Three into one…
On a slippery surface, amid light showers, a slow-starting Sebastian Vettel came under pressure off the line. In a bid to defend his position, he aggressively moved over on Max Verstappen, who in turn had Kimi Räikkönen charging up the inside, following a rapid getaway from fourth. What happened next was almost inevitable.
…does not go
As Vettel continued to the left, and Räikkönen edged to the right, Verstappen, caught in the middle, seemingly had nowhere to go, resulting in contact with Räikkönen, who was pitched into team-mate Vettel’s car.
Alonso taken out
Räikkönen slid out-of-contral towards Turn 1, where he made secondary contact with Verstappen, who then hit Fernando Alonso, an innocent victim. Alonso had surged up the order from eighth, adopting his favoured outside line, but was forced to retire his car a few laps after the incident, due to the extent of the damage.
Vettel crashes out
In the contact with Räikkönen and Verstappen, which put both drivers out on the spot, Vettel’s car also suffered terminal damage, with coolant leaking under his rear wheels and sending him into the wall exiting Turn 3.
Ferrari dealt a blow
Vettel and Ferrari entered the race hoping to reel in Hamilton and Mercedes, but departed with sizeable deficits in both championships. Vettel is now 28 points away from Hamilton, while Ferrari trails Mercedes by 102 points, with the Silver Arrows’ bogey track out of the way. Despite the upset, Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene vowed: “We guarantee that we will be fighting right to the final corner of the very last Grand Prix of the year.”
Hamilton capitalises…
Hamilton, another to take the outside line, avoided the drama around him to emerge in the lead, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, whose challenge was impacted when a gearbox issue developed inside his Red Bull.
…and eases away
Hamilton’s victory never looked in doubt as he delivered fastest lap after fastest lap in wet, damp and dry conditions, while also mastering two further Safety Car restarts, as rivals got caught out by the conditions.
Wet run continues
Hamilton went on to mark his eighth successive win in a race affected by rain. “I needed it to rain, and as soon as it rained I knew where I was going to finish,” he commented during the podium interviews. “I knew I had the pace when it rained, unfortunately we didn’t have the car in the dry, [but] in the rain, those are my conditions.”
Sainz Jr. impresses
Carlos Sainz Jr., fresh from confirmation that he will join Renault for 2018, was another standout performer. Having risen up the order on Intermediates, he took on Super Softs, rather than Ultra Softs, and defended firmly from Force India rival Sergio Pérez. His skill and patience earned a personal best fourth-place finish.
Boomshakalaka!
In a passionate radio exchange, Sainz Jr. celebrated wildly with his engineer, Marco Matassa, who threw in “Boomshakalaka!” for good measure. Only Vettel has finished a Grand Prix higher in a Toro Rosso.
Source :http://feeds.gpupdate.net
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