Star of the race and winner:
Nico Rosberg won the Austrian Grand Prix for Mercedes, beating his team mate Lewis Hamilton with what was quite a dominating performance. He was the quicker silver arrows driver all weekend, only losing out on pole position because of a storming lap by Hamilton.
Nico quickly rectified this with a fantastic start that catapulted him into the lead by turn one. Lewis launched a response immediately, he challenged down the outside into turn two and three but Rosberg placed his car well, expertly defending his lead.
From then on he held Lewis at arms length, there was to be no real challenge from the championship leader and as Rosberg reeled off the laps Lewis fell back especially after he was issued with a five second penalty for crossing the pit lane exit line. Nico complained of a vibration towards the end of the race but his team urged caution and he crossed the line with plenty in hand.
It was his most convincing display to date and gives renewed hope that we can see a proper championship fight. Nico now lies only 10 points back, but with Silverstone next up, Lewis will be hoping home advantage gets him quickly back to winning ways. It's still too early to tell if Rosberg can consistently challenge but three wins from the last four races isn't a bad way to go.
The battles
Plenty of battles to get excited about, Pastor Maldonado and Max Verstappen was a particular highlight. Max came under further accusation of being too aggressive, but the stewards deemed all was fair so there's nothing to complain about.
Formula 1 needs drivers who are not afraid to take it to the edge and Verstappen is certainly one of those. Eventually Pastor got through after a massive tank slapper nearly sent him into the wall, but he held it and Verstappen went off, helping the Lotus claim seventh with Verstappen demoted to eighth where they finished.
The other Lotus driver Romain Grosjean had a terrific four corner wheel to wheel battle with Felipe Nasr, brilliantly executed. Daniel Ricciardo got in on the action towards the end of the race too, but his Red Bull was atrocious all weekend and he could only manage 10th at the finish.
Valtteri Bottas' Williams also made some good moves albeit mostly DRS assisted, Nico Hulkenberg being his victim twice as they both mixed it up with cars on different strategies. Le Mans 24 hours winner Hulkenberg was outstanding all weekend, hyped by his first win since GP2 in 2009. However, he couldn't hold onto his fifth starting position finishing up sixth behind Bottas. His team mate Sergio Perez finished up ninth after not being able to match his team mate at all.
Things of note
Felipe Massa picked up where Bottas left off in Canada by knicking a podium off Ferrari, this time Sebastian Vettel being held up by a dodgy pit stop. Vettel came back at the Williams driver but couldn't get on terms with him. Ferrari had looked quick all weekend up until qualifying, and in the race just could sustain the pace of the Mercedes.
Kimi Raikkonen started down the grid after Ferrari failed to tell him the session was about to end. He made a great start, but seemed to lose it as his car spun it's wheels out of turn two and clattered into Fernando Alonso's McLaren which ended up sitting on top of the Ferrari, both were out but also unharmed after a pretty shocking accident resulting in the safety car.
Again another pretty bad weekend for Kimi, he'd looked quick in practice but he can't get a clean weekend. It also just seems Ferrari flatter to deceive at the moment which is more than can be said of McLaren who couldn't flatter to deceive anything.
Another wretched weekend for the team with both drivers receiving penalty after penalty for failed bits of the power unit. Both Alonso and Button started from the back and also had to take penalties once the race started. Alonso didn't get far enough for it to matter while Button was out soon after he took his. McLaren have a good car, but Honda is just embarrassing at the moment. How can they be so woefully unprepared? To be fair of all Honda's forays into F1 since the 60s they've only been successful in one period in the late 80s and early 90s. Any other time they've been involved in the sport has ended with little or no success, so is there current situation really that surprisng?
Having said that, Renault are faced with similar problems with Red Bull being issued with many penalties too. These rules need to change as, engines should be allowed to be developed if you're too far behind and there surely has to be a better way than giving teams which are already struggling even more woe.
Which brings us on to the racing because most of this season has been full of woe. In general I don't think there's much wrong with the product F1 has to offer, but this season has been entirely uninspired so far with not a single out standing race to shout about. Perhaps there does need to be a shake up of the rules, but what would really do us some good is if the other teams could get a handle on these rules as well as Mercedes have. If they could do that then we'd be in business.
The title chase
Of course the competitive order won't matter so much if Rosberg can get on the tail of Lewis and really hound him. It remains to be seen if that will be the case, but Silverstone will let us know if Rosberg can only produce a sporadic challenge or be consistently giving him some pain.
all photos taken from autosport.com
Star of the race
I had various favourites as the race went on. I thought Williams' Felipe Massa was a hero in the opening laps as he charged up the field after he suffered a power unit problem in qualifying. Romain Grosjean in the Lotus was having a very composed mature showing running fifth until he had a touch of brain fade and hit poor Will Stevens Manor Marussia.
Nico Hulkenberg made an outstanding start with a fantastic move around Pastor Maldonado in the opening couple of turns. Maldonado himself scored his first points of the year which is good, all the more impressive as he finished a race without even a hint of contact. Which sort of makes me want to re-watch the race as that surely can't be right?
Sebastian Vettel suffered a poor qualifying and took a penalty for passing under red flags in the third practice session. He charged his Ferrari from 18th on the grid all the way to fifth. But surely this was to be expected, the Ferrari is quite clearly the second best car and on its day a Mercedes challenger.
Which brings me to my actual star of the race. Canada was Lewis Hamilton's fourth win of the year and a star in none, such was his superiority in his other wins he was almost anonymous. Despite beating his team mate Nico Rosberg to the flag by just a few seconds, there was barely any reason to doubt his victory was assured the moment he took off from pole position and held the lead, unless his team were about to call him in for an unexpected pit stop. After the trials of Monaco this was the perfect riposte to anyone who thought Rosberg was gaining momentum. Not this race, probably not this year.
