It was a day for team Red Bull to enjoy and lead the track with Daniel Ricciardo displaying his best overtaking skills. For Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who won the race, it was the climax of an emotional and challenging two weeks. From frustration, unhappiness and even questioning his future in F1 after retirement at the last round in Bahrain, the Australian emerged from a meeting of two halves triumphant and euphoric, having made his mark in the race of the season with emphatic style. Ricciardo’s overtaking was superlative but behind him there was a different picture, with Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel left licking their wounds after finishing in fourth and eighth respectively.
Hamilton was relieved that rather than dropping points to the German he has narrowed the gap in the title battle from 17 to nine points but the first half of the race proved that his team have been put on the back foot by Ferrari, who have the quicker car. Valtteri Bottas was second for Mercedes but they have much work to do. Kimi Räikkönen finished in third for Ferrari but they too face questions after their strategy was found wanting. Vettel had led from pole until the pit stops and Mercedes brought Bottas in first while Vettel stayed out. The Finn put in some very quick sectors going for the undercut and a slow stop for the Scuderia cost Vettel and he emerged in second. The win looked to be in Mercedes’s hands, with Hamilton doing his best at damage limitation having started from fourth. But the real drama was yet to come. The two Toro Rossos clashed at turn 14, leaving debris in their wake, and Red Bull’s reaction to the subsequent safety car was swift and tactically astute. They sent both drivers into the pits and they emerged on new, soft rubber with the pace to hunt down the leaders.
Max Verstappen was the leader of the two but he was overambitious making a move on Hamilton and went off, losing his place to Ricciardo. The Australian, who had been in sixth, needed no further encouragement. Hamilton fell with a superb piece of late braking into the hairpin, Vettel on the back straight and then Bottas with a dive up the inside of turn four that took the breath away. Ricciardo was magnificent and, out of contract at the end of this year, presented a potent reminder of his talent to Ferrari and Mercedes, who both potentially have seats open next season.
