Yahoo Autos Hamilton Wins Home Grand Prix, Rosberg Penalized
After all of the anticipated drama of yet another week of teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, suddenly in an open rivalry after last weekend's incident, sharing a front row for a standing start in the British Grand Prix, rain would derail just about any chance of close racing between the two.
Instead, a delayed start behind the safety car would allow Hamilton to pull away early, leaving Rosberg to deal with third-placed Max Verstappen instead. The electric second year driver gave him trouble early, overtaking on the outside a third of the way through the race, and while he couldn't hold the championship leader off for long, it was enough of a problem to allow Hamilton an easy ride to a race win.
With Rosberg eventually able to catch and pass Verstappen, his problems would come post-race. After being given illegal advice over the radio that he says saved the car from a certain retirement, he was handed a ten second time penalty after finishing second that would demote him to third. The result tightens the championship even further and, when combined with Hamilton's race win, leaves Rosberg's once-massive lead in the standings at a single point.
Behind the comfortable leads held by Mercedes and Red Bull, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen celebrated his recent contract extension in fifth, in part because teammate Sebastian Vettel would go off-track early and have to settle for no better than ninth. Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenburg would record another strong day for Force India in sixth and seventh, respectively, while Scuderia Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat would round out the points-paying positions.
Notably, it was a disastrous home race for Williams and McLaren, two teams that showed noteworthy pace in practice and qualifying and were rewarded with a combined zero points.
Formula 1's rigorous July continues with another Grand Prix, this one at the Hungaroring, in just two weeks.