The Winner
Hamilton had Rosberg under control all race, pretty much like he has all season apart from perhaps Spain. Rosberg kept Lewis in sight but that's all he can do at the moment, hoping for an error that rarely comes or a mechanical failure. There was a lot of radio chatter from Mercedes about saving fuel or the brakes, but this didn't affect the result. It was a simple Mercedes 1-2, the order it should have been in Monaco.
Behind Valtteri Bottas took third after a power surge sent Kimi Raikkonen into a spin dropping him to fourth. Vettel climbed to fifth ahead of the recovering Massa, while Maldonado drove a strong race to seventh. Hulkenberg got himself into a spin while fending off Vettel but kept eighth with Daniil Kvyat the stronger Red Bull in ninth and Grosjean just tenth after his moment of madness.
The Battles
The best fight was the lap and a half Fernando Alonso held off Vettel for, sending the Ferrari over the kerbs at the final chicane. Despite the McLaren drivers woes this year, he can still battle with the best of them when called to arms.
Massa's duel with the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson was a tasty scrap too, a little rubbing of bodywork on wheels got the Williams driver through in turn three after sitting behind for several laps.
Things of note
Daniel Ricciardo feels like banging his head against a wall so he says. Red Bull are having a torrid season, they are absolutely nowhere. Despite Kvyat managing some points, Ricciardo could only struggle to 13th having started in the top 10. Last year he won this Grand Prix and looked like the man who could take a fight to the Mercedes.
He still is that man, but the Renault power unit is useless. Down on power, still atrocious reliability. What have they been doing? They really pushed for these new engine regulations and despite a year and a half of racing experience with the units they've actually gotten worse. I feel for Ricciardo who was the coming man, and Kvyat who thought he'd jumped into the big time. It's rumoured that Renault are threatening to quit in 2017 because of the engine development ban, perhaps instead of whining about rules they agreed to they should focus more on fixing their problems.
Of course what might be worse is having the Honda engine McLaren have saddled themselves with. The actual chassis is rumoured to be at or near the level of a Ferrari, so Honda have a lot to answer for. Yes these units are very advanced technologically, and it is of course only their first year, but to be so woefully under prepared is shabby, and that's being generous. It's unreliable and down on power by nearly 100bhp. It's just not good enough.
On the outside McLaren drivers Alonso and Jenson Button are still putting a brave face on it. Podiums are still the target this year but that's as likely as finding a polar bear in the Sahara. The truth is what Alonso said on the radio. When asked to save fuel he replied 'I don't want. I don't want. Already I have big problems now. Driving with this and looking like amateurs. So I'd like to race and then I concentrate on the fuel'.
'Looking like amateurs' is the interesting part. That's exactly what McLaren look like, even if it wasn't meant like that. It's the first signs of frustration of a driver who is renowned as being a bit of a difficult character when things aren't going well. This frustration might not help, but it's only natural because Honda have made possibly the best driver in Formula 1 no faster than a Sauber, and sometimes even they are quicker.
After numerous problems over the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, McLaren retired both cars. With the next two circuits relying on a powerful engine things won't improve any time soon.
In other news there was more talk of how F1 is destroying itself. I've read rumours of the European Commission looking into the sport because of how the funds are divided up. It can't happen soon enough, this sport needs cleansing fast.
But lets end on a positive note. After the disaster of Monaco, Williams came back strongly to almost be within touching distance of Ferrari. With updates coming and the next two tracks in particular favouring a car with slippery aero, Bottas and Massa might well feature on the podium again sooner rather than later.
The title chase
There's a title chase? Oh I suppose there is in name, but Lewis potentially could and maybe should have won six of the seven races, and there's even a decent argument for all seven. Hamilton leads Rosberg by 17 points with Vettel 43 behind the leader. Vettel is an obvious outside bet, but if Ferrari start improving more you never know. Rosberg though? Despite his run of two victories I really feel he's fallen into the Mark Webber role of 2011. Webber had his title shot in 2010 and then just couldn't match Vettel a year later. Read Rosberg in 2014 and 2015. I'll let you know when a title chase develops.
Result
1. Hamilton - Mercedes
2. Rosberg - Mercedes
3. Bottas - Williams
4. Raikkonen - Ferrari
5. Vettel - Ferrari
6. Massa - Williams
7. Maldonado - Lotus
8. Hulkenberg - Force India
9. Kvyat - Red Bull
10. Grosjean - Lotus
11. Perez - Force India
12. Sainz - Toro Rosso
13. Ricciardo - Red Bull
14. Ericsson - Sauber
15. Verstappen - Toro Rosso
16. Nasr - Sauber
17. Stevens - Marussia
R. Mehri - Marussia
R. Button - McLaren
R. Alonso - McLaren
all photos taken from autosport.com
Felipe Massa picked up where Bottas left off in Canada by knicking a podium off Ferrari, this time Sebastian Vettel being held up by a dodgy pit stop. Vettel came back at the Williams driver but couldn't get on terms with him. Ferrari had looked quick all weekend up until qualifying, and in the race just could sustain the pace of the Mercedes.
Kimi Raikkonen started down the grid after Ferrari failed to tell him the session was about to end. He made a great start, but seemed to lose it as his car spun it's wheels out of turn two and clattered into Fernando Alonso's McLaren which ended up sitting on top of the Ferrari, both were out but also unharmed after a pretty shocking accident resulting in the safety car.
