F1 - Austrian Grand Prix - Sunday, June 22nd 2014

Nico Rosberg holds off Lewis Hamilton for win

By Ben Anderson

Nico Rosberg extended his lead in the Formula 1 world championship by beating Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton to victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes drivers used superior strategy to overcome the straightline speed advantage of Williams pair Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas at the first F1 race held at the renamed Red Bull Ring since 2003.
Williams nevertheless scored its best results of the season by finishing third and fourth, with Bottas claiming a maiden F1 podium and Massa finishing fourth.

Poleman Massa initially led the race from the first Williams one-two on the grid since 2003, while team-mate Bottas was passed by the fast-starting Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.
But Bottas used Williams' superior straightline speed to retake second on the run up the hill to Turn 2.
A superb start and opening lap from Rosberg's team-mate Hamilton made up for his disastrous showing in qualifying on Saturday, launching him up from row five of the grid to fourth place by the end of the lap, which included a brave pass on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari at Turn 8.
Rosberg pitted for the first time on lap 11 of 71, releasing Hamilton to attack the two Williams. Hamilton pitted two laps later, while Williams waited an extra tour before bringing leader Massa in.
The Brazilian lost out during this first round of stops. He was jumped by Rosberg in the pits and passed by Hamilton at Turn 2 on his out-lap.
By contrast, a great in-lap from Bottas, who was last of the leading group to pit on lap 15, kept him ahead of Hamilton and allowed the Finn to jump his Williams team-mate.

All four ran behind the Force India of Sergio Perez during the second phase of the race, owing to the Mexican running an alternative strategy from 15th on the grid.
Mercedes warned Hamilton about overheating brakes running in the wake of the Williams, while Rosberg made a point of continually moving out of Perez's slipstream on the straights to cool his own car down.
Perez led until lap 27, when Rosberg dived down the inside unchallenged at Turn 2, while Bottas followed through up the inside on the exit as Perez ran wide.
Hamilton produced a copycat move at Turn 2 on the following lap to take third and set fastest lap as he chased after Bottas and new race leader Rosberg.
The top three bunched up as Rosberg ran wide coming out of Turn 1 on lap 30, allowing Bottas to get into DRS range and dragging Hamilton with him, while Massa held a watching brief slightly further back in fourth.

Rosberg took a few laps to recover his rhythm, but eeked out a two-second lead before Mercedes decided to pit its two drivers for the second time on consecutive tours on laps 39 and 40.
Hamilton came in first and rejoined fifth, just ahead of Kevin Magnussen's McLaren, while Rosberg's slightly faster stop ensured he stayed ahead of Hamilton.
Williams decided not to react immediately, pitting Bottas from the lead on lap 42, and the Finn rejoined behind both Mercedes.
Once Massa and the long-running Ferrari of Fernando Alonso came in for their final stops on lap 44 and 47 respectively, the race finally boiled down to a straight fight between the two Mercedes.
Hamilton was told his brake temperatures were now under control, freeing him up to take the fight to his team-mate, but his front left brake returned to a critical status before he could get close enough to attack.
He came back strongly again across the final few laps, but finished just under two seconds adrift after a mistake at Turn 3 on the final lap.
Alonso's marathon second stint helped him finish just a few seconds shy of the two Williams drivers in fifth, while Perez converted his alternative strategy into an excellent top six finish by passing Kevin Magnussen's McLaren at Turn 2 in the closing stages.

Magnussen nevertheless claimed his best finish since the season-opening Australian GP by finishing seventh, ahead of Canadian GP winner Daniel Ricciardo, who passed Nico Hulkenberg's Force India on the final lap despite not being allowed to use his 'overtake' button.
Red Bull endured a difficult day at the home race of team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, as Ricciardo slumped from fifth on the grid and world champion Sebastian Vettel momentarily lost drive on the second lap and then retired shortly after half distance to save engine mileage.
Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari rounded out the points scorers, ahead of Jenson Button's McLaren and the lapped Lotus of Pastor Maldonado.

