Posted on 10th June 2014
The 2014 Canadian Grand Prix promised to continue down the road of Mercedes dominance. With both cars yet again on the front row it was looking inevitable that Rosberg and Hamilton would drive into the distance.
As the lights went out Hamilton made a great start getting alongside Rosberg into turn one. Rosberg, holding the inside line, locked his brakes and forced Hamilton wide costing Lewis second place as Vettel pounced. The first lap provided a moment of high drama when the Marussias of Bianchi and Chilton collided following an error from the Brit, resulting in Bianchi slamming into the barrier and Chilton breaking his front suspension.
Inevitably the safety car was deployed and remained on track for 7 laps. Upon the restart Rosberg did a fantastic job by bunching the pack together before launching and opening a comfortable gap between himself and Vettel. Perez took advantage of the restart by diving past former team-mate Button.
Hamilton was closing in every sector on Vettel and made light work of the Red Bull on the straight to move into second.
Hamilton began to close the gap on Rosberg but was unable to get close enough to pass. Maldonado made his way into the pits on lap 22 to heap more misery on the Lotus team by retiring from yet another Grand Prix.
By lap 26 Hamilton was all over the back of Rosberg’s Mercedes and looking poised to strike. Rosberg, pushing to the limit out-braked himself and drove straight through the final chicane. This gave Rosberg a near second advantage over Hamilton, but surely a penalty would be coming his way? Wouldn't it?
Mercedes communicate to Hamilton that Nico was under investigation and to “keep it tidyâ€. Meanwhile, 20 seconds back Massa was pulling off a supreme manoeuvre on Alonso to move up to 8th position.
Perez, by now 3rd in his Force India was told they would lengthen his stint and to keep his pace going. Behind him was team-mate Hulkenberg who was holding up both Red Bulls and the Williams of Bottas.
Hamilton was finally informed that Rosberg would not receive a penalty for cutting the chicane.
The mid point of the race was a little too far for the Caterhams as both Ericsson and Kobayashi retired from the race seemingly with engine problems. Perez finally made his way into the pits on lap 34 from 3rd. He rejoined the race in 11th but the cars in front all need to stop.
Lap 37 was the start of what would be an eventful final sprint to the flag. Hamilton and then Rosberg report power loss in their Mercedes. Timings showed that they were around 1.5 seconds slower than the other cars on track and with plenty of time remaining, they were easily catchable. Moments later the drivers were informed that the team could not resolve the issue. Both drivers would now have to try and nurse their cars to the end and it was looking increasingly likely they would be involved in a multi-car squabble for the win and podium places.
The train of cars from 3rd, now headed by Massa were closing in on each lap. Both Mercedes pitted and Massa took a narrow lead from Hamilton who leapfroged Rosberg on the stops. Hamilton and Rosberg were now side by side into the chicane and Hamilton this time over cooked it and went straight across the chicane, but surrendered the place back to Rosberg.
Hamilton ran straight on at turn one and immediately complained of brake failure. Unfortunately the Brits luck seemed to have run out and he cruised round to the garage to retire from the race. Massa pitted from the lead to rejoin behind the train of cars now lead by Perez once more. Perez was catching Rosberg, and was now only 1.2 seconds behind. Rosberg was doing a great job out front managing to maintain just over a seconds lead with a sick Mercedes.
Massa who had just been in to get new tyres was flying and caught his team-mate at the back of the pack fighting for 2nd. The Williams team radioed Bottas to tell him to swap with Massa and immediately Bottas dived down the inside of Hulkenberg and allowed Massa to gain 2 places.
A five car battle for the race win was underway with Rosberg leading narrowly from Perez, Ricciardo, Vettel and the flying Massa. Perez, with what looked like a brake issue lost out to Ricciardo into turn one. The Australian was now up into 2nd and pulling away from the struggling Force India. 3 laps later Ricciardo was all over the back of the Mercedes of Rosberg and made the pass down the straight with DRS assistance. There was a huge roar from the crowd as it was looking likely that Mercedes perfect season was about to be halted.
Vettel made the pass on the struggling Force India of Perez and Massa looked to follow but a huge collision at high speed sent both him and Perez crashing into the tyre walls at turn one. Both drivers ok but understandably shaken.
For a race of such high drama and intense racing it seemed an unfitting way to end the Grand Prix under safety car conditions but Daniel Ricciardo would not mind one bit as he took the win in Canada for the first of his F1 career. Rosberg followed home in 2nd after a determined and brave drive, with Vettel crossing the line in 3rd.
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An incredible race from start to finish and one which will be remembered for years to come no doubt.
Canadian Grand Prix 2014 Final Race results;
1.Daniel Ricciard Red Bull 1:39:12.830
2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +4.2 secs
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +5.2 secs
4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +11.7 secs
5 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes +12.8 secs
6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari +14.8 secs
7 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes +23.5 secs
8 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault +28.0 secs 9 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes +29.2 secs
10 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +53.6 secs
11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes Accident
12 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes Accident
13 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari +1 Lap
14 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari Ret
Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault Rear wing Ret Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault Drive train Ret
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Brakes Ret
Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault Suspension Ret Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault Power unit Ret Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault Turbo Ret Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari Accident Ret
Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari Accident
