British GP: Race sees Williams Martini struggle

The Williams Martini team would see their drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa start the fifty two lap 2016 British Grand Prix from sixth and twelfth positions respectively. On pole was Hamilton with Rosberg second. The Red Bull's of Verstappen and Ricciardo were third and fourth with Raikkonen fifth. Behind Valtteri in seventh was Sainz, Hulkenberg, Alonso, and Perez tenth. With the cars sitting on the grid it would start to rain heavily throwing race strategies into chaos. It was announced that the race would start under the Safety car but the rain had all but stopped as the grid cleared.

With the Safety Car start it would mean that all drivers would start on the full wet tyre. Now it was a question of to change to dry tyres or an intermediate tyre. The grid would move away behind the Safety Car with the race starting. There was a fair amount of water out on the track. The Safety Car would come in on lap six with a rush of drivers all coming in. Valtteri would be one of the drivers to come in. Hamilton was leading from Rosberg with Felipe now sixth with all the stops. Valtteri was now on intermediates and down in fourteenth. Felipe would pit on lap eight along with more drivers. Hamilton, Rosberg and Verstappen all stayed out on wets. Perez was fourth followed by Nasr and Ericsson.

Wehrlein would spin off at the first corner seeing a Virtual Safety Car been deployed. The top five would all pit with Felipe and Valtteri now eighth and ninth. With the end of the Virtual Safety Car Hamilton would take off in the lead from Rosberg and Verstappen. Perez was now fourth followed by Ricciardo, Raikkonen, and Sainz. Hamilton was leading by 5.2 seconds over Rosberg with ten laps completed. Hulkenberg would attempt to pass Valtteri but he was not able to get past. But Valtteri would drop to thirteenth after a spin at Vale seeing him able to continue with Button right behind. Drivers were been told to look after their tyres as they have to last.

Felipe was still in eighth but was struggling with Hulkenberg right behind. The sun was out and it was getting close to dry tyres. Vettel would pit from fifteenth taking on the medium tyre. Verstappen would pass Rosberg taking second. Lap eighteen and both Williams would pit along with drivers outside the top ten. Both Williams drivers would return on medium tyres. But the next lap we would have both Mercedes cars pit along with most of the top ten. Verstappen would be leading with Felipe ninth and Valtteri fourteenth. Verstappen would pit on lap twenty seeing Hamilton leading again. Verstappen would return in second with Rosberg third.

Perez was fourth followed by Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Sainz, and Hulkenberg. Felipe was still ninth with Alonso close behind. Alonso would pass Felipe on the Wellington straight but Felipe would get the position back. Verstappen was the quickest driver on the track now 5.5 seconds behind Hamilton. Alonso continued to attack Felipe as Ricciardo passed Perez for fourth. From Williams Pat Symonds said today was everything they didn't want. Rosberg was closing in onto Verstappen with a series of quick laps. Alonso would have a big spin at Abbey going across the gravel but he was able to continue coming back running with Valtteri. Rosberg still continue to close in onto Verstappen while for Williams Felipe was still ninth. Valtteri would be passed by Nasr seeing Valtteri drop to fifteenth.

Hamilton would have a moment at Turn one losing time to Verstappen. But Verstappen would also be caught out at the same corner seeing the top three close up. Rosberg continued to close in onto Verstappen and would eventually be running behind him able to use his DRS. Rosberg would complain about Verstappen moving twice on the track. Down in ninth Felipe continued to run but had Vettel behind him. Thirty eight laps completed and Vettel would finally pass Felipe but Felipe would complain that Vettel had pushed him off the track. Finally Rosberg would pass Verstappen at Stowe going around the outside. Vettel was now under investigation.

Rosberg was 8.2 seconds behind Hamilton while for Williams Felipe would pit taking on the soft tyre. Felipe was able to have a new set of soft tyres to use. Felipe would come out in thirteenth and Valtteri was now fourteenth. Vettel would get a five second time penalty for his incident with Felipe. Felipe would use his soft tyres and improve to twelfth. Alonso would pass Valtteri for thirteenth. With forty six laps completed Felipe was still twelfth and Valtteri fourteenth. Hamilton was keeping the gap to Rosberg at around six seconds. Verstappen and Ricciardo were third and fourth followed by Perez, Raikkonen, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Vettel, and Kvyat. Lap forty eight and Rosberg would come onto the radio saying that had a gearbox issue and he would be told by his engineer to avoid seventh gear. Verstappen would close in onto Rosberg. Raikkonen had passed Perez for fifth.

It would be reported that Rosberg was under investigation for some of the comments made between him and his engineer with this been done after the race. Rosberg was now 9.6 seconds behind Hamilton while Felipe had passed Button to now be eleventh. Hamilton would start his final lap which he would complete to take victory in the 2016 British Grand Prix. Rosberg would get his car to the finish taking second with Verstappen third. Ricciardo was fourth followed by Raikkonen, Perez, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Vettel, and Kvyat tenth. For Williams Felipe would finish in eleventh and Valtteri fourteenth. Vettel would get a five second penalty but would retain his ninth place. For the Williams team their home race could not have ended it such a disappointing fashion with neither driver scoring a point. Both drivers struggled for pace in the wet conditions at the start of the race and after that it was a lost cause. Valtteri added a spin into the mix to just make it even more frustrating.