Normal service resumed as Mercedes claim one-two

2014 Austrian Grand Prix summary

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Nico Rosberg put Mercedes back on top and extended his championship lead with victory in the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver held third place behind the two Williams drivers in the opening stages of the race but moved ahead of them during the first round of pit stops. However he had to wait a few more laps to take the lead as Sergio Perez delayed his first pit stop and the Force India driver led several laps.

When Perez’s tyres began to wilt Rosberg passed him at turn two. The threat from Valtteri Bottas behind was shortly replaced by Lewis Hamilton, and although the other Mercedes came on strong in the final stint Rosberg held on to win.

Bottas took his first ever podium finish after moving ahead of polesitter Felipe Massa early on. The other Williams came under pressure from Fernando Alonso late in the race but resisted it to take fourth.

Perez finished sixth after passing Kevin Magnussen in the final stint, while Daniel Ricciardo demoted Nico Hulkenberg for eighth place on the final lap. Kimi Raikkonen was the final points scorer.

Red Bull’s home race did not go according to plan as Sebastian Vettel suffered an engine problem moments after the start and fell a lap behind. He eventually retired and he along with the two sister Toro Rosso cars were the only non-finishers.

2014 Austrian Grand Prix

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Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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58 comments on “Normal service resumed as Mercedes claim one-two”

  1. Red Bull gives you retirements.

    1. Webber for DOTW!

      1. At least he was on the podium.

    2. Thanks for the comment. 1st thread in a few threads that didn’t start by “Lewis this” or “Lewis/Nico that”. Refreshing :)

  2. It was a good race. I wondered why we didn’t see Lewis’ start, would be interesting from onboard. It also seems that Hamilton is losing out in the pits. And can anybody explain me how this equal: hamilton saved something like 3 kg fuel over rosberg but they were allowed to be in the same engine mode, so hamilton is saving fuel for actually nothing and actually disadvantaged by having more weight.

    1. Exactly what i thought. Hamilton should be allowed to run till the end with full stuff.

    2. @hamfanatic

      You have to think, though… Hamilton *used* less fuel… But if he started with less fuel, he’d have the same amount as Rosberg in the end.

    3. The longer first pit stop (which Hamilton seems to be *repeatedly* getting) may well have cost him getting in front of Rosberg and winning the race from there (who knows, perhaps by a bit of distance, given he seemed to be faster and being held up behind the Perez train for a good while).

      If the pit stops had actually been reversed, Hamilton getting Rosberg’s faster stop, he definitely would have got past. Hmm.

      1. Rubbish! I would like to point you to Keith’s tweet: https://twitter.com/f1fanatic_co_uk/status/480721156547547137

        1. It matters not that his fastest stop have been faster, because they have only been faster by fractions of a second, but his SLOWER stops have been ALOT slower, thats the point.

    4. because of the 100kg/hour fuel flow rate, just because you have saved more fuel doesn’t mean you can splash in heaps at the end of the race, you still have to watch the fuel flow rate. the difference in fuel usage is different with each driver because of driving styles, braking points etc. how much lap time loss do you think 2kgs adds ?

    5. @Akin Aslan, that’s a problem I’m having with Mercedes. They have a policy of neutralizing any advantage the faster driver has. Your performance is data mined and given to the other driver, which effectively kills any advantage you had. You’re basically doing the other guys homework.

      1. but it is equal for both. rosberg sees hamiltons car setup, Hamilton sees rosbergs. driver in front gets first pit call (helped Hamilton in Bahrain – helped rosberg in Monaco) – equal treatment – and rewards good qualifying if anything.

  3. I wonder what alibi Hamilton fans are going to resort to this time: Nico beat Lewis fair and square!

    1. What lol on a day like this you say that the gap was like 1 second, Ham started 9th. If we want to say fair and square. Ham should be leading title if it was “FAIR”. Ham lost load of time in pits.

      1. Hamilton basically started 4th. He was there by T2 anyway.

        1. By which I mean he had a brilliant start but average race.

        2. Because he overtook 5 cars in one lap, give him credit for that

      2. He did beat Hamilton fair&square, Hamilton was on the back of Nico by the end of lap 1. He had 70 laps to pass Nico.

        1. @lari worng, after 1st stop he was 3rd he would have been behind himn after 1st stop. Sky shown it just then. Also how is Ham meant to overtake him lol. Infact have we seen a Merc overtale a Merc in a DRS pass this year? Idon’t thin we have.

