After a great race from the Australian driver, championship leader, Jolyon Palmer, had to deal with second position. Vandoorne completes the podium and Marciello retires for mechanical problems after leading half of the race.
Start was clean and first four positions remained unaltered. Marciello, who started from first position, escaped away before first turn leaving Palmer with no fight option.
When pit stops started, around lap seven, Marciello stopped encountering lots of traffic when leaving pits. That made him make lots of overtakes so to not lose first position with Palmer, who was setting really good laps without having stopped yet.
When the equator of the race was reached, the surprise arrived. Marchiello, virtual leader of the race and pole sitter, had to retire for mechanical problems, leaving the car parked at the end of the back straight. Championship leader, Jolyon Palmer, was in good position for winning the race, but he would have to defend from Mitch Evans, who was following him closely while both had not stopped yet.
Palmer would stop in lap 19 and Evans would in the lap after but leaving pits before his rival. He now was the race leader and Palmer would fight against that. The four turns after pit exit were fight terrain for the British driver, who ended up running wide and out of the track in the old main straight entrance, so he would have to be fast and get close to Evans again.
Meanwhile, assistants to Silverstone circuit were amused to the middle positions battles. Felipe Nasr made an excellent overtake to Richelmi and he was ready to battle with Cecotto for the sixth position, his position in the grid. But he could do anything before reaching the chequered flag.
Evans won the race brilliantly and five seconds in front of Palmer, who could do nothing against him. Vandoorne, away from his competitors, completed the podium in front of Coletti and Leal. Leal was fourth in an aggressive overtake to Coletti when only three turns were left and that left pieces over the track while making Coletti drive outside the track. A movement that will have to be examined closely by the stewards.
Tomorrow at 10:20 am the second race will take place.
Results:
Pos. | Car | Driver | Team | Time | |
1 | 1 | Mitch Evans | NZ | RT Russian Time | 29 Laps |
2 | 7 | Joylon Palmer | GBR | Dams | + 4.9 |
3 | 10 | Stoffel Vandoorne | BEL | ART Grand Prix | + 25.6 |
4 | 4 | Julián Leal | COL | Carlin | + 31.9 |
5 | 6 | Stefano Coletti | MON | Racing Engineering | + 32.0 |
6 | 23 | Johnny Cecotto | VEN | Trident | + 32.2 |
7 | 3 | Felipe Nasr | BRA | Carlin | + 32.9 |
8 | 8 | Stéphane Richelmi | MON | Dams | + 34.8 |
9 | 21 | Marco Sørensen | DAN | MP Motorsport | + 35.0 |
10 | 11 | Daniel Abt | GER | Hilmer Motorsport | + 40.2 |
11 | 26 | Arhur Pic | FRA | Campos Racing | + 43.0 |
12 | 19 | Alexander Rossi | USA | EQ8 Caterham Racing | + 44.5 |
13 | 14 | Adrian Quaife-Hobbs | GBR | Rapax | + 45.7 |
14 | 25 | Conor Daly | USA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | + 47.4 |
15 | 22 | Sergio Canamasas | ESP | Trident | + 49.5 |
16 | 9 | Takuya Izawa | JAP | ART Grand Prix | + 56.1 |
17 | 24 | Nathanaël Berthon | FRA | Venezuela GP Lazarus | + 57.8 |
18 | 2 | Artem Markelov | RUS | RT Russian Time | + 60.9 |
19 | 20 | Daniël de Jong | NED | MP Motorsport | + 61.6 |
20 | 17 | André Negrao | BRA | Arden International | + 63.9 |
21 | 18 | Rio Haryanto | IND | EQ8 Caterham Racing | + 64.7 |
22 | 12 | Jon Lancaster | ARG | Hilmer Motorsport | + 65.0 |
23 | 27 | Kimiya Sato | JAP | Campos Racing | + 78.4 |
24 | 16 | Rene Binder | AUT | Arden International | + 2 Laps |
25 | 15 | Simon Trummer | CHE | Rapax | + 3 Laps |
DNF | 5 | Raffaele Marciello | ITA | Racing Engineering | + 15 Laps |