In another edition of “I meant to write this ages ago but life got in the way” I present to you my latest F1 update, two weeks after the event…
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Red Bull threw away a victory for Daniel Ricciardo, that’s what, leaving Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes to collect the 25 points for the first time since his championship victory last year.
Hamilton finished seven seconds clear of polesitter Ricciardo with Force India’s Sergio Perez completing the podium.
The race began under safety car conditions as plenty of rain fell overnight. This continued for 7 laps, and Ricciardo pulled away in the lead, ahead of Nico Rosberg and Hamilton.
Ricciardo caught Hamilton but when he made his second pit stop an error from the team meant that no tyres were readily available for him. After a long wait, the team fitted super-softs and got him out, but Hamilton had gained the lead.
Perez resisted Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari to give Force India its first podium of 2016.
A late race clash between the two Sauber cars of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson lead to them both retiring and Kimi Raikkonen crashed in his Ferrari, dragging it through the tunnel to park it up in a recovery zone.
Max Verstappen crashed at Massenet. Jolyon Palmer crashed when he lost grip on the pits straight kink as the race began. Kevin Magnussen hit the barrier at Mirabeau.