Lewis Hamilton seemingly had the Austrian Grand Prix victory in the bag after overcoming changeable weather conditions to storm to pole position on Saturday during a tough qualifying session. Teammate, championship leader and title rival secured second but was demoted five places after picking up a penalty to replace the gearbox of his Mercdes after crashing during the previous free practice session.
Nico Hulkenburg who also made use of the changeable weather conditions during qualifying started Sunday’s race 2nd on the grid as a result of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel being demoted five places after picking up a grid penalty.
So the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix was Hamilton’s race to loose, behind him were two cars out of position most notably the ultra uncompetitive McLaren Honda helmed by Jenson Button, another surprise beneficiary of Saturdays wet/dry qualifying session.
Hamilton led from the start, Jenson Button slipped into second place out manoeuvring the Force India ahead of him while Kimi Raikkonen moved into 3rd from 4th. This was the perfect scenario for Hamilton and a chance to close the gap in the drivers championship while Rosberg was down the order.
Jenson Button managed to keep his McLaren Honda ahead of the superior Ferrari for the first eight laps before Raikkonen’s Ferrari overwhelmed the McLaren Honda to take second. Meanwhile Rosberg pitted on lap 10 changing the ultrasofts tyres for the more durable soft tyres.
Hamilton somehow made the less durable ultra softs last until lap 21 before he pitted but a delay during his stop meant Rosberg was ahead by the time Hamilton rejoined the track and who now found himself in 4th position.
Raikkonen led for a lap before pitting which now put Sebastian Vettel into the lead followed by Rosberg and Hamilton. However Vettel’s right right rear tyre literally exploded on lap 27 as the super-soft compound wore out quicker than the Vettel and Ferrari had expected.
Vettel was approaching turn one at nearly 200mph when the tyre gave way this pitched his Ferrari into a spin, then into a slide which ended with a visit to the track-side armco barrier and retirement from the race.
The incident brought out the safety car and with the race resuming by lap 32 the two Mercedes team mates were in a battle for victory with 39 laps remaining. Rosberg seemed under control and unflustered as Hamilton maintained a constant gap of no more than two seconds.
The final round of pitstops would be Hamilton’s chance to use the undercut to get ahead of his team mate. Hamilton pitted on lap 54 changing to the more durable soft tyres having run out of the more ideal supersoft for the remaining laps.
Rosberg pitted the following lap and had the more ideal supersoft tyres which would provide better grip and just about last until the end of the race. Rosberg emerged from his pitstop in the lead and it seemed he had out flanked his team mate for perhaps the first time during their Mercedes inter-team rivalry.
As the laps ran out it seemed Hamilton’s time was running out, despite closing to within 0.3 seconds at some stages Rosberg remained calm and collected despite an onslaught of pressure from Hamilton. However the pressure may have have gotten to Rosberg on the last lap, he went wide on turn one, lost momentum and allowed Hamilton a free run into turn two.
Turn two was the decisive moment on the final lap, not just for victory but perhaps for the championship. This was Rosberg’s moment to show he had the measure of Hamilton, this was the turning point where Rosberg could elevate himself from second best to prime candidate. And he blew it.
As Hamilton and Rosberg approached turn two Hamilton decided to take the outside line and was clearly ahead in the braking zone, about half a car length ahead. However Rosberg missed his apex and appeared to position his car so that Hamilton would have no other option than to run wide and into the run off area.
But Hamilton is no fool and called Rosberg’s bluff and while he offered Rosberg plenty of room and time to change his decision in the end Hamilton had to turn in simply to navigate the corner. The two collided with Hamilton having to use the run off area while Rosberg’s front wing had been damaged by the collision he could have avoided.
Hamilton rejoined the track while Rosberg dropped down the order yet he still managed to limp home into 4th. The race stewards later apportioned blame on Rosberg and awarded him with a 10 second penalty which was not enough to demote him from 4th.
That meant Max Verstappen ended the race in second, a result due because the young Dutch driver opted to stop only once during the race. But he was hounded all the way to the finish line by the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.
The result now leaves Hamilton just 11 points behind Rosberg in the battle for this years drivers championship. Austria also leaves Rosberg’s tactics, credentials and etiquette called into question.
Austria could have been a confidence booster for Rosberg but it could mark the beginning of a tough battle to maintain his lead let alone his credibility.
Rosberg is fast, knows how to win but when put under pressure by his team mate a red mist forms and a win at any cost mentality takes over.
2016 Austrian Gran Prix Race Results:
Pos
No
Driver
Car
Laps
Time/Retired
Pts
1
44
LewisHamilton
Mercedes
71
1:27:38.107
25
2
33
MaxVerstappen
Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer
71
+5.719s
18
3
7
KimiRäikkönen
Ferrari
71
+6.024s
15
4
6
NicoRosberg
Mercedes
71
+26.710s
12
5
3
DanielRicciardo
Red Bull Racing TAG Heuer
71
+30.981s
10
6
22
JensonButton
McLaren Honda
71
+37.706s
8
7
8
RomainGrosjean
Haas Ferrari
71
+44.668s
6
8
55
CarlosSainz
Toro Rosso Ferrari
71
+47.400s
4
9
77
Valtteri Bottas
Williams Mercedes
70
+1 lap
2
10
94
PascalWehrlein
MRT Mercedes
70
+1 lap
1
11
21
EstebanGutierrez
Haas Ferrari
70
+1 lap
0
12
30
JolyonPalmer
Renault
70
+1 lap
0
13
12
FelipeNasr
Sauber Ferrari
70
+1 lap
0
14
20
KevinMagnussen
Renault
70
+1 lap
0
15
9
MarcusEricsson
Sauber Ferrari
70
+1 lap
0
16
88
RioHaryanto
MRT Mercedes
70
+1 lap
0
17
11
SergioPerez
Force India Mercedes
69
DNF
0
18
14
FernandoAlonso
McLaren Honda
64
DNF
0
19
27
NicoHulkenberg
Force India Mercedes
64
DNF
0
20
19
FelipeMassa
Williams Mercedes
63
DNF
0
NC
5
SebastianVettel
Ferrari
26
DNF
0
NC
26
DaniilKvyat
Toro Rosso Ferrari
2
DNF
0
Note – Rosberg had 10 seconds added to his race time for causing a collision. Grosjean had five seconds added to his race time for speeding in the pit lane.