THE race was mixed – wet and dry, exciting and disappointing.
After taking the lead from pole position and holding it up to the first set of pit stops Daniel Ricciardo was then distressed to find that his pit crew was not ready for him when he arrived there.
The pit stop therefore cost him 14 seconds instead of the normal under three second stop.
The error allowed Lewis Hamilton, who was also on a mission to pass Ricciardo while he was stationary in the pits.
Ricciardo was gobsmacked as his crew had let him down and despite the fact that car and driver were the fastest pairing on the day, a relentless race to the finish that ensued brought him no better than getting alongside Hamilton at one point.
The final outcome was that the Englishman got to the chequered flag seven seconds ahead of the bitterly disappointed Australian. After the race Ricciardo said that he felt as though an 18-wheeler truck had run over him!
Nico Rosberg did not have his usual smooth run and suffered a braking problem with glazed discs and finished no better than seventh.
Sergio Perez had a terrific race and was delighted to be on the podium in third spot and beat the Ferraris in the process.
Sebastian Vettel, who finished fourth, was the only Ferrari to finish as Kimi Raikkonen had earlier crashed out.
A very happy Fernando Alonso brought his improved McLaren Honda home fifth while disappointed teammate Jensen Button could only manage ninth.
Wunderkind Max Verstappen drove like a wizard but had mixed fortunes with two crashes over the weekend and finished out of the top 10 while Carlos Sainz was very pleased to bring his Toro Rosso into eighth place.
His teammate Daniil Kvyat scored no points. Last man in the points was Felipe Massa who got one, teammate Valtteri Bottas got none.
The points position in the championship now is Rosberg on 106, Hamilton 82, Ricciardo 66, Raikkonen 61 and Vettel 60.
Canada comes up next on June 12.
PS: Congrats to Rod on his recent marriage to Jean-Louise Broide.
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