Rosberg shows toughness and grit with commanding win in Austria, Hamilton 2nd for Mercedes; Williams’ Massa a hard-fought P3

The question in Austria after Saturday’s bizarre Qualifying that saw first Lewis Hamilton spin and then Nico Rosberg gift back the Pole with a spin of his own was whether Rosberg could overcome that error and fight his teammate for the win on Sunday. From the very start of the race Rosberg put that line of query to bed by forcefully grabbing the lead from Hamilton, charging by his English rival into turn one of the Red Bull Ring. After a hairy crash later on that first lap that took out Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari and the McLaren of Fernado Alonso and resulted in a Safety Car for several laps (both drivers were thankfully uninjured), Rosberg re-seized the initiative upon the restart, blasting ahead on this track that seems to suit him and building a lead he would not relinquish. Hamilton was also hurt by his own mental error when he crossed the blend line coming out of the pits on Lap 36. Not only did he emerge behind Rosberg but the stewards assessed a 5-second time penalty on the English Championship leader, essentially dooming his chances of victory midway through the race. With the win, Rosberg closed the gap to Hamilton to a mere 10 championship points and perhaps proved that he is not quite as mentally fragile as he has appeared in the past.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The usual Mercedes dominance left the fight for the last podium position down to the resurgent Williams of Felipe Massa and the very competitive Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. But Vettel was let down by his pit crew when they had a major problem re-attaching the right rear tire on Lap 32 costing him at least an extra 10 seconds that he didn’t have to spare. That long, un-Ferrari-like stop gave Massa the advantage he needed to pull out a big gap and left Vettel with not enough laps left in the race to chase down the feisty Brazilian despite tire and break woes for the Williams. The excellent result bodes well for Williams’ quest to close the gap to Ferrari and combined with Raikonnen’s near-catastrophic crash, Vettel’s 4th place finish must be a very bitter pill to swallow for the Scuderia.

Massa’s teammate Valtteri Bottas came home P5 covered in carbon break dust and last week’s Le Mans winner, Force India’s Nico Hulkenburg, was a strong P6. With his teammate Sergio Perez holding on for P9 it was the best combined result of the year for the Force India squad. Lotus’ Pastor Maldonado drove a spirited and sometimes hair-raising race in Austria to grab good points with a P7, out-dueling precocious teenaged Toro Rosso rookie Max Verstappen, who did hang on for a solid P8. The last championship point was grabbed by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, not what we’ve come to expect from the formerly great Red Bull team on their home track but a heck of a good drive after starting way back from 18th on the grid.

For McLaren the news continued to be grim. With Alonso taken out on Lap 1, Jenson Button did not fare much better and was forced to retire on Lap 9 with trouble to the problematic Honda engine. The legendary McLaren team have got to be praying to the racing gods that they do not suffer the same sort of embarrassment two weeks hence in front of the home crowd at Silverstone.

Top 10 finishers for the Austrian Grand Prix:

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time at the fabled Silverstone circuit in England. You know Lewis Hamilton is going to want to recapture the momentum at his home track and it’s a circuit that he’s as well suited to as Rosberg appears to be at the Red Bull Ring. Hope to see you then to find out how this intense Championship battle between Mercedes teammates shakes out at Silverstone!