Lewis Hamilton resists a robust defence from championship rival Nico Rosberg to take victory at the Red Bull Ring.
Battling for the Austrian Grand Prix lead, Hamilton closed in on Rosberg around the outside of Turn 2 on the final lap, only to be forced off the track as they again ran into one another.
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has commented that post-race that Nico Rosberg suffered a brake-by-wire issue but this is questionable. As Rosberg seemed to block his team-mate Lewis Hamilton from taking the lead. Making no attempt to turn into the apex, rather keeping straight to stop his rival…
Rosberg sustained severe damage to his front wing, and was eventually passed by not only Hamilton but also Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari.
Rosberg was classified fourth and his championship lead has been reduced from 24 to 11 points. Race stewards are investigating for Rosberg causing a collision and failing to top with a seriously damaged car.
It was a dramatic finish to a thrilling race that started with Hamilton finally turning pole position into a lead coming out of Turn 1 after failing to do so from his four previous pole positions.
From his sixth place on the grid after serving a gearbox-change penalty following his crash in final practice, Rosberg claimed one position to run fifth at the end of lap one.
Soon after passing Jenson Button’s McLaren for fourth, Rosberg pitted to switch from ultra-softs to the soft compound after ten of the 71 laps.
While Rosberg rejoined in P15, 30 seconds from the lead, Hamilton conjured a remarkable job to eke life out of the ultra-soft tyres that had blistered so quickly in practice – helped by the cooler conditions of race day.
Although Hamilton managed to keep second-placed Kimi Raikkonen at bay, Rosberg managed to eat into his title rival’s advantage, slashing it to 21.9 seconds by the time Lewis eventually pitted after 21 laps.
A slow replacement of the left-rear did not help Hamilton’s cause, and he emerged a few seconds adrift of Rosberg.
Raikkonen pitted a lap later, but with Ferrari’s poor strategy calling this season again exposed as he emerged in sixth behind both Red Bulls.
Sebastian Vettel stayed out and assumed the lead, one that lasted for just five laps before his right-rear tyre exploded down the main straight, with Pirelli blaming track debris as the cause.
With Vettel stranded on track, the safety car was deployed and Rosberg led from Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo and Raikkonen at the restart, with the Mercedes soon pulling away.
Both would stop again, Hamilton coming in first with 19 laps to go and taking on used softs.
Again it was not the quickest from his crew, plus a poor Turn 2 for Hamilton enabled Rosberg to stay ahead after his stop for new super-softs a lap later.
The Mercedes then had to battle past Verstappen, who was nursing his softs on a 56-lap stint to the finish, before commencing a massive scrap that ended in their last-lap contact and a crucial win for Hamilton.
Behind Verstappen, Raikkonen and the damaged Rosberg, Ricciardo claimed fifth after a late stop for ultra-softs.
Button held his own among the frontrunners at first and finished sixth for McLaren-Honda, ahead of Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz.
A last-lap crash for Sergio Perez after an apparent mechanical problem promoted Valtteri Bottas to ninth and Pascal Wehrlein into tenth and a point for Manor.
This was a rewarding result for Manor. After making Q2 in qualifying, to score a championship point with Wehrlein’s solid effort is a brilliant achievement.
The other Force India of Nico Hulkenberg went backwards from his first front-row start for five and a half years, making three pitstops for tyres and retiring from the midfield late on.
So, a controversial ending to the Austrian Grand Prix with the Mercedes drivers crashing into one another. The British Grand Prix follows and it’s going to be fascinating to see if Lewis Hamilton can keep up this winning feeling in front of his home fans.
