“Save it”, a disheartened Ricciardo said over team radio immediately after crossing the line 7.252 seconds behind, with Force India’s Sergio Perez claiming third.
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Hamilton had started third after a fuel-pressure problem had affected his qualifying session. I feel like I’ve been run over by a truck for the second race in a row.
“And I think today hopefully will be a boost, at least for my mechanics, who have been nervous all year”. “(They) have been tense all (season) long. “[Win number] 44, in Monaco, I haven’t won for ages – it feels like a lifetime – so it feels like the greatest blessing”. “Fortunately I was quick enough in the wet”.
A botched pit stop by Red Bull then enabled Hamilton to take a first win of 2016 and cut the drivers’ title deficit to Rosberg to 24 points. Jolyon Palmer crashed into the barriers and brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC).
Both drivers were the last of the leading pack to change their wet tires for intermediates and while Red Bull pulled its driver into the pits to change, Mercedes left Hamilton out on the track to try and build a lead.
Hamilton finished 90 seconds ahead of his team-mate, who otherwise has dominated the season with four wins in the opening four Grands Prix.
Nico Rosberg had a poor race and was overtaken by Nico Hülkenberg just before the end.
“Lewis wears his heart on his sleeve and when he’s had a bad day you can see it”, Mercedes head of motorsport Toto Wolff said.
“We failed to support him in the way we did to get him to his first pole position yesterday”, Horner added. “I don’t know why they weren’t ready”.
With just 6 laps of the race remaining, Hamilton continued to stretch the lead from Ricciardo, and even clocked the race’s best lap time. As precious seconds elapsed, Ricciardo sat in the pits and finally the supersoft tyres were put on. I got to the pits and everyone’s running around like headless chickens.
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Behind them was Ferrari’s [NYSE:RACE] Sebastian Vettel in fourth and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in fifth. Kevin Magnussen and Max Verstappen also spun out of the race, whilst Daniil Kvyat retired after a collision. But the team also have to improve Ricciardo’s mood after two desperately disappointing weekends. AP material published by LongIsland.com, is done so with explicit permission. News stories displayed here appear in our category for Sports and are licensed via a specific agreement between LongIsland.com and The Associated Press, the world’s oldest and largest news organization. For the protection of AP and its licensors, content may not be copied, altered or redistributed in any form. Doing so may result in civil and/or criminal penalties.