          1. @Dan Wrong? Look at the replay of the race and you will see Hamilton right behind Rosberg when they complete the 1st lap. If you see otherwise, please provide link.

      3. I am sorry but probably you didn’t see the 2nd pit-stop which was considerably slower for Nico. But you are already bringing alibis into play :)

        1. but he got to pit first – which was an advantage in itself – and against usual Mercedes team policy of letting the lead driver pit first – so Hamilton actually got a bonus there as it helped him pass bottas who pitted later.

          1. …. Are you aware that they are a team? Of course they try and get both their cars in front…..

      4. He did, but for all we know he may have missed his marks slightly, its not necessarily a Mercedes conspiracy or even necessarily luck

    2. Be careful now. You might turn in Vettel fans having to constantly legitimize their boys victories. It’ very telling.

    3. Karthik Mohan
      22nd June 2014, 15:06

      Never before has a group of words made so little sense than this one!

    4. As I said above, Rosberg kept ahead thanks to the Mercedes garage: reverse their pit stops and you’d have a different result. Marginal stuff, sure. But just shows the ‘luck’ is going Rosberg’s way all season.

      1. or that he didn’t stuff up in qualifying – is that luck?

    5. Hamilton fans can not take it that he has been beaten by his team mate three races in a row

      1. Yep it is hard to take@ean i mean we would not care if Hm was his rightful 10 points clear. At least every Ham win Ros has finshed.

      2. janet talbot
        22nd June 2014, 15:28

        yes we can if rosberg wins fairly without help from the team which he does not.rosberg only wins when the team help him with slow pitstops for lewis and DNF,s

        1. The “team” do not care. Their objective is a 1-2.

      3. Yeah all Hamilton fans are the same. My 87 year old grandad has just got back from seeing jay-z and is sulking because he lost his new baseball cap ( which he of course only wears backwards). Hes going for another tatoo tommorow to cheer himself up…

    6. @iFelix Don’t put all Hamilton fans in the same basket. Those Hamilton fans I know are perfectly capable of acknowledging that someone else has done a better job.

      Hamilton obviously had a disastrous qualifying, a brilliant start and a good race. However, it was not enough to pass Rosberg, who has proved this year that he is as good as Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton. Rosberg did a better job this weekend but Hamilton has nothing to feel ashamed about.

      1. @girts: you’re absolutely right and I should have said “some” Hamilton fans which we some examples above. Fully agree with you though: both had a good race and there is no shame in coming 2nd when you have tried everything. I was just incensed that in every case some people were trying to find some sort of foul play. This time was obviously was none available.

      2. he hasn’t proved that he is as good as vettel and Alonso – he has more of a car advantage then either vettel or Alonso have ever had – and he can not dominate the sport, or his teammate like Alonso and vettel do.

        1. @kpcart, yes he needs to make sure his engines are more reliable and his pit stops are fast. Oh wait….I forgot he is just a driver.

          BTW, he beat Alonso in 2007. Save me the simulator mileage BS. When have you seen a rookie hold his own against proven champions, never mind beating them? Only MotoGPs Marquez has done better. Hamilton: baptism of fire since year one. Alonso/Vettel: gradually eased in. Get their feet wet. Learn F1 for a year or two. Then they were expected to deliver.

          1. Both Alonso and Vettel delivered from day one.

          2. he was mighty quick in 07, and 08 — but also back then tyre wear was not an issue – hence he is quick again this year! – this makes him a 2 dimensional driver, only winning when things are to his suiting. in the past few seasons before this year, he was one of the worst drivers on tyre wear, often pitting early.
            since 2007, Alonso has developed a lot more as a driver then Hamilton. did you watch Alonso in 2001? he was also a monster rookie, but he did not have the best car like Hamilton – he had a minardi.
            Hamilton has not done much better since 07/08 – to me he has been a disappointment considering his start in the series. I should add in both 07 and 08 he flopped in the WDC at the end, luckily holding onto 08. in 2010 he flopped again with several crashes at the end of the season. this year he looks like he is gonna flop again – I mean, he cant even consistently beat Rosberg, who many do not consider a top 5 driver – when he does beat him it is never by how Alonso and Vettel have been beating their teammates. don’t forget Jenson Button (again not many consider him a top 5 driver) scored more points at McLaren when teamed with Hamilton. Hamilton is the nearly man, not quite there to be considered a true great – far too many mistakes, this is the year he should dominate the sport – with easily the fastest cars and a “A-” teammate – pit stops/dnfs aside, he is not doing it, he is not the Ayrton Senna he aspires to be. I rank him number 3 in F1. I comment a lot on Hamiltons performances, because after his start in f1, I expected him to be the next Ayrton Senna, he was my favourite driver in 07, and for a while in 08. now I rank him as the next Juan Montoya – entertaining and always driving hard, but not quite good enough to be the best. I consider Hamiltons rivalry with Rosberg as very reminiscent of Montoya v R.Schumacher in the BWM Williams days – certainly nothing like Senna/Prost level. It is very easy to blame dnfs and pitstops, but don’t forget all the driver errors too, and for instance this race, errors in qualifying , and at the end of the race not being fast enough – if he was so much better then rosberg like some think, he would have got past him, he had about 25 laps to do it.

