Nico Rosberg wins Formula One Austrian Grand Prix
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg celebrates after winning the Formula One Grand Prix of Austria on Sunday.
Nico Rosberg showed his championship potential by overtaking pole sitter Lewis Hamilton on the first turn to win the Austrian Grand Prix in style on Sunday.
The German driver, runner-up to his Mercedes teammate in last year’s Formula One championship, took an aggressive inside line to shoot past Hamilton heading into the first turn in an eventful race featuring a heavy crash between Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso and several more retirements.
Rosberg’s third win this season took his career tally to 11, and cut Hamilton’s overall lead to 10 points.
Felipe Massa finished third for Williams, matching his finish from last year. In the fight for the last podium spot, Massa held off Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari by just 0.6 seconds.
On another terrible day for McLaren, Jenson Button retired to join Alonso in the garage.
Rosberg likes the Red Bull Ring, where he won from third on the grid last year. This time he did it starting from second.
“Yeaahhh!” a jubilant Rosberg shouted on his radio after crossing the line, then jumped onto his car and hugged his team mechanics.
He has good reason to be happy, having beaten Hamilton in three of the past four races.
“Not the result we wanted,” Hamilton’s engineer said, consoling him.
It was a frustrating day for defending champion Hamilton, who received a five-second penalty for incorrectly leaving the pit lane. He got penalized for going over the white line after straying to the left after coming out of the pits after his tire change.
Hamilton’s seventh pole in eight races, achieved late in Saturday’s qualifying, was perhaps more precarious than on another track.
Rosberg made an aggressive start, giving Hamilton no time to settle as he screeched past him.
In other incidents, Swedish driver Marcus Ericsson was given a drive-through penalty for jumping the start and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas — who finished fifth — almost collided with Max Verstappen as he was leaving the pits and the Dutch teen was coming in.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr. retired and so did Lotus driver Romain Grosjean, meaning six cars had retired before the 40th lap.
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