2015 Austrian Grand Prix Review

Barring an unfortunate turn of events in Monaco, Lewis Hamilton has invariably dominated every race he has started from pole position. Having won the qualifying battle against his teammate for the third time in a row, it looked as though the Brit was on course for another perfect weekend in the picturesque town of Spielberg, Austria. His closest championship rival and teammate, Nico Rosberg, had other plans however.

Following an excellent start, Rosberg stole the inside line on Hamilton going into the first corner. Hamilton’s attempts to retake the lead were foiled by the Safety Car that came out due to a massive crash between Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. The Finn starting from 14th on the grid after a disastrous qualifying session lost control of his Ferrari’s rear end going into turn two and the pursuing Alonso had nowhere to go but up and over his former teammate. Both drivers were lucky to have come away unscathed in what was one of the most frightening crashes in recent memory.

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Once normal racing resumed Rosberg was the first of the front runners to blink as he headed in for his first and only pitstop of the race. Hamilton followed suit the next lap and came out in second place. Much to his dismay, he crossed the white line at the exit of the pitlane and incurred a five second penalty. As it would turn out, that would be his hopes of winning his second race on the trot put to bed.

Going into the race weekend, Mercedes’ closest rivals in the Constructors’ championship, Ferrari, were in bullish mood. Having used up some of their engine development ‘tokens’ in the fortnight leading up to the race, they believed they would be closer than ever to reducing the deficit to their German rivals. The practice sessions definitely pointed in that direction, as Sebastian Vettel topped the time sheets on Friday. Ferrari’s pace was no match for the Mercedes come race day, however.

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Vettel had a comfortable lead over the Williams of Felipe Massa, until a botched tyre change demoted him to fourth with 34 laps to go. His best attempts to catch the Brazilian up were not enough, as Massa showed tremendous resolve and maturity to take home his 40th podium finish.

Behind Vettel, Massa’s teammate Valtteri Bottas took 5th after a hard fought battle with Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenberg. Pastor Maldonado, Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top 10.

Going into the iconic British Grand Prix at Silverstone in two weeks’ time, Rosberg has reduced the deficit to leader Hamilton to just 10 points. That comes as good news to Formula One fans who were worried about the prospect of Hamilton running away with the title and as even better news for F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, who has come under some criticism of late, for the lack of excitement in the season so far.

To find out whether Rosberg can make it two in a row and put some serious pressure on Hamilton, you’ll just have to wait till July 5.

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