However, a chaotic opening lap and fortunate red flag period helped promote Hamilton to fifth after the opening ten laps, with the triple world champion going on to finish third.
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Notably, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Vettel and Ricciardo all went through on the “soft” tire, meaning that will be the rubber they use to start Sunday’s race rather than the fragile super-soft.
Alonso’s team-mate Jenson Button etired with a mechanical problem after just one lap, having been hit from behind by the Manor of Pascal Wehrlein at turn six. We did great selecting the right tyres. “Third (place) is something definitely helped by the safety vehicle”. When Ricciardo pitted, Hamilton briefly held second place.
Magnussen limped away from the mangled wreckage and was taken to a clinic for medical checks.
The German had hoped to make the most of his opportunity to eek into Hamilton’s championship lead, which was 19 points heading into the grand prix.
“So I came out of Eau Rouge with a decent gap between me and those cars ahead because they all looked like they were going a bit insane”.
Magnussen’s crash prompted a temporary halt to the race as marshals worked to fix tire barriers damaged in the impact. When the rest of the field chose to pit, it meant that Hamilton managed to restart the race in a far better position than he might have been in otherwise.
Although both Williams drivers finished in the points, the team have now slipped behind Force India in the Constructors’ Championship.
Rosberg also attempted to brush aside the advantage Hamilton now has in terms of additional engine components to see out the remainder of the season. He pitted again for a final time with 12 laps remaining, but was unable to close the gap to either Ricciardo or Rosberg, and crossed the line almost 30 seconds adrift of his Mercedes team-mate.
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With Sunday’s strong result, the Silverstone squad has 103 points and Williams 101 after Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finished eighth and 10th respectively. “I’m happy to have won the race, it’s been a great weekend for me, that’s it, and fair play to Lewis he did a good job”. In total, he got a massive 55-place demotion, sending him to last place in the 22-car race. “The penalties for Lewis made things easier for me today – but he will be back in the battle for the win again next weekend, which will be exciting”. The team did an fantastic job this weekend. I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen in the race and I was just trying to keep my head down all the time and focus on the long run pace.
