British Grand Prix review

Andrew Lewin at Silverstone 06/07/2015 at 13:35

Lewis Hamilton took a popular home victory in a thrilling British Grand Prix spiced up by Williams and late rain. F1i looks back at how the race weekend unfolded and opens itself up to future ridicule by checking just how accurate its podium prediction was…

The race in 100 words

Hamilton and Nico Rosberg locked out the front row but were jumped by Felipe Massa as both Williams drivers got impressive starts. Valtteri Bottas took second after a safety car when the Lotus and McLaren drivers collided, with Fernando Alonso the only one able to continue. Massa held off Bottas until Hamilton jumped both in the pit stops, and Rosberg then passed both as rain started to fall. Hamilton timed his stop for intermediates perfectly to repel Rosberg’s charge, while Sebastian Vettel did likewise to leapfrog the Williams pair in to third place. Alonso scored his first point of 2015.

Driver of the weekend

Lewis Hamilton was almost faultless on Sunday, which signalled a complete turnaround from a difficult Friday. Off the pace of Rosberg, Hamilton found a set-up issue with his car in time for qualifying and pulled out the lap he needed when it mattered at the start of Q3 to take pole position. A poor start - compared to the Williams pair - didn’t faze him and his one error in the race came when outbraking himself in to Club when attacking Massa, allowing Bottas to jump ahead. Read the conditions perfectly and made the right call for tyres to take a win which delighted his home fans.

Move of the race

There were numerous overtaking moves thanks to the changeable conditions, but an impressive piece of racing which happened before the rain hit came courtesy of Bottas. The Finn had pit from third place and emerged alongside team-mate Massa. Running side-by-side through Village corner, Bottas was on the outside on the exit and Rosberg dived up the inside in to The Loop. Despite just emerging from the pits on hard tyres, Bottas kept his foot in around the outside and swept back ahead through Aintree to keep the Mercedes behind.

Prediction accuracy

Podium: 1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Nico Rosberg, 3. Sebastian Vettel

F1i’s pre-race prediction: 1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Nico Rosberg, 3. Sebastian Vettel