        2. @kpcart, “if he was so much better then rosberg like some think, he would have got past him, he had about 25 laps to do it.”

          Shows what a strong grasp in F1 you have. I guess he should have passed him in Monaco also. Hint: There is a reason why your best bet of passing your teammate(same car same performance) is via a undercut. This usally involves pit stops.

          BTW, if Ham is “two dimensional” what does that make the mighty Vettel? Are you going to use the reliability argument that you refuse to acknowledge for Hamilton? Or maybe the diffuser argument? Or that its easier for Ric because his last car was a rubbish STR?

  4. Before the race I was hoping that Rosberg would win; not that I would particularly like the guy, but Hamilton looks faster and I do not want him to get an insurmountable lead too soon in the season. But after that great start of his, I felt it would be unfair to wish him to lose. In the end they had dozens of laps to sort it out and the better man (of this weekend) won.

    1. What you should want Ham to win he is had bad luck and is behind through no fault of his own.

      1. Surely he can want whoever he wants to win? Regardless of whom you deemed unlucky?

  5. Karthik Mohan
    22nd June 2014, 15:00

    Loved the race, hate the results! I just keep thinking to myself, what could have Hamilton done if he had just managed to complete a lap on Saturday! But he was let down massively by the pit stops! Altogether he lost something like 1.9 secs! Ah well, at least Lewis Hamilton showed us what he meant by “hunting people down”! He did not deserve the race win for his qualifying, but he deserved to win today! Anyways, I can’t wait for Silverstone!

    And oh, my new favorite team radio message: “It’s Hammer Time.” :D :D If it had been said by Jeremy Clarkson, it would have been the funniest thing ever!

    1. Hamilton lost at least 2.5 seconds in the Pits! Another reason for us Hamilton fans to suspect some subterfuge over at Mercedes…

      Was a good race. I think had HAM gotten quicker pitstops as ROS he would have won it.
      Great job by Bottas, Massa and Alonso. Kimi continues to struggle. I have really lost my belief that he was always a top driver over these years. He’s firmly in the seconds tier now with Vettel, Button and the rest of the up and comers.

  6. So, why Vettel as usually gets no penalty for causing a collision – this time with Esteban Gutiérrez? He didn’t receive a penalty in 2012 Brasilian GP as well.
    For example, Fernando Alonso was penalised 20 seconds post-race for contact while trying to pass Lewis Hamilton in 2011 Malaysian GP for even less contact with Hamilton!

    1. To be fair it was pure bad luck either way. Gutierrez lost power just as Vettel was right behind him. He’d never have been given a penalty for that even before the softer stance thing, esp as it only impeded himself

  7. “Bottas took his first ever pole position after moving ahead of polesitter Felipe Massa early on.”

    I think that’s meant to say podium, Keith!

  8. Could Williams hire Ross Brawn to run the Sunday race strategies.

  9. Lotus-Grosjean
    22nd June 2014, 15:07

    I enjoyed the qualifying session yesterday more than the race today…

  10. janet talbot
    22nd June 2014, 15:26

    bad pit stops for lewis again, this is how merc are deliberately keeping rosberg in front, I,m a lewis fan NOT a merc fan. Rosberg needs the team to fix lewis pitstops etc to win, lewis wins without any help from the team.the whole world can see what rosbergs team are doing to lewis.GO lewis go.

    1. Yeah I am sure thats the reasson… my god!

  11. Mature approach from LH after the race. He & we need an answer as to why NR gets faster pitstops, accounting for almost 3 vital seconds.

  12. Does anyone have a picture of that Mateshitz and Bernie thing on the track?

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