Nico Rosberg wins 2014 Austrian GP

Nico Rosberg has won his third grand prix of the season after taking out the Austrian Grand Prix overnight. His victory margin of 1.9 seconds over Mercedes AMG teammate Lewis Hamilton sees the German extend his world championship lead to 29 points.

Hamilton started from P9 but put in a sterling opening lap to be fighting for fourth by the second lap. He did have some minor concerns with overheating brakes again, as did Rosberg, but they were still too fast for everyone else.

In third place was Valtteri Bottas for Williams. That’s the Finn’s best result in Formula 1 to date and as you’d expect he was very happy with his day, despite starting the race from P2.

Felipe Massa came home fourth and may have hoped for more after making a clean start from pole position. In the end the Mercedes pair had too much race pace and both were able to get ahead of the Williams duo during routine pit stops.

Fernando Alonso just went about his business as usual for Ferrari and put in another honest and reliable performance to finish fifth. The dual world champion has had an unspectacular year by his standards, but continues to achieve the best results available to him it would seem.

Sergio Perez collected good points for Force India with P6.  Thanks to an alternate tyre strategy he led the race for a while, too, which he would be happy with after starting from P15.

McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen was seventh, his best result since he inherited P2 from Daniel Ricciardo at the Australian Grand Prix in the season’s opening race.

Ricciardo was the sole flickering light on a dirty day for Red Bull at its home track. Daniel finished eighth thanks to a last lap pass on Nico Hulkenberg.

Sadly for Red Bull, though, everything else went pear shaped. Sebastian Vettel momentarily lost power in the opening laps and seemed to be headed for retirement. His car did right itself for some time, but he was called into the pits to retire at around half-race distance.

Red Bull-owned Toro Rosso fared worse, with both cars retiring from the race without making any impact.

After a brief moment of respite from Ricciardo in Canada and Williams locking out the front row for this race, the status quo of a Mercedes one-two result has returned. Crucially, though, Nico Rosberg now enjoys the luxury of championship lead greater than a race win.

Well, that’s until we get to the double points race in Bahrain to end the year.

2014 Austrian Grand Prix final placings

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG – 71 Laps (1:27:54.976) (25 pts)
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG – +1.9 secs (18 pts)
3. Valtteri Bottas Williams – +8.1 secs (15 pts)
4. Felipe Massa Williams – +17.3 secs (12 pts)
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari – +18.5 secs (10 pts)
6. Sergio Perez Force India – +28.5 secs (8 pts)
7. Kevin Magnussen McLaren – +32.0 secs (6 pts)
8. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing – +43.5 secs (4 pts)
9. Nico Hulkenberg Force India – +44.1 secs (2 pts)
10. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari – +47.7 secs (1 pt)
11. Jenson Button McLaren – +50.9 secs
12. Pastor Maldonado Lotus – +1 Lap
13. Adrian Sutil Sauber – +1 Lap
14. Romain Grosjean Lotus – +1 Lap
15. Jules Bianchi Marussia – +2 Laps
16. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham – +2 Laps
17. Max Chilton Marussia – +2 Laps
18. Marcus Ericsson Caterham – +2 Laps
19. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber – +2 Laps

Retired/not classified
Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso – 59 Laps (Brakes)
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing – 34 Laps (Retired)
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso – 24 Laps (Suspension)

Fastest Lap
Sergio Perez Force India – 1:12.142 (Lap 59)

Note: Perez and Chilton qualified P11 and P21 respectively; dropped 5 and 3 grid places respectively for causing collisions at previous round. Grosjean qualified P16; started from pit lane after gearbox and set-up changes.

2014 F1 world championship – Drivers (Top 10)

1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes AMG – 165
2. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes AMG – 136
3. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull – 83
4. Fernando Alonso Ferrari – 79
5. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull – 60
6. Nico Hulkenberg Force India – 59
7. Valtteri Bottas Williams – 55
8. Jenson Button McLaren – 43
9. Felipe Massa Williams – 30
10. Kevin Magnussen McLaren – 29

2014 F1 world championship – Constructors

1. Mercedes – 301
2. Red Bull Racing – 143
3. Ferrari – 98
4. Force India-Mercedes – 87
5. Williams-Mercedes – 85
6. McLaren-Mercedes – 72
7. STR-Renault – 12
8. Lotus – 8
9. Marussia – 2
10. Sauber – 0
11. Caterham – 0