Daniel Ricciardo grabbed the headlines in Montreal on Sunday with a faultless performance that brought him his first F1 victory, Red Bull their first win of the season, and Renault their first triumph of the new turbo-hybrid era. But it was Nico Rosberg’s second place that could prove crucial to the 2014 title race. Unlike team mate Lewis Hamilton, Rosberg was able to work around Mercedes’ technical problems and a superb damage-limitation drive saw him extend his championship lead by 18 points. We take a team-by-team look back at Sundays formbook after a remarkable race in Canada... Red Bull Daniel Ricciardo, P1 Sebastian Vettel, P3 But for Mercedes problems Red Bull may never have won, but the team and Renault richly deserved their first victory of the new era. After fast-starting Vettel lost ground trapped behind Hulkenberg in the middle stint, Ricciardo jumped him during their second stops and then hounded Force Indias Perez, finally finding a way past with a bold move on the 65th lap. That enabled him to home in on the troubled Rosberg and to deprive him of the lead with two laps to go. The 24 year-old from Perth thus became only the fourth Australian to win a Grand Prix, hoisting himself to third in the title chase. Vettel also overtook Perez on the penultimate lap to make it two RB10s on the podium in Red Bulls strongest race so far this year. Mercedes Nico Rosberg, P2 Lewis Hamilton, Retired lap 47, brakes Mercedes looked set to triumph for a seventh time this season in Montreal, but both W05 Hybrids ceased to be hybrid around the 37th lap when they lost their MGU-K systems. That lost them around 160 bhp and overloaded the rear brakes, leading to Hamiltons demise shortly after he had passed Rosberg following his second stop on the 47th lap - and then lost the place at the hairpin as his brake issues started to become manifest. Rosberg was able to nurse a 0.7s lead for many laps before Ricciardo found a way past Perez and then quickly swooped to snatch the lead with two laps to go. While Hamilton therefore suffered a disastrous day, Rosberg clinched a seventh podium of the season and increased his title lead by a handy 18 points. McLaren Jenson Button, P4 Kevin Magnussen, P9 Buttons fourth place owed something to the last-lap clash between Perez and Massa, but the Briton also surged up the order in the latter stages, including picking off Alonso and Hulkenberg in one move at the hairpin one lap from the finish. Magnussen chased Vergne hard right to the end, but lacked the grunt to pass the Toro Rosso. Force India Nico Hulkenberg, P5 Sergio Perez, P11, Retired lap 70, accident Force India knew they had good race pace and elected to run both drivers on single-stop strategies. Perez was running second in the closing stages, containing Ricciardo and Vettel while pushing after Rosberg and coping with fading brakes and an electrical glitch. Ricciardo deprived him of second on the 65th lap, and on the penultimate lap Vettel squeezed ahead. The Mexican then collided heavily with the challenging Massa on the final lap, putting both cars into the wall at high speed on the pit straight. Fortunately neither driver was hurt, and the stewards gave Perez a five-place grid drop for the next round in Austria for changing his racing line under braking. Hulkenberg inherited fifth as a result, and maintained his excellent record of consistent points finishes in all seven 2014 races. Ferrari Fernando Alonso, P6 Kimi Raikkonen, P10 Ferrari had another lacklustre race in which Alonso admitted he lucked into sixth place, and Raikkonen struggled with handling and brakes and finished 10th after a spin in Turn 10 on the 41st lap. Williams Valtteri Bottas, P7 Felipe Massa, P12, Retired lap 70, accident This was the biggest what-might-have-been race for Williams this year. Massa became the first non-Mercedes driver to lead a lap in 2014 when he took over at the front after the silver cars pitted for the second time. He dropped back with his own second pit call but was then rapid in his final stint, running on fresher rubber than any of the cars ahead. After passing team mate Bottas and Hulkenberg in quick succession on the 57th lap, he reeled in the lead pack of Rosberg, Perez, Ricciardo and Vettel. Trapped behind them, he was challenging Perez for fourth going into the last lap when the Mexican was adjudged to have moved over on him, putting both heavily into the wall. With a touch more luck, its not impossible that Massa might have challenged for the win. Toro Rosso Jean-Eric Vergne, P8 Daniil Kvyat, Retired lap 47, drive failure Vergne had a great weekend, possibly his best in F1 racing, and richly deserved eighth place. Kvyat didnt quite match his pace this time, but was running behind him, in points contention after an early spin, when his STR9 suffered drive failure. Sauber Adrian Sutil, P13 Esteban Gutierrez, P14, Retired lap 64, power loss Sutil drove the wheels off his C33 for 13th place. After starting from the pit lane following his failure to qualify, Gutierrez pitted on the first lap, struggled with the handling initially, became a bit happier with it in his second stint, but then retired with loss of power. Lotus Romain Grosjean, Retired lap 59, rear wing Pastor Maldonado, Retired lap 21, power loss This wasnt a happy race for Lotus. Maldonado ran as high as eighth during the pit stops, but retired with power loss, while Grosjeans car suffered a broken rear wing and was also withdrawn. Caterham Kamui Kobayashi, Retired lap 24, suspension damage Marcus Ericsson, Retired lap 7, power loss Another unhappy Grand Prix for Caterham in which neither car finished. Kobayashi spun in Turn 2 and retired a few corners later with damaged left-rear suspension, while Ericsson was told to stop with suspected turbocharger trouble. Marussia Max Chilton, Retired lap 1, accident Jules Bianchi, Retired lap 1, accident Marussias chargers hit one another in Turn 3 on the opening lap and both retired. Each driver blamed the other, but the stewards gave Chilton a three-place grid penalty for Austria. johnf1
Posted on: Wed, 11 Jun 2014 14:27:13 +0000
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