Hamilton storms to British Grand Prix victory

SILVERSTONE -- Lewis Hamilton streaked away to comfortably win his home British Grand Prix on Sunday at Silverstone, with Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg hanging on for a provisional second.

Third was the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, but championship leader Rosberg -- suffering late gear-box problems -- was under investigation over a radio communication that could spell further trouble for the German, who now only leads Hamilton by four points.

Hamilton, who started from pole in a race that began slowly behind the safety car because of heavy rain, has gradually eaten away at rival Rosberg's lead in the drivers' standings.

The Briton, the reigning world champion, has now made it four wins in the last five races to pile the pressure on Rosberg.

The duo had a last-lap collision last weekend in Austria, before Hamilton claimed a controversial victory, further straining already frosty relations between the two.

Rosberg was booed on the podium at Silverstone.

"We have the best fans here, thank you so much," Hamilton told the adoring 100,000 crowd.

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Hamilton makes it a year of Mercedes poles

SPIELBERG, Austria - Lewis Hamilton seized pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday in a damp qualifying session that saw both the Formula One world champion and his Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg skid off on their final laps.

The pole was Hamilton's seventh in eight races -- the same number he managed in all of last season -- and 45th of his career, taking him to third equal with Sebastian Vettel on the all-time list behind Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna.

It also completed a year of domination by Mercedes, with Brazilian Felipe Massa's pole for Williams in Austria last June the last time any driver from outside the team has started from the top slot.

"It was quite a difficult qualifying session for everyone because of the track conditions," said Hamilton, who spun off at turn one as he started his final quick lap on a drying track after morning rain.

"I was pushing that bit extra on the next run and just locked the rears," added the Briton, who leads Rosberg by 17 points after winning four races to the German's two.

Rosberg, who was two tenths slower than Hamilton going into his final lap, pushed just a bit too hard and careered across the runoff and into the gravel just as it seemed he was going to be quicker.

"I went on the astroturf out of the second to last corner. Maybe that was still a bit wet or something or I just overdid it after that, I'm not sure. I just lost it there into the last corner," said the German.

"I knew I had to go for it."

Ferrari's Vettel will line up in third place with Massa fourth for Williams and 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Nico Hulkenberg fifth for Force India.

Mercedes-powered cars filled five of the top six slots at a 'power' circuit.

"Generally the Mercedes-powered cars can turn up the performance a bit. Even the Williams were also a lot closer than they were in practice," said four-times champion Vettel.

At a scenic circuit owned by energy drink giant Red Bull, 17-year-old Dutch rookie Max Verstappen provided some cheer for the unhappy hosts with seventh place on the grid for Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso.

Both Red Bull's main drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat have 10 place grid penalties as a result of engine replacements and are set to start 18th and 15th respectively.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen failed to get through the first phase of qualifying and was 18th before penalties applied to others moved the Finn up to 14th.

"How is that possible?," exclaimed the Finn, with the expletive deleted.

An element of farce was added to the session with McLaren's Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button each taking 25 place grid penalties in a field of just 20 cars for exceeding their allocation of power unit components.

Alonso qualified 15th and starts 19th while Button dropped from 17th to last. They will also have to serve time penalties on Sunday, an additional embarrassment with new Honda president Takahiro Hachigo attending the race.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis and Martyn Herman)

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Hamilton hot favorite for triple triumph

LONDON - Lewis Hamilton starts the Formula One season as red-hot favorite to become a triple world champion but Niki Lauda, who knows how that feels, fears the battle could be tougher than ever.

The Briton won 11 races to Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg's five last year, with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo taking the other three, and heads for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15 with every reason to be confident.

The 'Silver Arrows' have been ominous in testing, lapping with metronomic efficiency and eye-openingly faster than anyone else once they finally got around to bolting on the quicker soft tyres.

"Expectations are enormously high because we won everything that we could win last year," triple champion Lauda, now non-executive chairman of the Mercedes works team, told Reuters in an interview.

"The logic is that everybody expects and wants to have the same thing (again) but I can tell you it is not that easy. A new season is a new season and everything starts from scratch.

"I think Lewis and Nico will fight again like always for the championship but my worry is there will be a third guy also getting involved, no question."

Who that man turns out to be remains an open question, although Finland's Valtteri Bottas may be a shrewd bet after Williams looked closest to Mercedes in testing.

The ever-smiling Ricciardo, now Red Bull's team leader following the departure of four times champion Sebastian Vettel to Ferrari, looks another solid candidate to take the fight to Mercedes.

"At the moment I would say that Williams is the closest, Red Bull and Ferrari I cannot tell you now because they had some signs of speed and then nothing happens again. Red Bull you can never under-estimate," said Lauda.

"They are all trying to catch up...the question is how close can they get?"

If last year was dominated by the duel, and deteriorating relationship, between Hamilton and Rosberg then fans can expect more of the same in a season that will be both faster and louder than 2014.

The latest William Hill betting odds have Hamilton 8/13 favourite to become only the second Briton after Jackie Stewart to take three titles, Rosberg 5/2 for the title and Vettel at 14/1 with Ricciardo 20/1.

"For me it's clear that Nico will attack even more this year because he lost last year, very simple," said Lauda. "I think it's going to be a tighter fight between them, because Nico wants to make sure now he can beat him."

The rules have not altered dramatically over the winter, with changes to the fronts of the cars and power unit allocation reduced from five to four per driver per season.

Honda have returned as partners to McLaren, after leaving the sport as a constructor in 2008, while Mexico City is back on the calendar for the first time since 1992.

Vettel's switch to underperforming Ferrari, where he follows in the footsteps of seven times champion and compatriot Michael Schumacher, was the headline move along with Fernando Alonso's return to misfiring McLaren.

Alonso will be absent from Australia on doctors' orders, with the Spaniard still recovering from his crash in testing in Barcelona last month, with Denmark's Kevin Magnussen serving as a stand-in.

Dutch rookie Max Verstappen will become the youngest ever driver, at just 17 years old, with Spanish newcomer Carlos Sainz joining him at Toro Rosso in a line up with a combined age of just 37.

Only 10 teams are entered in what should be a 20 race championship, subject to Germany being confirmed, with Caterham losing their fight for survival and some others facing another tough struggle to keep going.

"I think we are at very significant risk of losing more teams. We said that last year and nothing's changed," Force India deputy principal Bob Fernley told Reuters. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)

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