The German started on pole after surviving a stewards’ inquiry late on Saturday night. Hamilton may not have liked that reprieve but it set the race up perfectly. Could Rosberg take advantage of his good fortune? The answer immediately was no.There’s a great difference between retaining a place and taking one as the pole-sitter proved in the first two corners.
The top four – both Mercedes and both Red Bulls – made clean if unspectacular getaways but Rosberg only had eyes for Hamilton, drifting over to the inside to cover him off.
It didn’t work. Hamilton was later on the brakes and, with Daniel Ricciardo making a bold bid around the outside, the German lost out.
He was now down in third and fending off Max Verstappen’s advances as Hamilton eased away from Ricciardo on the exit of turn one.
Rosberg had to respond and as a result was bolder next time, out-braking the Australian into turn two to take second place as Hamilton eased away. He built the advantage slowly, leading by just over two seconds when he pitted for soft tyres on lap 16.
Source DailyMail.
