Austrian Grand Prix: Red Bull Ring, unlucky for Red Bull drivers...

It was nice to see the Austrian Grand Prix back on the calendar, after an eleven year absence, however "it was no Bahrain". It wasn't a boring race, but it was no edge-of-the-seat thriller. It threatened to be an upset for Mercedes, but a sterling drive from both Hamilton and Rosberg secured the Mercedes one/two. The upset was coming in the shape of Bottas and Massa, who both started from the front row. They held on to those positions until the first pit stops, then the Mercedes drivers despatched them pretty quickly. Lewis and Nico had pitted and dropped down the order, awaiting the Williams stops. Bottas came out between Hamilton and Rosberg, Hamilton passing him within a few corners. They dealt with Massa in much the same way. On a positive note, Williams appeared to have great race pace, so it's only a matter of time before they really cause the Silver Arrows problems.

For a circuit that is now called the Red Bull Ring, it wasn't a lucky race for the Red Bull boys, the Toro Rosso team included. Red Bull Racing's sister team suffered two DNFs, whilst Sebastian Vettel was forced to retire on lap thirty-seven and Ricciardo could only manage eighth. Vettel was dogged with problems, first having power issues and then colliding with Esteban Gutierrez, breaking his front wing and needing an extra pit stop to get it changed. Eventually Red Bull told Sebastian to stop, since it was worth saving some mileage and thus preserving the gearbox and engine for a while longer.

That really was all of the excitement we were treated to, in Austria's return to Grand Prix racing. McLaren had a much better race than in recent weeks, with Magnussen bringing his car home in seventh and grabbing a handful of points. Force India also fared well, with Perez bagging sixth and Hulkenberg being pipped to eighth place by the under performing Red Bull of Ricciardo. Even Ferrari's Fernando Alonso secured a respectable fifth place. To clarify, it was only Red Bull who struggled here, with the only non finishers being the Red Bull teams. Not a great place to be poor, and all in front the boss, Dietrich Mateschitz.

We will all be hoping the racing is back on form at Silverstone, after all, Lewis and Nico looked far too chummy, as they clambered out of their cars and then celebrated up on the podium. My Driver of the Day has to be Lewis Hamilton, as he managed an impressive second place finish, after starting from ninth on the grid. Perhaps that's why he wasn't too bothered about seeing his team mate on the top step. With the next race being the British Grand Prix, I wonder how Hamilton will react if Rosberg looks to be outperforming him again.


Check out The F1 Spectator Austrian GP podcast and listen to The F1 Spectator himself.

The Result:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	71	1:27:54.976	3	25
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	+1.9 secs	9	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	71	+8.1 secs	2	15
4	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	71	+17.3 secs	1	12
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	71	+18.5 secs	4	10
6	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	71	+28.5 secs	15	8
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+32.0 secs	6	6
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	71	+43.5 secs	5	4
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	71	+44.1 secs	10	2
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	71	+47.7 secs	8	1
11	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+50.9 secs	11
12	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	70	+1 Lap	13
13	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	70	+1 Lap	16
14	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	70	+1 Lap	22
15	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	69	+2 Laps	18
16	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	69	+2 Laps	19
17	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	69	+2 Laps	21
18	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	69	+2 Laps	20
19	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	69	+2 Laps	17
Ret	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	59	Brakes	14
Ret	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	34	Retired	12
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	24	Suspension	7

Austrian Qualifying: Mercedes power on top?

There were two Mercedes powered cars on the front row of the grid, as the cars drove in to parc ferme, but they certainly weren't the Works cars. Bottas and Massa looked like they might threaten Hamilton and Rosberg all session, but I'm not sure anyone quite believed they would take both of the top spots. Williams are simply coming alive this season. There may not realistically be enough time for them to attempt a significant challenge on Mercedes, but they might still turn out to be the closest team, come the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In the Austrian Grand Prix, it'll be interesting to see whether the Mercedes' of Rosberg can fair as well, when he doesn't have a clear path in front of him.

To be fair to Lewis Hamilton, he quite obviously experienced problems, as his rear wheels locked up heavily, under braking. It happened on his final fast lap and it would be difficult to predict whether he would have been able to match the time of Bottas, but just after that Massa bettered his team mate's time and snatched pole position away anyway. There was hope for Mercedes in the shape of Nico Rosberg, but just when we all thought he might ruin the Williams party, he abandoned his fast lap and cruised back to the pits.

Because of his spin and failure to post a lap time, Hamilton starts from ninth on the grid. He's got to be disappointed with that, since it was a problem with his car, and not his team mate's antics, that scuppered his chances. However, he wasn't the only big name to suffer in qualifying, as Sebastian Vettel and Jenson Button failed to make it out of Q2 and in to the final top ten shootout. It's not the first time it's happened to these two drivers, even this season, but it's still extremely frustrating for the Mercedes powered McLaren team AND the World Champions, Red Bull. It seems that The Red Bull Ring has not been lucky for Red Bull Racing, so far this weekend. I wonder if they will fair better in the Grand Prix.

The Grid:

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.292	1:09.239	1:08.759	19
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.356	1:09.096	1:08.846	19
3	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:09.695	1:08.974	1:08.944	17
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:10.405	1:09.479	1:09.285	25
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:10.395	1:09.638	1:09.466	22
6	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.081	1:09.473	1:09.515	29
7	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	1:09.678	1:09.490	1:09.619	21
8	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:10.285	1:09.657	1:10.795	23
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:09.514	1:09.092	No time	15
10	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:10.389	1:09.624	No time	23
11	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	1:10.124	1:09.754		18
12	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.252	1:09.780		22
13	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:10.630	1:09.801		15
14	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:10.821	1:09.939		18
15	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	1:10.161	1:10.073		19
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:10.461	1:10.642		21
17	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:10.825			10
18	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:11.349			10
19	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:11.412			9
20	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:11.673			10
21	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:11.775			10
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:12.673			11