2016 F1 Austrian Grand Prix: Drama at Speilberg

The weekend of the Formula One Austrian Grand Prix at Spielberg began well for both Mercedes drivers. Lewis and Nico topped the time sheets. But in free practice Saturday, Rosberg found the wall and needed a huge amount of work done to his car if he wanted to take part in qualifying. The changes made would fetch him a five-place grid penalty.

The starting grid for Sundays race saw Lewis Hamilton taking P1, and, with penalties on both Rosberg and Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg held P2. The 2nd row saw Jenson Button take his best start of the season with Kimi Raikkonen alongside the 2009 champ. Row 3 had Daniel Ricciardo with Nico Rosberg in P6.

Lewis Hamilton made his best start by far this season to lead the field in the run to turn one. Jenson Button, bouyed by his new found place on the grid, vaulted past Nico Hulkenberg. Meanwhile, Kimi Raikkonen also got the jump over the Force India to grab third.

As Lewis went about establishing his lead over the McLaren and the rest of the field, Rosberg was fighthing it out for P4 with Hulkenberg. After passing the Force India, Rosberg pounded in some fast lap times of his own. The Mercedes then went about of catching and passing the McLaren for P3.

The first round of pit stops came on lap 9, with Hulkenberg and Alonso taking the early tire change. Then on lap 11, Mercedes called in Rosberg. This was unusual as it was normally the race leader who would get first dibs on the pit strategy. This could be Mercedes trying to undercut its own car.

Lewis was now losing ground relative to his rivals. His Pirellis were coming to the end of their life, and on lap 22 Hamilton was called in. This gave Rosberg track position over Hamilton, but Nico could be on a two-stopper unlike Lewis who could be stopping just once. Despite leading the race after Hamilton pitted, Kimi got called in to cover the strategy of Lewis. This handed the lead to Sebastian Vettel who was driving the wheels off his Ferrari. But as Vettel was starting lap 28, his rear tire blew out on the pit straight. The Ferrari smashed into the barriers and parked itself on the entry to turn 1, bringing out the safety car.

At the re-start, Nico bunched up the field to prepare for his break-away as soon as the safety car came in. Lewis, for his part, was very slow to respond, thus the No. 6 car had the benefit of establishing a huge gap even before turn 1. It was looking like another Rosberg win!

Lap 54 saw Hamilton being called and come in for a new set of Pirellis. But in his out lap, Lewis went wide at turn 2, robbing him of valuable time he needed to undercut Nico, who came in a lap later. Aided by the mistake of the No. 44 car and a quick pit stop, Rosberg came out ahead of Hamilton. Both cars then proceeded to hunt down the race leader Max Verstappen. It didn’t take long before Mercedes power got the better of the Renault powered Red Bull. The fight for the top spot was only between Rosberg and Hamilton.

As the lap times came tumbling down, it was eveident that Rosberg would win the Austrian Grand Prix. David Croft of Skyf1 even provided the statistic that Nico has never won whenever he started on the third row or lower. With just one lap to go, it did seem it was Rosberg race.

But, as the Mercedes crossed the line to start the last lap, Nico made an error. This gave Lewis the opportunity to get close, and, aided by the slipstream, Hamilton overtook Nico at turn 2. Unfortunately, Rosberg had other ideas. Nico didn’t turn in and tried to push Lewis wide. Then it happened! Both cars collided, with Nico losing his front wing. Undamaged, Hamilton went on and crossed the line to take his first win at the Austrian GP. Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen got by the ailing Mercedes to take P2 and P3 respectively. Rosberg limped home in P4.

Instead of padding his championship lead, Nico helped out Lewis to close the gap between themselves. Nico now only has an 11-point lead over Hamilton (153 to 142 points) as they go to Silverstone in a few days time.

Nico was slapped with a 10-second penalty by the stewards, and got two penalty points on his superlicense for the collision. What’s worse, Rosberg now has to face the ire of the Mercedes team principals.