Williams F1 locked out the front row of the Austrian GP after a remarkable qualifying performance that stunned the crowd. Ultimately, Mercedes AMG Petronas displayed their unmatched dominance once again during Sunday's race. Nico Rosberg wins the Austrian GP and extends his position as Formula 1 championship points leader by 29. Teammate Lewis Hamilton finishes second on the podium.
The Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring has been a particularly demanding race as teams across the paddock struggled to manage temperatures and tire wear. For Lewis Hamilton, the race demanded a strong result in the championship pursuit, while engine management, fuel management, and brake temperature must also be carefully montitored to avoid another DNF.
“I think it was probably the same for both of us – maybe," Hamilton said on the brake management issues experienced during the race. "I don't know, I need to check I guess. But, it was constantly an issue during the race. Obviously I was following people all the time and that is not always the best. I was being told to back off quite a lot unfortunately,”
“The last couple of laps I tried to eke it out a little bit more, but I still had to be cautious," Hamilton continued. "There wasn't an opportunity to overtake [Nico]. I am just grateful to finish where I am though after the last race [and having to retire in Canada]. That has really got to be the goal for the next few races to try and finish.”
Another factor that arguably had an effect on the race results were the significantly longer pit stops that Hamilton experienced compared to Rosberg. Hamilton lost 0.9 seconds on his first stop and 1 second on his second.
"I didn't know I had lost that much time. They didn't feel that fast but it could be my positioning," Lewis Hamilton reflected. "I will investigate because obviously it is frustrating to lose time especially after you have done everything you can to gain a tenth here and a tenth there."
As for teammate Nico Rosberg, the Austrian GP has been rather easy and straightforward.
“To be honest yes, it did pretty much [turn out] exactly like we were trying to make it work,” Rosberg reflected. “OK I thought I would get Valtteri at the start and I did, but they are quick on the straights and he went straight by me again, which was not good. But I knew pre-race even if I was third after the start my chances were still very good because we just had a little bit more pace and less tyre degradation than the Williams - or we expected to have less at least. So we progressed during the stops and it worked out really well. I am happy with the result. Also, it is great to extend the championship lead. That was really my goal coming into Austria.”
Meanwhile, Williams F1 duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finished third and fourth, respectively. This is the first podium finish for Bottas and the first 2014 podium finish for Williams F1. Even though Massa sat on pole, Bottas managed to pass Massa during the pit stops, causing him to lose a valuable podium position. That said, Massa managed to keep Ferrari's Fernando Alonso at bay. What's more, Massa feared that he wouldn't finish the race at all when a peculiar suspension problem almost caused Massa to retire.
“The car was OK but I had a problem at the end of the race,” Massa said. “The car started bottoming out, I had a problem with the suspension and the rear went down completely. I started bottoming massively and in the last ten laps the rear left started vibrating massively. So I was really, really scared that maybe I was not going to finish the race.”
Finally, team Infiniti Red Bull Racing, who were supposed to perform at their home race following an excellent result in Canada, experienced a truly lousy weekend. A lack of pace from the Renault engines was to blame this weekend as Sebastian Vettel suffered yet another DNF due to a loss of power on the opening lap. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo managed to earn an eighth place finish after passing Hulkenberg of Force India on the last lap.
“We did struggle for pace today and then at the end I really tried everything I could to get Hulkenberg and we got close enough on the last lap," said Daniel Ricciardo. "I didn't have much more to lose so I went for it and luckily it worked. So eighth in the big scheme of things is not a disaster but I'm just disappointed we didn't make more of it today.”
Watch the race highlights below to learn more about all the Sunday drama from this weekend's Formula 1 Austrian GP at Red Bull Ring.
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