Rosberg extends F1 title lead over Hamilton
BRITAIN’S Lewis Hamilton was left to rue his botched qualifying run after summoning a superb race to finish narrowly behind Mercedes team-mate and eventual winner Nico Rosberg at the Austrian Grand Prix yesterday.
Hamilton started ninth on the grid but made up five places on a blistering first lap alone and crossed the line just 1.9 seconds behind Rosberg. A sixth one-two of the season underlined the team’s supremacy but also extended Rosberg’s lead over Hamilton to 29 points – leaving the former Formula One world champion with mixed feelings.
“That would have been great if I had started where I should have started, but damage limitation, to get from ninth to second and pressing Nico showed the pace I had this weekend,” he said.
“I enjoyed it, it’s much better than being in the front all the way but going nowhere, it’s great to see how strong Mercedes is right now. I was so fast in practice I should have been on pole. This has been a bad weekend for me but to get second place on a bad weekend was great.”
Finn Valtteri Bottas was third on his maiden podium finish, having joined pole-sitter Felipe Massa, who took fourth, in an all-Williams front row of the grid. Rosberg’s third win of the season was his sixth in total, overtaking his father Keke’s tally.
The next race is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 6 July.
RESULT & STANDINGS
Austrian Grand Prix Result
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 1:27:54.976
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes +1.900
3. Valtteri Bottas, Wiliams +8.100
4. Felipe Massa, Williams +17.200
Drivers’ Championship Standings
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes 165
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 136
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 83
4. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari 79