Sebastian Vettel dedicates his win to Jules Bianchi, who passed away last week. The Ferrari driver finished ahead of the Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo. The Mercedes were involved in several incidents and finished 6th and 8th. Verstappen was very close to his first podium on a wonderful 4th. Best race of the year for McLaren Honda with Alonso 5th and Button 9th.
The Ferraris got the lead of the race on the first corner after a poor start by Rosberg, Hamilton and Ricciardo. Hamilton made a mistake on the chicane and went down to 10th, while Ricciardo was 7th after starting 4th. The Australian got his position back after he overtook his teammate Kvyat, Hülkenberg and Bottas. Hamilton was also gaining positions from the back, but it cost him more time than expected.
The crucial point of the race would come on the first pit stop. Rosberg and Ricciardo chose a different strategy from the Ferraris and Hamilton, who had already gone up to 5th. They chose to use the medium compound on their middle stint, while the other were using the soft one.
This strategy would pay off for Ricciardo when the Safety Car was deployed following Nico Hülkenberg’s accident. However, Nico Rosberg decided to use the medium when he saw they were working well on Hamilton’s car. Kimi Räikkönen had to retire his car after he experienced a loss of power the team was unable to solve. Ricciardo got very close to Hamilton and they collided when Hamilton didn’t give him enough space, for which he would be given a drive through. Moreover, Hamilton’s front wing was damaged so he had to change it and fell to the back of the grid.
Ricciardo was the fastest man on track and was trying to overtake Nico Rosberg for 2nd. However, in an overoptimistic move, he ran a little bit wide and broke his front wing, causing a puncture on Rosberg’s front left tyre. He had to pit in order to replace it, which brough his teammate Kvyat to 2nd place. He could keep the last podium position ahead of Max Verstappen.
Finally, Sebastian Vettel avoided all the incidents and brought the victory home after a fantastic drive. He dedicated his win to Jules Bianchi with a beautiful message in French: “Thank you Jules, this is for you. You were part of the Ferrari family and would have been driving this car sooner or later”. Red Bull was on the podium for the first time this season with Kvyat 2nd and Ricciardo 3rd. Max Verstappen got a wonderful 4th place, while his teammate Carlos Sainz had to retire for mechanical issues. Fernando Alonso finished in the points for the second race in a row and got the best result of the season for McLaren, 5th, together with Jenson Button on 9th. The Mercedes managed to regain some positions from the back of the grid, with Hamilton finishing 6th and Rosberg 8th. Grosjean (7th) and Ericsson (10th) went back to points positions, while their teammates finished 11th (Nasr) and 13th (Maldonado). The Williams of Massa (12th) and Bottas (13th) had a very troublesome race, but at least they were able to finish unlike both Force India. In the Manor battle, Roberto Merhi finished ahead of his teammate Will Stevens.
