Posted on 21st June 2015
This afternoon in Austria, Nico Rosberg won the Austrian Grand Prix for the second consecutive year in a row ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Williams driver Felipe Massa in third who had to keep a charging Sebastian Vettel at bay throughout the second half of the Grand Prix.
At the start of the race, Lewis Hamilton doesn't get a good start off the line but Nico Rosberg does and manages to take the lead into the first corner of the race. Hamilton tries to get past his team mate into Turn 2 but locks up and Rosberg defends his position well.
As we head into the next few corners, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso have a massive incident which sees Raikkonen receiving a tap from behind from Alonso, losing control of his Ferrari and crashing into the barriers taking Alonso with him and Alonso’s McLaren-Honda ending up on top of Raikkonen’s Ferrari.
Luckily both drivers were okay and they weren't hurt from the accident. This then brought out the Safety Car while the marshals recover the cars from the accident. At the end of the lap, Danill Kvyat pits to replace a broken front wing.
Lap 2 sees Will Stevens retiring from the race officially with an oil leak after stopping on the track. Lap 7 we are back racing in Austria. On the track, Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean go wheel to wheel with each other and bang wheels with each other. The next lap sees Ericsson being investigated by the stewards after jump starting the race.
On Lap 10, Jenson Button officially retires from the race after a transmission problem on his McLaren-Honda has ended his race early. Two laps later, Ericsson receives a drive through penalty from the stewards after jump starting the race which he serves at the end of the lap as Grosjean runs wide at the final turn.
Lap 13 sees the stewards announcing that they will be investigating the incident between Raikkonen and Alonso after the race.
In the first half of the race, we saw battles up and down the field with Williams driver Valtteri Bottas passing Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen for position on Lap 15 of the race. We saw Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez battling with each other for tenth place on the track and the Lotus team asked Grosjean's mate Pastor Maldonado if he was being held up and Maldonado replied yes and it didn't look good for Grosjean.
At the end of Lap 21, Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson bizzarrely stops just before the finish line stating to his team on the radio that he lost power. His team ask him to do the shut down procedures but Ericsson was able to get the car back running and continued on during the race.
On Lap 25 of the race, Rosberg leads Hamilton by 4.2 seconds. On the outside of Turn 3, Bottas passing Nico Hulkenberg for fifth place on the track with a great move. We then also see a great battle during this period between Romain Grosjean and Felipe Nasr and Grosjean passes him for twelfth place.
Meanwhile further up the race track Nico Hulkenberg and Valtteri Bottas are battling with each other once again and Hulkenberg going into Turn 2 passes Bottas for seventh place. Lap 28 sees the stewards investigating Sainz Jr for speeding in the pitlane. The next lap sees Sainz Jr receiving a five second penalty for speeding in the pitlane as Danill Kvyat and Max Verstappen have a great battle on the track and Kvyat passes him for tenth pace at that point in the race.
On Lap 33, Grosjean passes Kvyat for position on track as Rosberg pits for new tyres and hands the lead over to Hamilton on Lap 34. There is a battle between Sergio Perez and Maldonado for fifth place on the track. Lap 35 sees Hamilton leading Vettel by 10.7 seconds before he makes his pitstop at the end of the lap.
Lap 36 sees Sebastian Vettel leading the Grand Prix from Nico Rosberg by 5.8 seconds. Grosjean goes off the circuit with gearbox problems and is stuck in third gear. But he is able to continue on the track for now. At the end of the lap, Vettel pits for new tyres and there is a problem with his stop which allows Felipe Massa to gain third place.
Nico Rosberg regains the lead of the race on Lap 37 by 4.5 seconds from his team mate Hamilton. Bottas after a good battle for a few laps manages to pass Maldonado for sixth place. The stewards announce that Hamilton is under investigation for crossing the white line on the pit exit. At the end of the lap, Carlos Sainz Jr retires from the race.
At the end of Lap 38, Grosjean officially retires from the race with gearbox problems. The next lap sees Hamilton receive a five second time penalty from crossing the white line on the pit exit which will be added to his race time at the end of the Grand Prix. On Lap 41, Maldonado in two great moves passes Nasr firstly and then Kvyat for track position. But shortly after this, Sauber driver Felipe Nasr passes Daniil Kvyat for tenth place.
In the second half of the race, the battle for tenth between Felipe Nasr and Sergio Perez was one to watch with perez slowly gaining on the Sauber all the time. While Sebastian Vettel is gaining on Felipe Massa in third place with Perez being successful on Lap 47 after passing him at Turn 3.
In the latter stages of the race, we saw track positions changing all the time between drivers such as Pastor Maldonado and Daniel Ricciardo; with Maldonado winning that battle. We also saw Sebastian Vettel slowly catching the Williams of Felipe Massa for the final podium position; with the gap being 0.8 seconds by Lap 64 of the race.
Further down the grid, Max Verstappen and Pastor Maldonado battling each other for seventh place and Felipe Nasr and Daniel Ricciardo for the final point in the race and Ricciardo passes Nasr for position; Nasr fight backs back but Ricciardo gets the position back.
But it was Nico Rosberg who won his second consecutive win at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton in second place by 8.8 seconds. But Hamilton finished ahead of Felipe Massa who scored his first podium of the season and his fourteenth podium of his career 17.5 seconds behind the Mercedes drivers.
Sebastian Vettel finished the race in fourth place ahead of Valtteri Bottas in an impressive fifth place, Nico Hulkenberg in a credible sixth place and Pastor Maldonado in a credible seventh place after his battles through the grid today; albeit one lap down on the leaders.
Max Verstappen continued his good form that he has shown all weekend and was eighth place one lap down on the leaders ahead of Sergio Perez in a credible ninth place who was also a lap down and Daniel Ricciardo who rounded off the top ten finishers and was also one lap down on the leaders.
Felipe Nasr qualified in eleventh place one lap down ahead of Danill Kvyat in twelfth place who was also one lap down, Marcus Ericsson in thirteenth place two laps down on the leaders and Roberto Merhi in fourteenth place three laps down on the leaders.
Romain Grosjean did not finish the race due to gearbox problems, Carlos Sainz Jr also did not finish the race due to car problems, Jenson Button retired with transmission problems; Will Stevens retired with an oil leak problem. While Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso retired from the race after their incident on Lap One of the Grand Prix.
The classification for the Austrian GP is as follows:-
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.30.16.930
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 8.800s
3. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 17.573s
4. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 18.187s
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 53.604s
6. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 1.04.075s
7. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 1lap
8. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1lap
9. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 1lap
10. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 1 lap
11. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 1 lap
12. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault, 1lap
13. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 2 laps
14. Roberto Merhi, Manor, 3 laps
15. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, Not Classified
16. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, Not Classified
17. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, Not Classified
18. Will Stevens, Manor, Not classified
19. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, Not classified
20. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, Not classified
Lewis Hamilton leads the Drivers' Championship with 169 points, Rosberg is second with 159 points, Vettel is third with 120 points, Raikkonen is fourth with 72 points, Bottas is fifth with 67 points, Massa is sixth with 62 points, Ricciardo is seventh with 36 points, Kvyat is eighth with 19 points, Hulkenberg is ninth with 18 points and Grosjean is tenth with 17 points.
Mercedes lead the Constructors Championship with 328 points, Ferrari is second with 192 points, Williams are third with 129 points, Red Bull are fourth with 55 points, Force India are fifth with 31 points, Lotus are sixth with 29 points, Sauber are seventh with 21 points, Toro Rosso are eighth with 19 points and McLaren-Honda are ninth with 4 points.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