Austrian Grand Prix, race results after 71 laps:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1h27m38.107s
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 5.719s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 6.024s
4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 16.710s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 30.981s
6 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 37.706s
7 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 44.668s
8 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 47.400s
9 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1 Lap
10 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1 Lap
11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari 1 Lap
12 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1 Lap
13 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1 Lap
14 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1 Lap
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1 Lap
16 Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes 1 Lap
17 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 2 Laps
18 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda 7 Laps
19 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 7 Laps
20 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 8 Laps
– Sebastian Vettel Ferrari Tyre
– Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso-Ferrari Retirement
Drivers’ standings:
1 Nico Rosberg 153
2 Lewis Hamilton 142
3 Sebastian Vettel 96
4 Kimi Raikkonen 96
5 Daniel Ricciardo 88
6 Max Verstappen 72
7 Valtteri Bottas 54
8 Sergio Perez 39
9 Felipe Massa 38
10 Romain Grosjean 28
11 Daniil Kvyat 22
12 Carlos Sainz 22
13 Nico Hulkenberg 20
14 Fernando Alonso 18
15 Jenson Button 13
16 Kevin Magnussen 6
17 Pascal Wehrlein 1
18 Stoffel Vandoorne 1
19 Esteban Gutierrez 0
20 Jolyon Palmer 0
21 Marcus Ericsson 0
22 Felipe Nasr 0
23 Rio Haryanto 0
Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 295
2 Ferrari 192
3 Red Bull-Renault 168
4 Williams-Mercedes 92
5 Force India-Mercedes 59
6 Toro Rosso/Ferrari 36
7 McLaren-Honda 32
8 Haas-Ferrari 28
9 Renault 6
10 Manor-Mercedes 1
11 Sauber-Ferrari 0
Next race: British Grand Prix, Silverstone. July 8-10.
Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg said he was ‘gutted’ to have lost victory on the final lap in Austria, saying that he felt team mate Lewis Hamilton was in the wrong as the pair collided at Turn 2.
Rosberg had jumped into the lead mid-way through the race, but had Hamilton closing gradually in on him in the closing stages, culminating in a dramatic final-lap clash as the world champion attacked. Rosberg had the inside line at Turn 2, but ran deep under braking and, as Hamilton turned in, the pair collided.
Rosberg said he was confident he had the advantage – and the right of the corner – as he was on the inside line.
“I’m gutted. That’s sport sometimes, but unbelievable,” Rosberg said. “I was sure to win, I lost in the last lap – pretty intense.
“We were battling, and I was struggling a bit with my brakes and tyres degrading, and that gave Lewis a chance.
“Nevertheless I was confident I could defend accordingly – I had the inside line. I went a bit deep into the corner but that’s okay, I dictate, but I was very surprised Lewis turned in. I’m frustrated about losing the win like that – I was out front, felt great and was going to win the race.”
Hamilton, however, downplayed the incident, saying he did not see the need for it to be blown out of proportion.
“I don’t feel it’s controversial really,” he said. “Nico made a mistake into T1, clipped the inside kerb and went wide and I got a good run. He blocked the inside, so I went to the only place I could on the outside, the racing line.
“He was in my blind spot so I went very wide, left him room, and as I started to turn he collided with me. My guys said he had something wrong with the brakes maybe.
“I came back onto the track as fast as I could and it was very close again. For me it was exciting. I don’t understand how I ended up being second, I guess the safety car brought it into that position, but I never gave up and pushed it all the way. I know I have incredible fans supporting me so did everything I could.”
Rosberg must now visit the race stewards who will decide if he was guilty of causing the collision and also of failing to stop with seriously damaged car.
Source: Formula1.com
Lewis Hamilton was booed on the podium after a last-lap collision with Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg handed the triple Formula One world champion a dramatic first Austrian Grand Prix victory on Sunday.
Championship leader Rosberg, who had been in front with Hamilton in his slipstream, nursed his damaged car over the line for fourth place with his advantage cut to 11 points after nine of 21 rounds.
“I am gutted, it’s unbelievable,” said the German, accusing Hamilton of turning in and causing the accident that broke his front wing.
Hamilton disagreed.
“I was on the outside, it wasn’t me that had the crash,” said the Briton, who now has three wins to Rosberg’s five this season, over the team radio.
The stewards appeared to back that up by opening an investigation into Rosberg’s actions.
The German was summoned to answer charges of causing a collision and failing to stop with a seriously damaged car.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff described the collision as “brainless”, without singling out either of his drivers for blame.
The team revealed Rosberg had suffered a problem with his brake-by-wire system which went into “passive mode” at the end of the penultimate lap as Hamilton closed in.
The crowd, small in comparison to the previous two years with rows of empty seats in the grandstands, made their disapproval evident with whistles and boos as Hamilton was interviewed on the podium.
“That’s not my problem, it’s their problem,” the surprised Briton, who started on pole, shrugged when asked about the noise.
“I left a lot of room on the inside and I guess he locked up and crashed into me. I think he had a problem with his brakes potentially. I’m here to win. That’s all.”
