First GP win for Australian; Mercedes beaten for the first time in 2014; Rosberg escapes penalty and survives technical woes to finish in second; Hamilton retires with brake failure; Perez and Massa escape unscathed from huge shunt
Tuesday 17 June 2014 10:43, UK
Who said that the 2014 season was too predictable? In one of the most engrossing, dramatic and topsy-turvy races for years, Daniel Ricciardo was the unexpected winner of the Canadian GP and Lewis Hamilton the big loser as Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead over his Mercedes team-mate.
It certainly didn't work out for Hamilton as the 2008 World Champion forlornly parked up his W05 just moments after emerging from his second and final pit-stop ahead of Rosberg. All of a sudden, his World Championship deficit has assumed ominous proportions. "I've had a lot of work to do since race one - that is now two DNFs that I have had and zero for Nico," noted Hamilton. "The thing is, I was following him and when you are following someone you are getting more heat - he was in clean air the whole time in front and so there was not really much I could do. When I finally came out in front, I think by then everything was already cooked so there was nothing I could do." But the last word must belong to Ricciardo. "I'm still a bit in shock," Daniel admitted as he surveyed the scene from the top step of the podium after the first of what will be surely many race victories as a new star dawns in F1. "This is ridiculous." The Canadian GP certainly was that. PG