Top Five Grand Prix of 2014

Published 12/29/2014, 12:48 PM EST

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The year 2014 saw a shift from Red Bull dominance to Mercedes dominance. With 2014 being the year of new engines, this season was bound to be an exciting one. It was a stark contrast to previous year’s season, with some very unusual races and several exciting moments. We at ES present you the five best races of this season.

Hungarian GP

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Season 2013 had no wet races. The last wet race before  this was the Hungarian Grand Prix of the 2012 season.  This year, we got to witness another wet Hungarian race. Rosberg took pole while his team mate started at the bottom end after his car caught fire in Q1. It rained heavily 40 minutes before the race and by the start of the race, it was a drying track with warm conditions but with ample water still on the track.  Rosberg had a fairly good start with Vettel behind him having qualified second. An early safety car was deployed after Caterham’s Marcus Erricson crashed and spilled debris all over the place. This ruined Rosberg’s race. He was having a 10s lead over others but found himself stuck behind the safety car as others pitted behind him for slicks. After the safety car was called off, he suffered from brake issues which meant he dropped to 5th with Hamilton 7th. It was another bad day for Force India. First Hulkenburg collided with Perez, eliminating the former from the race. Perez then collided heavily with the pit wall on lap 23, and thus he was also out of the race. This deployed the second safety car of the race. Rosberg was stuck behind a Torro Rosso , which worked amazingly well for Ricciardo who thanks to his new tyres, raced very aggressively managing to gain his lost positions. Rosberg thanks to his slow stop (and soft tires) meant he had to pit again. He  quickly reached 5th,behind Hamilton, who was told to let his team mate pass, but staunchly refused. Mercedes panicked, which meant there was high unrest between the two drivers after the race. Both were furious at the team and at each other. After all the final pit  stops were done, it was reduced to a tensed four way battle for lead with 10 laps to go. Alonso was in the lead, followed by Hamilton, Ricciardo and then Rosberg. It had been a brilliant drive by Hamilton so far and a frustrating one for his team mate. The order remained the same till the final two laps. In the final two laps, Ricciardo with relatively newer and faster tyres first overtook Hamilton with a very ballsy move and then Alonso roo, managing to grab the lead at the closing stages of the race and thus winning his second race of the season. Alonso with his best drive of the season finished second and Hamilton having started from the pit lane recovered to take the final spot of the podium.



Canadian GP

Nico Rosberg won the pole, after a couple of mistakes by his teammate Lewis Hamilton in his flying lap. Vettel, in the Red Bull, was third ahead of the two Williams followed by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo completing the top 6. The start of the race was a clean start for the front runners, and Vettel gained second position after the first corner. At turn 4, both the Marussias collided calling in the safety car which stayed there for seven laps. Rosberg managed the restart perfectly. When DRS was enabled, Hamilton overtook Vettel to gain his second position back. As the race progressed it looked like this race, much like all the races before it, would be a fight between the two Mercedes only. Even after both had pitted, the first two positions remained the same-Hamilton chasing Rosberg. Hamilton was constantly closing in on his team mate up until both the Mercedes cars started losing power after lap 35.  Both the cars were eventually lapping slower than any other car in the race. Soon after his second pit stop, which threw him out in the front, Hamilton was forced to retire after his car literally started smoking. This gave Rosberg the first place again followed by Sergio Perez who was running on a brilliantly executed one stop strategy. He was holding behind the Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Vettel followed by Massa. Rosberg was lapping slower than the rest of the front runners but the Force India at second was holding the others off. With 5 laps to go, Ricciardo overtook Perez with a brilliant move outside turn 1. He soon then overtook Rosberg too. Perez and Massa then collided horrifically and both were sent into a hospital for medical checkups after the Force India beast decelerated rapidly. The incident brought the safety car which meant Ricciardo’s maiden victory was guaranteed and so was Rosberg’s second position running in a much slower car than Vettel who finished third. It was sad for Perez who missed out on a podium but fortunately, he was perfectly fine after the accident.