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen finished second for Red Bull at their home track with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen third after team mate Sebastian Vettel crashed out on his 29th birthday when a rear tyre exploded.
Hamilton’s victory was the 250th in Formula One by a British driver since the championship started in 1950 and the 46th of his career.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo was fifth for Red Bull with Britain’s Jenson Button sixth for McLaren.
Frenchman Romain Grosjean was seventh in a Haas ahead of Spaniard Carlos Sainz in a Toro Rosso and Finland’s Valtteri Bottas for Williams.
German rookie Pascal Wehrlein scored his first point in Formula One, and his Manor team’s first of the season, with a remarkable 10th.
Source: Reuters
McLaren’s Jenson Button was left feeling amazed by his team’s Austrian Grand Prix performance. Autosport.com has the full story.
Jenson Button was amazed with his and the McLaren-Honda Formula 1 team’s performance in the Austrian Grand Prix after he finished sixth from third on the grid.
The 2009 world champion ran second behind eventual winner Lewis Hamilton in the early part of the race, before he was shuffled down the order as faster cars battled through from lower grid positions.
But Button and McLaren stayed in the fight during a race of attrition, meaning he was able to register his second top-six finish since Honda returned to F1 with McLaren at the start of 2015.
“That’s definitely as good as it was going to get,” said Button.
“All the cars that finished in front of us are much quicker, so I’m amazed that we kept them behind at the start of the race.
“We did a good job today, strategy wise we got the maximum out of the car.
“The traffic was tough because we don’t have the straightline speed to overtake, but I enjoyed it and to get a sixth has made me very happy.
“All in all a great weekend for the team, but more importantly fighting up the front was good as well.”
While Button was able to hang on to second place in the early laps, once Kimi Raikkonen passed him the McLaren driver slid down the order quickly.
“With two DRS zones it was very difficult for us,” he said.
“Once one comes past you’re being overtaken in places you never knew were possible, but I enjoyed it.
“In the middle of the straight the other cars just disappear – I can catch them at the end of the straight but in the middle they are very strong.
“But starting near the front definitely helps you because you’re in clear air and you can do your own thing a bit more.”
Team-mate Fernando Alonso retired with an ERS battery failure, after what he described as a troublesome race from the early stages.
“We didn’t have any luck this weekend,” said the Spaniard.
“The engine was not running well from lap three or four, we were losing power constantly, we were nearly retiring the car the whole race.
“But we were 10th, 11th, so it was one point on the table for us all race so we tried to finish but at the end it was not possible.”
Championship leader Nico Rosberg has been penalised by the race stewards. However, the Austrian Grand Prix race results will stand with Rosberg classified as fourth. Formula1.com has the full details.
Nico Rosberg has been penalised by the FIA stewards after they deemed him ‘responsible for the collision’ with team mate Lewis Hamilton while fighting for the lead on the final lap in Austria.
After examining video and telemetry evidence, and having heard from Rosberg, Hamilton and representatives from Mercedes, the stewards determined that Rosberg had not allowed Hamilton ‘racing room’.
The penalty does not alter the classification however – Rosberg was handed a 10-second time penalty, but was 14 seconds ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo at the chequered flag, meaning he stays fourth overall.
Rosberg was also given two penalty points on his licence, and reprimanded for completing the race with a damaged car, thereby spreading debris on the track. However, as the stewards noted: “We do note the extenuating circumstances and the fact that the driver of Car 6 (ROS) did slow down significantly and attempted to mitigate the risk to other drivers and cars.”
With regard to the collision itself, the statement from the stewards read: “Having taken note of the extensive evidence given by both drivers and the video and telemetry data, it was apparent that Car 44 (HAM) was in front of Car 6 (ROS) – i.e. more than fully alongside – and that the driver of Car 44 could have clearly made the turn (T2) on the track, if not for the resultant collision.
“Car 6 did not allow Car 44 “racing room” and hence the driver of Car 6 was responsible for the collision.”
Rosberg and Hamilton had offered differing views of the incident post-race – Rosberg said he was surprised Hamilton had turned into the corner, while Hamilton said he had given his team mate ample room on the inside of the corner.
With the standings unaffected by the stewards’ ruling, Rosberg still leads the championshipon 153 points, 11 ahead of Hamilton.