Hamilton wins after Rosberg clashposted in F103 | 07 | 2016
LEWIS HAMILTON WON the Austrian Grand Prix, to slash the gap to Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg to just 11 points: but the win was, again, shrouded in controversy after the German appeared to attempt to run Hamilton off the circuit the last lap.
Battling for the lead at the Red Bull Ring, as Hamilton attempted to pass Rosberg on the outside of the run-up to the tight right-hander at Turn 2, the duo again made contact, much to the annoyance of their Mercedes bosses.
While Hamilton recovered to win, Rosberg’s manoeuvre backfired, causing severe damage to his front wing. As a result he was eventually passed by Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari.
After the race, the stewards adjudged Rosberg to be the cause of the accident, handing him a 10-second time penalty. Rosberg was also reprimanded by the stewards for continuing on track with a damaged car.
Hamilton, having started from pole position, for the first time this season led through the opening corner. having failed to do so on his previous four starts from P1.
Rosberg, who started sixth following a five-place penalty for a gearbox-change, had moved up to fifth by the end of the opening lap. Then, having passed Jenson Button’s McLaren for fourth, he pitted to switch from ultra-softs to the soft compound after 10 of the 71 laps.
Related: Lewis, Nico and Toto on Austria clash
Having rejoined in 15th, 30-seconds behind leader Hamilton, Rosberg was left frustrated as the triple world champ eked out the life of his ultra-soft tyres , aided by the cooler temperatures.
But by the time he pitted on lap 21, Hamilton’s advantage over Rosberg had been trimmed to 21.9s. The Englishman’s cause was further handicapped when his pitcher struggled with a slow replacement of the left-rear, and he emerged a few seconds behind Rosberg.
While Raikkonen pitted a lap later, but emerged sixth behind the two Red Bulls , Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel stayed out and assumed the lead. However, the lead lasted only five laps before his right-rear tyre exploded down the main straight: pirelli later blamed debris on the track for the blowout.
With the Ferrari strands on the circuit, the safety car was deployed as Rosberg led from Hamilton, Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo and Raikkonen. On the restart, with Mercedes quickly pulled away from the rest of the chasing pack.
Both team-mates stopped again, with Hamilton coming in first with 19 laps to go and taking on used softs. But another poor pitstop, plus a poor Turn 2 for Hamilton enabled Rosberg to stay ahead after his stop for new super-softs a lap later.
Forced then to battle with Verstappen, Hamilton then closed in on Rosberg before they both clashed on the final lap. Behind fourth-placed Rosberg, Ricciardo held on to fifth with Button crossing the line in sixth, ahead of Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sergio Perez had looked on course for ninth in his Force india, but the Mexican’s last-lap crash — after an apparent mechanical problem — elevated the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, and his pursuer Pascal Wehrlein into 10th and a point for Manor.
F1 Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull Ring (Result):
1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 71 laps
2. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-Renault +5.7s
3. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +6.0s
4. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +26.7s *
5. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault +30.9s
6. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +37.7s
7. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +44.6s
8. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari +47.4s
9. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
10. Pascal Wehrlein GER Manor-Mercedes +1 lap
11. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
12. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault +1 lap
13. Felipe Nasr BRA Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault +1 lap
15. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Rio Haryanto INA Manor-Mercedes +1 lap
17. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +2 lap
* Rosberg given 10secs post-race penalty for final lap collision with Hamilton
Not classified
19. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda
20. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes
20. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes
21. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari
22. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari
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Jim McGill