Ricciardo gets first Formula 1 Grand Prix win in Canada

Daniel Ricciardo has won his first career Formula 1 Grand Prix in Canada ahead of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg. Teammate Sebastian Vettel crossed in third to complete the podium.

The win for Ricciardo proves important not just for the Australian driver who replaced Mark Webber this season, but for the Red Bull team who have struggled thus far in 2014. Falling back on the Mercedes AMG F1 team throughout the first 6 races of the season, Mercedes struggles with power and braking issues throughout the race, forcing Lewis Hamilton to retire whilst Rosberg struggled in the final 15 laps of the race whilst Red Bull were able to finish in both first and third place.

Mercedes will be looking for answers to their struggles before the next race in Austria, giving competitor teams a chance to catch up on their slower starts to 2014.

McLaren showed signs of improvement today with Jenson Button finishing in fourth and teammate Magnussen finishing in ninth. Sahara Force India continues to score points as Nico Hulkenberg finished in fifth whilst Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Vergne. Kimi Raikkonen took the final points from his tenth place finish.

The Canadian Grand Prix is always a race that promises excitement to both fans and drivers’ alike, and 2014 certainly did not disappoint.

Nico Rosberg led the pack off the line and into the first corner with teammate Lewis Hamilton running right beside him. Hamilton had the better start, but going into turn 1 Rosberg forced his teammate wide, allowing the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel to slot into second, splitting the Mercedes duo.

The grid made it safely through turns one and two, before the Marussia cars of Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi crashed at turn 3, bring out the Safety Car. Chilton lost the back of his Marussia going into the corner, spinning the rear and colliding with his teammate Jules Bianchi. Both drivers were forced to retire from the race on lap 1, just two weeks after Marussia were the unlikely heroes of Monaco where they scored their first career Championship points. The crash was also the first retirement of Max Chilton’s Formula 1 racing career.

The Safety Car remained out for 7 laps as the marshals rushed to clear up the mass debris from the Marussia crashes, playing nicely into the hands of those teams running on tight fuel levels. The slower paced allowed for low fuel consumption, giving drivers the opportunity to use more in the real racing ahead. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was one of those drivers, asking his team during the safety car period to turn up his engine to maximum power for the restart.

As lap eight got underway, so did the racing as the safety car returned to the pits. Nico Rosberg left the restart with Vettel just behind and Hamilton running in third. Vettel’s second place would last just a lap though, before Hamilton breezed by him in the DRS zone to regain second position behind his teammate. Rosberg immediately responded to the news of his teammate overtaking maneuver by setting the fastest first sector of anyone else to lap 10.

The first round of pit stops started around lap 12 onwards, with Romain Grosjean stopping and then Daniel Ricciardo stopping to get rid of his super-soft Pirelli’s. In the heat, Vettel also reported to the team they should ‘prepare for a shorter first stint’ as the tyres started to heavily degrade.

Nico Rosberg pit from the lead on lap 19 leaving Hamilton carried through to inherit the lead first place for the first time of the Grand Prix. Rosberg rejoined in second place, before coming close to hitting the wall at turn three as the tyres were yet to warm up. Hamilton’s lead was short lived as he took his scheduled first stop on the following lap, allowing Rosberg to jump back in front. Behind them, having not yet stopped, the Force India’s of Perez and Hulkenberg had worked their way up to third and fourth, as Vettel in fifth was tailed by Williams’ Valtteri Bottas.

Sahara Force India were making an early attempt to one-stop this race weekend, leaving their positions in third and fourth sound. Vettel was quickly able to close the gap on Hulkenberg in fourth, but found himself quickly frustrated when unable to pass Hulkenberg. Vettel made one attempt to pass at the hairpin, before running wide and opening the gap again. Vettel reported his frustration to the team, who quickly assured him Force India were one-stopping.

A few laps later and Nico Rosberg, who was comfortably ahead of Lewis Hamilton in the lead, cut the corner at the turn 14 chicane, gaining approximately half a second on his teammate. Rosberg was then quickly told he was under investigation for exceeding the track limits as team Hamilton relayed the message to Lewis, instructing him not to take any risks. Behind, Jenson Button was once again out of the points standing, running in 12th place and Bottas had caught up with Vettel, forcing Vettel to concentrate on not being overtaken by the Williams instead of attacking Hulkenberg ahead, who in turn, increased his gap to hold on to fourth place. At the front of the pack, the battle between Rosberg and Hamilton continued as Rosberg was informed there would be no penalty for exceeding the track limits.

Sergio Perez pit for the first time on lap 34, freeing up Hulkenberg, Vettel and Ricciardo just behind. Perez’s stop went without fault and the Force India driver rejoined in ninth place ahead of Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and just one second behind eighth placed Jean-Eric Vergne, who would be required to stop again before the afternoon was out.

At the halfway point on the race, and although safely in first and second place, Nico Rosberg reported to the team that he seemed to be losing power. As Hamilton started to drop back a little, the team quickly informed Rosberg that they were trying to rectify the issue and that they understood Hamilton may be experiencing the same difficulties.

Nico Hulkenberg pit from third place with just 29 laps to go, surrounding his potential podium position finish to the Williams of Felipe Massa for the time being. Hulkenberg rejoined in eighth place whilst teammate Perez moved into fifth with those in the top four positions yet to take their final stop of the afternoon. Rosberg was the first to blink, pitting from the lead with 25 laps remaining and once again moving teammate Hamilton in first place.

Strategy at Mercedes remained the same though, and Hamilton pit the following lap. This time, Hamilton jumped Rosberg with a quicker stop, taking the lead. Racing with Rosberg, Hamilton then out braked himself, running wide in the chicane. Allowing Rosberg through in line with the rules, Hamilton run wide again at turn 1 and turn 2, before limping back to the pit garage and retiring from the race. It was Hamilton’s second retirement of 2014. It was also the seventh retirement of the afternoon.

Rosberg also looked to be slowing at times with the team reporting problems with the brake temperatures. Perez took the opportunity to gain on the race leader, before Rosberg was told he could go back to normal racing with the brake temperatures being manageable. Perez was also reminded by his team to look after the tyres with just 19 laps remaining.

The final ten laps of the race turned into the closest fought battle of the afternoon. A five car lead-pack of Rosberg, Perez, Ricciardo, Vettel and Massa was separated by just 1.6 seconds, leaving every position to be fought for with just 5 laps remaining. Disaster then struck for Perez and Force India when the cars breaks let go. Perez reported the problem to his team just before Ricciardo passed him for second place. Fighting with the car, Perez held off attacks from Vettel behind for another two laps until he was overtaken.

The race then finished under the safety car as Massa collided with Perez on the final lap down the pit straight. Attempting to overtake on the inside, Massa had too much speed as Perez attempted to brake and turn into turn 1. Massa hit Perez with speed, causing both to smash into the crash barriers and bringing out yellow flags.

Daniel Ricciardo took the chequered flag at slow pace, allowing him to take in his first career Formula 1 race win.

A total of 11 cars retired from the Canadian Grand Prix – the highest number of 2014.
Nico Rosberg continues to lead the Drivers’ World Championship ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes continue to dominate the Constructors’ World Championship regardless of their performance in Canada.

The calendar resumes in two weeks’ time for the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Osterreich 2014 in Spielberg on the weekend of June 20 – 22.