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