Another double podium for Mercedes with Nico Rosberg coming first. Daniil Kvyat dropped out of the race. Perhaps, it was one of the most unpredictable battles so far.
The news about Schumacher emerging from coma and leaving Grenoble hospital keeps cheering up his fans. However, it is still unclear, why someone has stolen his medical documents and is now trying to sell them. Michael’s family is still expressing gratitude to all people who have been supporting him and sending positive energy: “We would like to thank all the people who wish Michael well for their positive energies. We are sure they had helped him already”. It would be great if the documents were returned, as in case this information leaks to the media, there will be legal actions taken. From now on, all information about Michael is private territory with no intruders allowed.
There was a part of history for Gran Prix spectators. Niki Lauda made a one circuit on his 312T2 race car — the thing hi did not do in 1976, after hard crash on Nuerburgring two weeks earlier. The top picture.
But let’s get back to the current situation in Formula 1. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) clinched victory at the Canadian Grand Prix and that has definitely brought a burst of emotion and a breach of this season’s pattern. The “Silver arrows” used to be on top all the time and that was a real surprise. When journalists asked Ricciardo about the atmosphere prevailing in the green corridor before the awarding ceremony, he gave the following answer: “Nico Rosberg was a bit disappointed, however, he extended his championship lead and that is why he wasn’t upset too much. I received many compliments from him and Sebastian and it felt really good! Well, I received a lot of congratulations from everyone”. Well, of course everyone was happy for Ricciardo, as it was his first victory.
While everyone was getting ready for the race in Austria, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) visited Ferrari headquarters in Maranello. Apparently, he is going to buy a LaFerrari supercar. But you never know, maybe he just wanted to “switch gears” and have a cup of tea in a new place.
The situation with Caterham is still very tense. All the threats from the team’s co-owner Tony Fernandes to pull the plug on Caterham in case the team are not able to score some points do not bring any positive results. According to the latest reports, the team has been sold anyhow. However, no official release has been made.
Bookmakers were accepting bets for the Austrian Grand Prix and Hamilton was still in the lead there.
After 11 years, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg is back on the calendar, though the history of Formula 1 in Austria dates back to 1964. The major problem of the track was a too narrow “start-finish” straight section, so it was difficult to break through to the first corner. There was another confusing issue — frightened deer could jump on the track at any moment.
In 2008, Red Bull fully reconstructed the circuit; its current length is 4,326 m. The Austrian Grand Prix is a 71-lap race. The configuration of the track comprises eight corners and a long straight in the first section, which provides overtaking possibilities when braking.
Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso): “This is one of my favourite circuits. I raced here in Formula Renault Alps and had two wins there in 2012. I had a great weekend and really loved the track. Last year I went back to the Red Bull Ring with Formula 3 this time and again I had great memories taking three poles out of three, followed by three second places in the races. It’s my kind of track, with heavy braking points and it is quite a technical track. It has some fast and medium speed corners, which I really enjoy”.
Sergio Pérez (Force India): “It is a beautiful country; the people are nice and it’s full of amazing scenery — especially the mountains. It’s also a great place to ski and its Formula One heritage is impressive. I don’t really know what to expect because it’s my first visit to the track, but I’m really looking forward to going there. It’s a circuit that not many people know and so it can give you an opportunity to find a small advantage”.
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull): “I have great memories of the Red Bull Ring. I was 13 years old when I first drove around it. I had the chance to test a Formula car from the Auinger family. That is a huge step if you’re coming from a karting background”.
Marcus Ericsson (Caterham): “So, Austria and what looks like will be a quick track. It looks relatively simple, but, like everywhere we race, getting the balance right all weekend is a real challenge, especially for the downhill right at turn three and then through four and into the quick lefts at five and six. You'll need a good flow through there, and for the whole lap, so you can build up a rhythm and really push and that's what I want to do for the whole weekend”.
A new track always brings something interesting. For instance, during the practice sessions many drivers made mistakes in the first and eighth corners. Warnings were issued to all of them — it is forbidden to cut corners as it might give advantage. The qualifying laps of those who disregarded this warning would not be counted.
Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets in the first practice session — 1:09.514. Daniil Kvyat was second best. In the second practice session, Nico Rosberg became the only one who managed to lap the track in 1:08.974. Nevertheless, the front row of the grid was occupied by Williams drivers — Felipe Massa (1:08.759) and Valtteri Bottas.