Bahrain GP

Mercedes had the front row, with Nico on pole. As the race began, Hamilton from  took the lead at turn 1. At the end of the first lap, Hamilton had some margin over his team mate and Rosberg also did well to maintain a good gap and not do anything unnecessary. At lap 18, the overtakes began again just before the scheduled pit stop. Rosberg used DRS to gain the lead for a faint moment, but Hamilton aggressively got his position back. They both switched to different strategies, which led to a big gap between the two but ensured that a close fight would be seen in the closing stages. Mercedes allowed their drivers to race without any restrictions. Many a times, the cars came dangerously close but Mercedes let the two drivers have their fun. There were no team orders. It was pure racing. 100% genuine racing. At lap 41, Maldonado collided with one of the Saubers throwing debris all over the place, thanks to a foolish inexplicable mistake and hence a safety car was called. Both the Mercedes cars took their final pit stops with Hamilton going for mediums and his team mate at softs. Despite the faster tires, Rosberg couldn’t find a way through. Hamilton’s defensive skills were put to excellent use. Soon at the closing stages, Rosberg’s tires were wearing down thanks to the aggressive driving by him. Ultimately Hamilton won the race by just a second. The final spot went to Force India’s Sergio Perez who drove an excellent race having qualified fourth handling the team their second podium. He was able to successfully hold off the Red Bull behind him as Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth having qualified 13th. After the race restarted after the safety car, Daniel overtook his team mate Sebastian Vettel through a very aggressive move and then easily found his way through to fourth. It was a very exciting race thanks to the variety of race battles and highlight being the battle for first position, the intensity of racing by the Mercedes and brilliant driving by Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo provided a good show to the fans.

British GP

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Wet qualifying sessions ensured that the British GP saw a well shuffled starting lineup. Nico Rosberg was on pole while the home hero Lewis Hamilton a mere 6th. Both the Williams and the Ferraris were out in Q1 thanks to the wet session. Rosberg had a clean start where as the Sebastian Vettel who was second on the grid made a slow start and even had a small impact with Hamilton who made a very quick start. There was a huge accident involving Kimi Raikkonen which also took out his former Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa and sprayed debris all over the track. Kimi faced an impact of nearly 47Gs but walked away unharmed. The race was red flagged for nearly half an hour as the track was being cleared of debris. The race was restarted behind the safety car. Hamilton was very quick and at lap 5, he was up to second position constantly chasing his team mate who was running good in the first place. The Mercedes duo was lapping 2s faster than anyone on the grid and Hamilton was reducing the gap 0.5s a lap to Nico. Soon Nico started complaining of gearbox issues and despite the faster set of tyres as compared to his team mate after the first routine pit stop, wasn’t able to extend or maintain the gap. Hamilton was constantly reducing the gap. At lap 29, Nico’s gearbox gave in and Hamilton rushed to gain the first position. He was now in the lead while his team mate was out of the race. From then on, it was an easy race for Hamilton. Ricciardo on a one stop strategy was up to third behind the second place Williams of Bottas, who throughout the race was the only on to be a little close to the pace of Mercedes. Ricciardo ultimately finished 0.5s clear of Jenson Button who was also on a one stop strategy. The battle for fifth between Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso was the highlight of the race, as both the world champions fought an epic 10 lap battle for fifth position often coming within inches of a collision. Vettel eventually made a move over Alonso and defended it pretty well, superbly showing off his skills. Alonso ultimately had to settle for sixth position.

Belgian GP

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The circuit at Spa had always provided an exciting race for the fans, with its long length, ups downs, high speed corners and changing weather conditions. Nico Rosberg took pole from his team mate, bettering him by a mere 0.3s on a wet Qualifying session.  Nico had a slow start and dropped to third behind Vettel while his team mate had a clean start and quickly grabbed the lead. Due to some silly errors by Vettel, Rosberg won the second position easily and was now charging behind Hamilton to gain the first position back. On lap 2, both of them made contact as Nico Rosberg attempted a very unlikely move over his team mate running in the first position which punctured Hamilton’s left rear tyre and threw him out of the race while Nico damaged his front wing a little bit which was then replaced later in the first routine pit stop. Despite the collision, Nico was running in the first position with Vettel and Ricciardo behind him constantly cutting down his lead. Another error from the defending four time world champion, Vettel, allowed his team mate to overtake him at lap 5. He then began his full assault on the ailing Mercedes ahead of him. Rosberg pitted on lap 8th, for a new front wing and tires but the race after that was not easy for him. He found himself behind Vettel and in trying to find a way past him, drained another tire. He then took another pit stop at lap 23, to change the damaged tires. His final stop came at lap 34 for soft tires so that he could charge at the closing stages. He dropped to 5th position but with soft tires and the Merc now running at full pace he was easily able to gain back the second position from Bottas and Raikkonen, who finished third and fourth respectively. After having a clear air after gaining the second position, he began his assault on the Red Bull at the front, taking almost 2s per lap. Ultimately he did run out of time and Ricciardo won the race by a mere 2s margin.

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Written by:

Jaskirat Arora

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Jaskirat Arora is the Co-Founder & Content Head of EssentiallySports. He developed an avid interest in sports from an early age and actively follows F1, NBA & Tennis.
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