It’s the end of F1’s first ever triple header and I don’t know about you but I’m cream crackered after such a jam packed three weeks. Whether you watched this race live from a hot and sweaty Silverstone, you were at the popular GP Screening event in Leeds or enjoyed it from the comfort of your own home, the British GP was one to remember.
From start to finish this race had everything, well minus the rain but believe it or not Britain is actually experiencing a heatwave. There were incidents on lap one, safety cars and demonstrations in the art of overtaking.
Now I take awarding “Top Dog” seriously and being a stereotypical Brit, I’m sat here with a good cup of tea contemplating who deserves this title. There have been a few stand out performances this week but there’s one man in particular that I believe deserves a little reward and recognition for the hard work he’s put in during the triple header.
You may think that this Top Dog is a rather controversial choice because he wasn’t the race winner, he didn’t achieve a flawless race, but he certainly earned himself an ice cream after a very busy afternoon on track. That’s right, this weeks award goes to…
Kimi Raikkonen
After making a dog’s dinner of the first lap, Kimi fought back and made up for his mistake. He held his hands up and admitted that he deserved the penalty. His race could have been so much more, but in the end we saw a man who never gave up and kept us entertained, this is why I’m awarding him with the Top Dog trophy.
Some of the hardcore Lewis fans showed their anger towards the Finn during the podium ceremony, obviously feeling rather sour still, they were booing him, not exactly what anyone wants to hear. I’m pretty confident that all he really wanted was to enjoy a good drink in celebration after a long drive. A ten second penalty seemed rather harsh in the first place, so why should he have to suffer any further? Lewis finished the race on the podium and the incident was just a silly mistake.
The excitement towards the end of the race saw Kimi really pushing the Mercedes boys. I can’t remember the last time we saw Mercedes, Ferrari, Mercedes, Ferrari all fighting so closely at the end of a race.
We were all on the edge of our seats waiting to see if Lewis’ tyres would hold out, whether someone would make a huge mistake or if the boys in red would end this race with a 1-2 after pitting behind the safety car. There wasn’t quite enough time for Kimi to snatch that second place from Lewis Hamilton but he certainly gets an A for effort from me.
It really has been a tough few weeks for Kimi though, with strong rumours that his seat is in danger for next year. Young Sauber driver, Charles Leclerc looks set to be announced as his replacement. But Kimi keeps providing the team with top results, finding himself on the podium for the past three races.
Surely his efforts are making this a complex decision for Ferrari – do they give the Finn another year or do they bring fresh blood into the team? I’d honestly like to think that the Top Dog award goes towards something in Kimi’s quest to continue in F1.
Deputy Dog
Now we can’t ignore Lewis’ incredible comeback which probably should have earnt him the Top Dog award. However he takes the respectable Deputy Dog trophy this week. After his first lap incident with Kimi, Lewis powered on and made up the places he lost. Before we knew it he was up into the points and in 6th place. The safety cars helped bring the podium into reach and perhaps with a different strategy he may have won the race. But with excellent tyre management he really earnt that podium.
Maybe it’s not the race he wanted to give the home fans but it was another first class example of why he’s a four time world champion – give him a challenge and he’ll exceed all expectations.
I also want to give a shout out to Nico Hulkenberg who finished ‘best of the rest’. After qualifying, it didn’t look promising for Renault. But he really pulled it out of the bag and took a good wedge of points home.
And that’s it, time for a week off! The next race is the German GP where Vettel will be looking to build on his points advantage in the championship. In the meantime make sure you keep up to date with all things Badger via the usual channels. Toodle pip!
