At one point in the race when there were four cars, neck-and-neck through a corner, fighting for position, I was shouting out words and sounds, but I didn’t actually know what or who I was shouting for. It was truly one of the best races this season.
It started off on a rather sad note as the drivers all held a minute’s silence on the grid before the race, for the former Ferrari reserve driver, Jules Bianchi, whose family also attended the event. From there the chaos began; good, entertaining chaos but chaos, none the less.
Starting from pole position, Hamilton made a poor start, ran off into the gravel on the opening lap and fell to 10th before embarking on a long fight back to the front that included more collisions and even a drive-through penalty. His poor start allowed Vettel to grab first place where he stayed for the rest of the race. Kimi was in hot pursuit after passing Rosburg into turn two, but an issue with his car later on saw him having to retire from the race.
There was a further surprise behind Vettel as Russian, Kvyat, took second place - his first-ever podium - despite being one of many drivers to suffer penalties as a result of driving offences. He was handed a 10-second penalty for taking advantage by going over track limits but held on ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who managed a third-place win.
Hamilton though, despite enduring a bad day at the office, managed to work his way up from the back to score championship points. He collected enough points to go 21 points clear of Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, who finished eighth. Nico, who was third, got a rear puncture after a track position fight with Ricciardo. The Red Bull’s front wing connected with Nicos rear tyre. He fought the car to get back to the pits as quickly as possible.
The race also saw a safety car, after Nico Hulkenberg's Force India suffered a total front-wing failure on the main straight. This sent him smashing into the barriers and leaving carbon-fibre debris all over the braking area for turn one. This caused a bunch-up of all the drivers and the impressive gaps set were now all lost. The restart saw Vettel leap ahead to claim victory. Vettel's 41st victory - a number that matches the tally achieved by three-time champion, Ayrton Senna.
Vettel dedicated his win to Jules Bianchi. This past Sunday I witnessed truly great racing, wheel-to-wheel action and I sure hope that I’ll witness more racing like this after the summer break.
