Hamilton wins at home after Rosberg retires

Monday, 7 July 2014 01:20 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

SILVERSTONE England (Reuters): Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix on Sunday and slashed Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg’s Formula One lead to four points after the German retired for the first time this season. Hamilton, who last won at Silverstone in his 2008 championship year, now has 161 points to Rosberg’s 165 with 10 races remaining and his title hopes fully restored. It was his fifth win of the year.

Finland’s Valtteri Bottas finished second for Williams, 30.1 seconds behind Hamilton, for his second successive podium with Australian Daniel Ricciardo third for Red Bull and a further 16.3 seconds down the road. The race was red-flagged almost as soon as it started after Ferrari’s 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen had a big crash that left the Finn limping to the medical centre with a sore ankle but otherwise unscathed. It was the first time a race had been halted on the opening lap since Monaco 2000. When it restarted behind the safety car after an hour’s delay to fix damaged barriers, Hamilton went from overnight devastation to delight as Rosberg finally suffered some of the misfortune that had plagued his team mate. The championship and race leader reported a gearbox problem after 20 of the 52 laps, and just after Hamilton’s race engineer had informed the second placed Briton it was “Hammer time” – time to for a full-on charge. Nine laps later, Rosberg slowed, pulled over and parked up on the grass as Hamilton sped past. Britain’s Jenson Button, the most experienced driver in the race who has never finished on his home podium, chased Ricciardo home to take fourth for McLaren on an emotional afternoon for the 2009 champion. The race was the first at Silverstone for Button, who started third on the grid, since the death of his father John in January. Red Bull’s quadruple champion Sebastian Vettel finished fifth after a lively battle with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who took sixth after originally starting 16th and then being hit with a stop/go penalty for overshooting his mark on the grid.