MOTORSPORT: F1 pretenders flatter only to deceive

The British Grand Prix was a different story to the previous eight Formula 1 races this season – but with a familiar result.

The Mercedes factory cars of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg wound up first and second after they had been jumped at the start by the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas with the same Mercedes V6 hybrid power units.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was back on the podium, with an ounce of luck, ahead of the Williams pair.

There was much debate about whether a Williams order to Bottas early on cost the team a podium or two, and even victory, but the reality was that the factory Mercs always were going to prevail over the customers.

When a little rain came late in the race Hamilton timed to perfection a stop for intermediate tyres, and suddenly the Williams cars were two seconds a lap slower.

Massa took the chequered flag fourth, almost 37 seconds after Hamilton, with Bottas fifth, another 26 seconds back.

Red Bull Racing felt that its young Russian, Daniil Kyvat, might have notched his first podium if not for a strategy error by the team and a spin by Kyvat before he got to the pits for his intermediate tyres.

Daniel Ricciardo had been outqualified by teammate Kyvat for the third race in a row – they started seventh and 10th – and the Australian was out at 40 per cent distance with an electrical issue in his engine.

Ricciardo has scored only one world championship point in the past three GPs.

He had been "really optimistic and excited" at the prospect of a better showing by his Red Bull-Renault car at the Silverstone circuit, "but it didn't work out for us on the day".

"We suffered an electrical problem which forced us to retire," Ricciardo said.

"I could feel the loss of power going into turn seven. We tried circulating for a few laps to try and fix it. We also tried to reboot the engine in the pits, but unfortunately it didn't work.

"The last few races haven't been kind to us but that's racing.

"We have some time off to look forward to and we'll go into Hungary [in three weeks] a little more hopeful as the track there should suit us better."

Talk of a Mercedes engine for Red Bull next year via a possible deal with Aston Martin, in which Mercedes owns 5 per cent, seems fanciful.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said of a report by Britain's Autocar publication: "I cannot see a situation of us supplying an engine to our No.1 enemy – but maybe we need to recalibrate who our No.1 enemy is. We must be open-minded. I'm leaving the door open."

However, blunt Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda dismissed the report as "a load of rubbish".

Fernando Alonso finally scored a world championship point with 10th place in his McLaren-Honda, after knocking teammate Jenson Button out of the race in some first-lap mayhem as the two Lotus-Mercedes cars collided.

Hamilton's victory was his fifth of the season, his third at Silverstone, the 38th of his career, and he now leads Rosberg by 17 points in the championship.

Vettel stole third place by stopping early for intermediate tyres as rain started to sprinkle.

It was the sixth time this season that the Mercedes factory team pair and Vettel have filled the podium, although Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene is concerned at the gap between the factory Mercs and his cars – and that Williams can be a fly in the ointment.

Massa led the first 20 laps at Silverstone but lost out to Hamilton at the first round of pitstops.

Bottas challenged teammate Massa early and was keen to overtake, but he was told from the pit wall that they were not to race each other and to concentrate on putting a gap on Hamilton and Rosberg.

Bottas, who may depart Williams at the end of the season to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, was prepared to defy the team orders – and eventually got an OK to move on Massa – but the opportunity slipped away from him.

Massa felt he was quicker than Bottas, other than the Finn being able to use his DRS (drag reduction system) to close on him.

In the end it was academic as the factory Mercs flexed their muscles.

Despite F1's myriad problems, 140,000 people turned out at Silverstone – confirming Hamilton's popularity with the British fans if nothing else.

Formula 1 World Championship driver standings after nine of 19 rounds – 1. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 194 points; 2. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 177; 3. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 135; 4. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Williams-Mercedes) 77; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 76; 6. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 74; 7. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 36; 8. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Red Bull-Renault) 27; 9. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 24; 10. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Mercedes) 17; 11. Felipe Nasr (Brazil, Sauber-Ferrari) 16; 12. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 15; 13. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela, Lotus-Mercedes) 12; 14. Max Verstappen (Netherlands,  Toro Rosso-Renault) 10; 15. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Renault) 9; 16. Marcus Ericsson (Sweden, Sauber-Ferrari) 5; 17. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Honda) 4; 18. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 1.
     
F1 constructor standings – 1. Mercedes 371 points; 2. Ferrari 211; 3. Williams-Mercedes 151; 4. Red Bull-Renault 63; 5. Force India-Mercedes 39; 6. Lotus-Mercedes 29; 7. Sauber-Ferrari 21; 8. Toro Rosso-Renault 19; 9. McLaren-Honda 5.

Ogier took his fifth victory in seven events so far this season, 11.9 seconds ahead of Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen in another VW Polo R.

Ogier's teammate, Finn Jari-Matti Latvala, might have been on the podium too had he not hit a tree on the final stage.

Latvala still finished fourth, behind the Ford Fiesta RS of Estonian Ott Tanak – who won six of the event's 18 stages.

New Zealander Hayden Paddon followed up his second place at the previous round in Italy with fifth place.

Paddon was the quickest and most consistent of four Hyundai i20 drivers.

His Belgian teammate, Thierry Neuville, rolled on the last day but still finished sixth – half a minute behind Paddon.

Ogier won eight stages despite the disadvantage of being first on the road for most of the rally and effectively sweeping the course for his rivals.

He said he and co-driver Julien Ingrassia had "really produced a perfect performance".

One stage was cancelled on Saturday because of concerns for spectator safety.

Australian champions Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt notched the best result of their three outings  together in WRC2, finishing 12th of 27 starters in their Ford Fiesta R5.

WRC2 was won by Finn Esapekka Lappi in the new-generation Skoda Fabia R5.

World Rally Championship driver standings after seven of 13 rounds – 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Volkswagen Motorsport) 161 points; 2. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway, Volkswagen Motorsport II) 83; 3. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) 69; 4. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Volkswagen Motorsport) 66; 5.  Thierry Neuville (Belgium, Hyundai Shell World Rally Team) 58; 6. Kris Meeke (Great Britain, Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team) 53; 7. Elfyn Evans (GB, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team) 53; 8. Hayden Paddon (New Zealand, Hyundai Motorsport N) 44; 9. Ott Taenak (Estonia, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team) 40; 10. Daniel Sordo (Spain, Hyundai Shell World Rally Team) 39.
    
WRC team standings – 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 214 points; 2. Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 125; 3. Hyundai Shell World Rally Team 123; 4. M-Sport Ford World Rally Team 114; 5. Volkswagen Motorsport II 49; 6. Hyundai Motorsport N 43.

This victory for Ekstrom, in an Audi, came after his 22-year-old countryman Timmy Hansen was penalised for a pass in his Peugeot on the last lap at the Holjes track.

Hansen was demoted to second, while Norwegian Andreas Bakkerud was third in his Ford – his first podium of the season after having made the final at every round.

Championship leader and reigning world champion Petter Solberg beached his Citroen in the gravel on the final lap and broke his steering.

Norwegian Solberg still has a 44-point lead over Volkswagen Sweden's Johan Kristoffersson.

Ford Olsbergs MSE leads the teams championship by 17 points from Team Peugeot-Hansen, with a five-week break in the season until the next round in Canada.