2015 Austrian GP: Rosberg wins with a stunning start ahead of Hamilton

Nico Rosberg won the 2015 Austrian GP at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton. Felipe Massa finished third for Williams. The race was effectively decided within a few hundred metres: Rosberg started from 2nd place, passed pole-sitter Hamilton at Turn 1 and only gave up the lead briefly during the pit stops. On top of that, he set the fastest lap.

Rosberg got away better than Hamilton and made the move stick by the first corner. Behind them, Sebastian Vettel slotted into third in the Ferrari, followed by Massa and Nico Hülkenberg in the Force India.

Further back came the most spectacular moment of the day. Kimi Räikkönen had only been able to start from 14th after a botched qualifying. Accelerating out of the second corner on the harder tyres, his rear wheels spun while he was running side by side with Fernando Alonso. The Ferrari slid wide, hit the McLaren, and Alonso's car ended up on top of the Ferrari. Both drivers climbed out unhurt. In the official classification, both are listed without a lap completed and with the status "collision". According to Wikipedia, it was Alonso's fourth consecutive retirement, the first time this had happened in his career.

The Safety Car was deployed. Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull had picked up damage at the start and used the period to take on a new nose and soft tyres. After 6 laps behind the Safety Car, racing resumed on lap 7. Rosberg fended off Hamilton's attack at the restart and pulled out a small lead.

Every driver in the top 10 made do with a single pit stop. The Mercedes drivers ran long on their first set of tyres. Hamilton stayed close; according to Wikipedia, his deficit had shrunk to 2.2 seconds by lap 32. Rosberg then pitted on lap 33, with a 2.7-second stop according to the FIA. Hamilton took the lead and stayed out a few laps longer, but lost some time at his own stop on lap 35 (around 0.4 seconds more than Rosberg, according to GrandPrix247) and rejoined behind his teammate.

Worse still: as he left the pit lane, Hamilton crossed the white line at the pit exit. For that he received a five-second time penalty, which was added to his time after the race. It did not cost him 2nd place, but it left him 8.8 seconds behind Rosberg in the official classification. Hamilton said afterwards that he didn't know what he had done wrong. From then on, Rosberg controlled the race comfortably. He set his fastest lap of 1:11.235 on lap 35.

A footnote: thanks to his laps in the lead, Hamilton had, according to Wikipedia, led at least one lap in 17 consecutive races. That equalled a 45-year-old record held by Jackie Stewart.

After the Mercedes stops, Vettel briefly led before making his own stop on lap 36. Then everything went wrong: the rear-right wheel nut stuck, according to the FIA and GrandPrix247 because of a faulty wheel gun. According to Wikipedia, the Ferrari was stationary for more than 13 seconds. Vettel's trip through the pit lane took 31.9 seconds, compared with around 22 for the other front-runners. Massa had already stopped on lap 34 and was now ahead of him.

In the closing laps Vettel put the Brazilian under pressure but couldn't find a way past. At the flag, only around six tenths separated them (Massa +17.573s, Vettel +18.181s behind Rosberg). According to Wikipedia, it was Massa's first podium since the 2014 season finale in Abu Dhabi. He also became only the eighth driver to pass the 1000 championship-point mark. Valtteri Bottas rounded off a strong Williams result in 5th place. Before that, he had battled with Hülkenberg, who had temporarily moved back ahead of him thanks to his earlier stop. Hülkenberg finished sixth.

Daniel Ricciardo gained the most places: he started 18th and finished tenth, eight places up. The Red Bull driver didn't pit until lap 50 and dropped behind Felipe Nasr in the Sauber as a result. According to GrandPrix247, he passed him at Turn 3 on lap 61 to reclaim the final championship point. Sergio Pérez (Force India, from 13 to 9) and Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus (from 10 to 7) also made up ground. Maldonado was locked in a long battle with Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso and got past after the Dutchman locked up at Turn 1. Verstappen still scored points in eighth.

The big loser alongside Räikkönen and Alonso was Romain Grosjean, who had started 9th. He retired after 35 laps with a gearbox failure. The retirements at a glance:

• Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren): collision on the first lap, no laps classified
• Will Stevens (Manor Marussia): oil leak after 1 lap
• Jenson Button (McLaren): retired after 8 laps, according to Wikipedia due to a sensor problem in the intake system
• Romain Grosjean (Lotus): gearbox failure after 35 laps
• Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso): loss of power after 35 laps. Before that, he had a long pit stop due to problems with the front-right wheel and picked up a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which became irrelevant after his retirement.

According to the FIA, Marcus Ericsson (Sauber) received a drive-through penalty for a jump start and finished thirteenth. Roberto Merhi brought the remaining Manor home in fourteenth.

The win brought Rosberg closer to Hamilton in the drivers' championship. In the 2015 standings, Hamilton led with 169 points, with Rosberg on 159. Behind them came Vettel (120), Räikkönen (72), Bottas (67) and Massa (62). In the constructors' standings, Mercedes extended their lead: 328 points to Ferrari's 192, with Williams 3rd on 129 points. Force India climbed to 5th with 31 points, just ahead of Lotus (29).

For context: according to Wikipedia, it was Rosberg's third win of the season, the eleventh Grand Prix win of his career and his second consecutive victory in Spielberg. Mercedes celebrated their fifth one-two of the year. For McLaren, by contrast, the eighth race of the season brought another setback: both cars retired, and the team remained on just 4 championship points.