Results - 71 laps

Pos Driver                Team                   Time/Gap
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1h27m54.967s
 2. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes               +1.932s
 3. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes      +8.172s
 4. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes      +17.358s
 5. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                +18.553s
 6. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes   +28.546s
 7. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes       +32.031s
 8. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault       +43.522s
 9. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   +44.137s
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                +47.777s
11. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       +50.966s
12. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault          -1 lap
13. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari         -1 lap
14. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          -1 lap
15. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari       -2 laps
16. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault       -2 laps
17. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari       -2 laps
18. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault       -2 laps
19. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari         -2 laps

Retirements

    Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault      59 laps
    Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        34 laps
    Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault      24 laps

Drivers' championship            Constructors' championship   
 1. Nico Rosberg       165       1. Mercedes                 301     
 2. Lewis Hamilton     136       2. Red Bull/Renault         143
 3. Daniel Ricciardo   83        3. Ferrari                   98 
 4. Fernando Alonso    79        4. Force India/Mercedes      87 
 5. Sebastian Vettel   60        5. Williams/Mercedes         85 
 6. Nico Hulkenberg    59        6. McLaren/Mercedes          72 
 7. Valtteri Bottas    55        7. Toro Rosso/Renault        12 
 8. Jenson Button      43        8. Lotus/Renault              8  
 9. Felipe Massa       30        9. Marussia/Ferrari           2  
10. Kevin Magnussen    29        10. Sauber/Ferrari            0  
11. Sergio Perez       28        11. Caterham/Renault          0  
12. Kimi Raikkonen     19        
13. Romain Grosjean    8         
14. Jean-Eric Vergne   8         
15. Daniil Kvyat       4         
16. Jules Bianchi      2         

F1 - Canadian Grand Prix - Sunday, June 8th 2014

Daniel Ricciardo takes maiden win in thrilling race

By Ben Anderson

Daniel Ricciardo ended Mercedes' domination of Formula 1 this season by claiming his maiden victory in a thrilling Canadian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver jumped the ailing Mercedes of championship leader Nico Rosberg with just two of the 70 laps remaining to claim a surprise win.
Rosberg nevertheless extended his championship lead by finishing second, as team-mate Lewis Hamilton retired with brake failure.
World champion Sebastian Vettel took third as the race finished under the safety car when Sergio Perez (Force India) and Felipe Massa (Williams) collided spectacularly on the approach to Turn 1 on the final lap as they battled for fourth.
That allowed Jenson Button to rise to an unlikely fourth-placed finish, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg's Force India and Fernando Alonso's Ferrari.

The first half of the race played out as most others have done this season, as the two Mercedes drivers engaged in a personal battle for victory.
Rosberg made a slower start than his title rival to Sunday's race, allowing Hamilton to attack him on the run to Turn 1.
But Rosberg defended robustly at the apex, locking a front brake on his Mercedes and forcing Hamilton to run wide on the short approach to Turn 2 and give up second spot to Vettel.
The race was neutralised almost immediately after both Marussias collided at the first chicane.

Max Chilton oversteered wildly into Jules Bianchi through the middle of the corner, pitching the Frenchman into a violent impact with the wall on the outside of the left-hander and putting both cars out of the race.
It took seven laps for the marshals to clear the debris and clean the oil spill from Bianchi's destroyed car, allowing anyone marginal on fuel to breathe easier.
Rosberg built a 1.7-second gap after the restart, before Hamilton was able to use DRS to breeze past Vettel's Red Bull approaching the final chicane on lap 10 of 70.
Hamilton set off after Rosberg and the Mercedes drivers dropped Vettel at a rate of nearly a second lap as another of their personal duels for victory began in earnest.
Rosberg still led by two seconds when he pitted on lap 18. A massive moment on his out-lap through the exit of the first chicane gave Hamilton a sniff of jumping ahead at his own stop on the following lap, but it was six tenths slower than Rosberg's and that - coupled with an unremarkable in-lap from Hamilton - let the German off the hook for his error.