Felipe Massa: “I’m so happy. For sure we need to concentrate on the race, but it’s a long time since my last pole, in Brazil in 2008, so it is such an incredible moment. I am emotional, and so are Williams”.
Valtteri Bottas: “As Felipe says the race is tomorrow, so we need to focus on that. It’s going to be a different story tomorrow, it’s not going to be easy to keep the Mercedes cars behind for sure, and even some other cars like Ferrari and Red Bull are going to be strong. Yeah, not a bad day today but we just need to keep focused now”.
Rosberg and Alonso (Ferrari) were on the second row, while Ricciardo and Magnussen (McLaren) occupied the third row.
Nico Rosberg: “I didn't expect Williams to be ahead of us, but they did a good job and it did not come together for us. I could not put the perfect lap together because of Lewis spinning — I had to lift off, so that definitely cost me today. Third is OK to start from — I'll have a quick car in the race”.
Daniil Kvyat set the seventh-fastest time (1:09.619), while Hamilton and Hülkenberg (Force India) saw their laps deleted after crossing over the white line.
Daniil Kvyat: «I think the updates definitely helped. They worked as expected more or less, and the track obviously it suits my driving style, I like it. I guess that helped also. In any case, you have to be fast even on the tracks you don’t like. As I have said, we have solved all our problems and things are going pretty good so far”.
Well, Daniil was in a really good mood. And he made a rather rash statement before the race: “We’ve got a great car, we’ll do our best to overtake all competitors in front of us on the grid. Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it”. We’ll get back to this statement later.
What concerns the rest of the drivers, almost all of them had their grid positions according to their qualifying results, except for two pilots with “debts” after the previous race. Max Chilton (Marussia) lost three positions due to a collision with his teammate, while Sergio Pérez lost five positions for the incident with Felipe Massa. Grosjean (Lotus) had to start from the pit lane after the team broke parc ferme rules to change his gearbox.
Time for the race. Massa kept the lead. Hamilton jumped from ninth to fourth, while Ricciardo and Kvyat lost several positions. Vettel lost speed due to electronics issues.
The peloton stretched out… Sauber were very “attentive” as usually and caused a lot of confusion. First of all, they did not fix Esteban’s rear right-hand wheel. They noticed it only when he left the boxes but asked Sutil to return to the pits instead. Just a slightest mistake. Sutil was on the track at that moment and just wasted some time. Meanwhile, Gutiérrez went to pits eventually and was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty and also a 10-place grid penalty for the next Grand Prix. Nice job!
Pérez was leading the race at some point with Rosberg, Bottas, Hamilton, and Massa in a group behind him.
Now it’s time to get back to Daniil Kvyat. On lap 26, he retired due to suspension problems. At that very moment, Rosberg and Bottas overtook Pérez, and then Hamilton was also able to pass Sergio. Ten laps later Vettel left his car in the pits and retired — the engine could not withstand the load. Then came the surprising moment when Alonso was in the lead for the first time this season, but then he changed his tyres… and that was it. The joy was over.
Closer to the end of the race Vergne (Toro Rosso) suffered brake issues and had to stay in the boxes. Toro Rosso pilots were watching the race from the pits, though both of them managed to demonstrate great results during qualifying.
Nico Rosberg was the first to cross the finish line, scoring third victory this season!
Nico Rosberg: “It wasn’t the easiest of races — trying to manage certain things that were a bit on the limit on the car. But in the end I had a very, very fast car again, so it was fantastic to win today. It’s great also to get a one-two for Mercedes”.
Lewis Hamilton came second: “The guys have done a fantastic job. To get another one-two here is just incredible. This track has been fantastic and the fans have been insane this weekend, so thank you all for the support”.
Third place was claimed by… Valtteri Bottas. It is his best career result so far.
Valtteri Bottas: “Really, really happy. Difficult to put into words really. Just really thankful to the team for giving me this car. It’s been a long way for us since last year”.
Unfortunately, Daniil Kvyat did not score points although he has really high potential, which has been demonstrated in qualifying. Team Principal Franz Tost made the following comment on the retirement of his drivers: “Starting from seventh position and not finishing the race is quite disappointing. We have to investigate the problem on Daniil's rear right suspension, as well as the brake problem on Vergne's car. Generally speaking the car showed a solid performance in qualifying and now we have work hard to transfer this also into a strong race result. It is a real shame that we were not able to do so here at the Red Bull Ring and in front of all the Red Bull family, but we are hopeful that we can come back stronger at the next race in Silverstone”.
Well, we are now looking forward for the race in Great Britain.
According to f1news.com