The Midfield
Following a disappointing qualifying, Ricciardo drove a long first stint from the back on the prime tyres, before swapping to the options to charge, delivering ten hard laps at the end to snatch the final point off Perez with just a few laps to go. It certainly was a good showing on the weekend that it seems almost confirmed that he will go to Red Bull next year. Vergne was just behind in 12th place, running well for the first two stints ahead of his teammate, before a slow puncture in the final stint hampered his performance and left him unable to chase down Perez. Both drivers felt their mistakes in qualifying robbed them of a good chance for more points on a weekend they seemed to have excellent pace. Perez had a decent start, and raced hard in the opening laps to be in the points. However his race was undone on lap nine as he overtook Grosjean at the end of the first straight, hanging him out to dry and forcing the Frenchman over the chicane. It was deemed to be forcing a driver off the track, and he was handed a drive-through penalty for it, essentially killing his chance for points as he dropped down the order, ending a disappointing 11th on a day when points were on the table. Sauber's day never really got off the ground, as despite a good start Hulkenberg struggled from the beginning with balance and pace, unable to make the tyres last. They just lacked the speed, and the talented German could only achieve 13th. Gutierrez had a better day overall, showing much more potential, unfortunately he couldn't do a lot with it. He drove aggressively from the back, racing with the Williams and Force India's as he balanced pace with tyres, but ultimately contributed to the incident on lap 28 that saw Maldonado and Di Resta collide, receiving a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits to overtake the Venezuelan near the end on his way to 14th.