RACE REPORT
Further back, the battle for fourth place in the
Constructors’ Championship was again fierce.
Seventh-placed Hulkenberg was comfortably
11 seconds ahead of Valterri Bottas, but behind
them Felipe Massa in the second Williams was
coming under enormous pressure from local
hero Sergio Perez. The battle would last the
entire race but Massa held his ground until the
chequered flag.
As the race entered its final third, Raikkonen
was the first to blink on strategy, with the Finn
taking a final set of mediums on lap 46. Ricciardo
was the next to make a switch and the Australian
shed his 49-lap-old mediums for a set of soft
tyres on lap 51. Again the move seemed positive
as he rejoined in sixth and immediately passed
Hulkenberg.
The Australian began to push and on lap
56 he was 14.5s behind fourth-placed Vettel
and lapping almost a second quicker than the
German who was hitting traffic.
At the front, though Hamilton was
comfortable. At the start of lap 57 the Briton led
Rosberg by seven seconds, with Rosberg now
three seconds ahead of Verstappen. With just 15
laps to go it looked like the front four would stick
to a one-stop strategy, though Verstappen was
beginning to nurse tyres that were 45 laps old.
And as the race entered its final laps, Vettel’s
strategy, and that of Ricciardo, paid off. The pair
pulled up close to the fading Verstappen and
with a handful of laps to go Vettel found himself
within DRS range of the Dutchman. He moved to
attack, prompting the Red Bull driver to brake too
late. The Dutchman went off track but rejoined
ahead of the German. It looked certain that he
would be told to cede the position.