The 2016 British Grand Prix is in the books and if you thought anything different was going to occur other than a Mercedes car being the winner then maybe you should consider joining the film industry and selling your fantasy-based ideas to a studio. As it has been for the vast majority of the year, a Mercedes won another F1 race – this time it was Lewis Hamilton – and, as happens in a mere majority of the races, Mercedes went 1-2 in the race as Nico Rosberg finished in second on the track before the race stewards demoted him to third for the pit telling him not to use seventh gear.
AutoSportsNation – as well as most of the civilized world – thinks the ban on radio communication between pit and drivers is, to put it in the words of The Colonel from Monty Python – extremely silly – and we refuse to recognize such arbitrary post-race judgments. Therefore, our race point awards remain as they finished on the track, with Hamilton winning the top points, followed by Rosberg and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The race itself was another snoozer as Hamilton won the pole and took off unchallenged for the entire race. The only thing qualifying as excitement were the rainy weather conditions, which forced the first five laps of the race to be run behind the safety car before Hamilton sped off into the sunset. Behind Hamilton, the cheeky teenager Verstappen briefly made life interesting for Rosberg, blocking him for 10 laps before Rosberg finally had had enough and passed him to claim second place on the track.
The Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award was difficult to administer for this race as everybody was skidding here or there on the track due to the wet conditions but ASN awards it to Manor Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein, who made it the least amount of distance than any of them – seven laps – before skidding his car into the gravel and out of the race.
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave Me Alone! I Know What I’m Doing!” Award for best radio transmission would go to Rosberg for asking about his seventh gear problem but that might give credence to the stupid rule so instead, we award Wehrlein with the rare double for his utterance of “Yeah, I’m out,” after he skidded into the gravel. Really? No kidding.
The Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award is a slam dunk – going to Renault driver Jolyon Palmer for attempting to drive off with only three wheels after an early pit stop.
2016 ASN Formula One Driver Standings [after British Grand Prix]
1] Nico Rosberg – 17 points
2] Lewis Hamilton – 12 points
3] Sebastian Vettel – eight points
4] Kimi Raikkonen – five points
5] Max Verstappen – four points
6] Fernando Alonso/Sergio Perez – three points
8] Jenson Button/Carlos Sainz, Jr. – two points
10] Valtteri Bottas/Romain Grosjean/Daniil Kvyat/Stoffel Vandoorne – one point
The Pastor Maldonado Driving School Award [after British Grand Prix]
1] Kvyat/Rosberg – two points
3] Alonso/Bottas/Hamilton/Hulkenberg/Raikkonen/Wehrlein – one point
The Kimi Raikkonen “Leave me alone! I Know what I’m Doing!” Award [after British Grand Prix]
1] Hamilton/Raikkonen – two points
3] Button/Kvyat/Ricciardo/Rosberg/Vettel/Wehrlein – one point
The Lewis Hamilton Doofus Moment Award [after British Grand Prix]
1] Bernie Ecclestone/Hamilton – three points
3] F1 Stewards/Jolyon Palmer and Renault pit/Daniel Ricciardo pit/Mercedes pit – one point