Räikkönen.
Now Räikkönen was 3rd as he was supposed to but didn't overtake Verstappen due to the yellow flags caused by Rosberg and Force India's Sergio Perez (who's brakes broke down on him just before the finish).
Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
The race:
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
- Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He dropped to 4th on the last lap and Max Verstappen was 2nd.
- Valtteri Bottas, Williams - WRONG. He was one lap behind and the other Finn Kimi Räikkönen was 3rd.
Fastest lap: Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - WRONG. Lewis Hamilton got this too.
Surprise: Williams will shine again - Could not say that they did. They had fast pitstops though.
POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10
+ possible bonus points
HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.
HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!
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