Hamilton re-focused and looked happier on the soft tyres as he set fastest lap and hunted Rosberg down.
The 2008 world champion closed to within half a second and bore down on Rosberg with DRS open when the German straight-lined the final chicane after locking up in the braking zone on lap 25.
Hamilton continued to pile on the pressure, closing back to within a second while the stewards investigated Rosberg's off.
Rosberg was handed a warning, but no penalty, so retained the lead as Hamilton closed in again.
Both Mercedes drivers then reported a sudden loss of power shortly after half distance, and lost roughly two seconds per lap to the chasing pack as they nursed their cars.
They pitted for a second time on consecutive laps, briefly allowing Massa to lead the race, and a slow front-left tyre change for Rosberg allowed Hamilton to get ahead for the first time in the race.

But Hamilton's joy was short-lived. He fell back behind his team-mate on the out-lap after locking up at the hairpin, and then suffered a rear brake lock-up as he tried to re-pass Rosberg at the final chicane.
Hamilton straightlined the corner, and then began a slow tour back to the pits to retire on lap 48 having suffered rear-brake failure.
Rosberg nursed his own brakes to the end, helped by Perez having to fend off the Red Bulls on much older rubber.
Massa used his final set of fresher soft tyres to carve back through the field, passing team-mate Valtteri Bottas and the struggling Force India of Hulkenberg for fifth in the closing stages and then hunting down the leading quartet.

Ricciardo jumped the ailing Perez (also suffering brake and electrical problems) with just five laps to run and tore off after Rosberg, passing him for the lead with only three laps left by using DRS on the back straight.
When the safety car was deployed for the second time after Perez - who used an alternative one-stop strategy to rise from 13th on the grid to the podium fight - and Massa collided, Ricciardo's first win in Formula 1 was assured.
Bottas nursed his own Williams to seventh, battling brake and ERS problems of his own, while the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne, Kevin Magnussen's McLaren, and the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen - who recovered from a spin at the hairpin - rounded out the scorers.

Results - 70 laps

Pos Driver                Team                     Time/Gap
 1. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault         1h39m12.830s 
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                 +4.236s
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault         +5.247s
 4. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes         +11.755s
 5. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes     +12.843s
 6. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                  +14.869s
 7. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes        +23.578s
 8. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault       +28.026s
 9. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes         +29.254s
10. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                  +53.678s
11. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes     -1 lap
12. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes        -1 lap
13. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari           -1 lap
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari           -6 laps

Retirements

    Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault            58 laps
    Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault       47 laps
    Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                 45 laps
    Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault         22 laps
    Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault            21 laps
    Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault         6 laps
    Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari         0 laps
    Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari         0 laps


Drivers' championship                  Constructors' championship

 1. Nico Rosberg            140        1. Mercedes               258 
 2. Lewis Hamilton          118        2. Red Bull-Renault       139
 3. Daniel Ricciardo        79         3. Ferrari                87 
 4. Fernando Alonso         69         4. Force India-Mercedes   77 
 5. Sebastian Vettel        60         5. McLaren-Mercedes       66 
 6. Nico Hulkenberg         57         6. Williams-Mercedes      58 
 7. Jenson Button           43         7. Toro Rosso-Renault     12 
 8. Valtteri Bottas         40         8. Lotus-Renault          8  
 9. Kevin Magnussen         23         9. Marussia-Ferrari       2  
10. Sergio Perez            20        10. Sauber-Ferrari         0  
11. Felipe Massa            18        11. Caterham-Renault       0  
12. Kimi Raikkonen          18 
13. Romain Grosjean         8  
14. Jean-Eric Vergne        8  
15. Daniil Kvyat            4  
16. Jules Bianchi           2