Bottas Sneaks Past Ferrari to Win

Qualifying:

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Report:Cheeky Manfred helped Bottas take the lead and Bottas made the most of it.

With F1 signing a three-year deal to move the British Grand Prix to the Silverstone Bridge Grand Prix Circuit from 2018 onwards and Lewis Hamilton being an absent world champion, attendance for the home race of prestigeous teams such as Williams-Peugeot and the current championship leaders Caterham-Judd was rather lacking. F1 drivers tend to care little for those matters, once they are in the car.

Daniil Kvyat had beaten local hero Nathan McKane to the pole position and went on the secure that lead in the run to turn one. That was the start of Daniil’s effort to secure his second victory of the season and thereby reduce the lead of his teammate, who has scored more than twice his points total. Regrettably, that was not the story to be, Caterham were forced to park his car due to a damaged suspension.

This left the door wide open for Sebastian Vettel and Nathan McKane, who were involved in a mini-fight of their own. However, failing to pass Brabhams despite fresher tyres sealed their fate: Sebastién Bourdais left them behind with little trouble. However, even Bourdais was outdone: Precision had a perfect strategy planned out and left it in Valterri’s hands to execute it. He did so, very impressively in fact.

In the end, Nathan McKane and Sebastian Vettel even had to deal with Stoffel Vandoorne, who also drove a mature race to grab third. This is a huge deal for Haas, especially given as Pastor Maldonado threw away a valueable position by pushing too hard. Simon Pagenaud failed to secure points, failing to beat men like Romain Grosjean, Sergio Pérez or Conor Daly.

Race:

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Fastest Lap:

Sebastian Vettel – 1:02.532

Infinite Improbability Drive Of The Race:

Stoffel Vandoorne – Calm and mature drive after being gifted a number of opportunities, a well-deserved podium.

Reject Of The Race:

Pastor Maldonado – Sauber can ill afford such stupid moves.