Isn’t it interesting that the classic European circuits tend to throw up classic Formula One moments? Funny that.
The weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, run on regular tarmac as opposed to the super-smooth stuff preferred by new tracks, conspired to pit a wild array of cars against each other based on contrasting strengths.
Look no further than Jenson Button’s sixth-place finish or Pascal Wehrlein’s tenth place. The result was another fascinating grand prix, the winner of which was undecided until the final lap.
There is, of course, a caveat for that conclusion. The final stint of the race characterised by Lewis Hamilton’s pursuit of teammate Nico Rosberg was never supposed to happen, and their coming together was more a manufacturing error made by the Mercedes pit wall than anything else.
Let’s start with the set-up. Hamilton qualified on pole, got away cleanly from the line, and had the pace and tyre life on the brittle ultrasoft tyre to execute the team’s preferred one-stop strategy to cover Kimi Räikkönen’s own one-stopping car.
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg were scything trough the field with the inherent pace of their cars – Vettel on a one-stop, Rosberg reluctantly on a two-stop after he couldn’t extend the life of his ultrasoft tyres during the opening stint.
Rosberg had jumped ahead of Max Verstappen, who was struggling on his opening stint supersofts, Räikkönen, who had been pitted into traffic in a classic example of Ferrari strategic underperformance, and Hamilton, who was on a different strategy, and was behind only Vettel.
But on lap 26, the complexion of the race dramatically altered.
Vettel’s right-rear tyre exploded, bringing out a safety car. Rosberg headed Hamilton, albeit on different strategies, but the Mercedes car’s pace over the trailing Red Bull Racing cars, which were preventing Räikkönen from moving forward, turned Rosberg’s two stop from the non-preferred contra-strategy into the fastest way to finish the race.
“It was clear that Lewis’s one stop was perfectly viable to beat everyone else, but not his teammate, because Nico’s two-stop was faster than predicted,” said Mercedes executive director Paddy Lowe.
“We therefore elected to also stop Lewis for another set of soft tyres, and Nico changed onto the supersofts as he didn’t have another set of soft tyres.”
This was the crux of what led to Rosberg and Hamilton colliding on track on the final lap. Hamilton had his race-leading advantage, earned by squeezing more life from used ultrasoft tyres in the first stint than previously thought possible, undermined by his strategy proving to be the wrong one, while Rosberg was put on the non-preferred race tyre because Mercedes had brought one fewer set of the soft tyres for him.
Fast-forward to the final lap. Hamilton is attacking Rosberg for the lead out of turn one and into turn two. Unbeknownst to him, Rosberg is suffering from near-terminal brake problems. He swoops surprisingly easily around the outside to take back what he earned.
Rosberg, having fought back from sixth on the grid by maximising what was accidentally the fastest strategy but was now about to have his lead stolen from him because of a car handicap, found himself in a difficult position.
In some respects, it’s surprising that Rosberg defended so aggressively. That Hamilton chose to ride wide around the corner, giving Rosberg (almost) maximum space, suggests that the German’s increasingly hard racing, including at this year’s Spanish Grand Prix, had been sufficient to teach Hamilton he would no longer be a pushover. It made driving him off the road an unnecessary and deeply unedifying display of unsporting intra-team behaviour.
On the other hand, one can almost instantly recall a litany of situations in which Hamilton had wilfully pushed Rosberg off the circuit with no post-race reproach. The Canadian Grand Prix this year, and the United States and Japanese grands prix last year, to name just three. Undoubtedly these moments will have guided Rosberg as to what might be acceptable.
The key difference between the above listed three and the weekend’s ugly incident is that Hamilton had at very least taken the apex or racing line into the corner on each occasion. Rosberg never even tried, and at best half-heartedly turned once contact was guaranteed.
Rosberg’s behaviour, then, is marginally worse than Hamilton’s compared to the above situations, and it isn’t fair that Hamilton escaped on each of those occasions with nothing close to Rosberg’s ten-second time penalty and two penalty points – but that doesn’t negate Rosberg’s culpability.
Nico Rosberg’s reputation has taken a hit for his behaviour, and rightly so. However, what the Austrian incident illustrates is not that he’s petulant or even that he’s incapable at wheel-to-wheel racing. It is that his credentials for being the killer in the car – for having that critical quality that makes race winners ruthless enough to win championships – are shaky at best.
That, more than lost points or lost face, will hurt most.
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Rodney Gordon
Expert
Are you seriously suggesting everyone else is on the same level of performance as Mercedes?
anon
Guest
"50% success rate against a field that contains an identical car and all the other teams cars. Incredibly poor? it’s possibly one of the best sequences in F1 history. Bitter Aussies." Hamilton's the superior driver to Rosberg and his only competition in the past three season has been Rosberg. The Mercedes from 2014-16 is the most dominant car in the history of the sport. It's the most uncompetitve era we've ever had. He should be at the very least putting up numbers like Vettel did in 2011, or Schumacher in 2002 and 2004. The Mercedes is far more dominant than those cars.
anon
Guest
"I think you underrate Hamilton and Rosberg, and I think we’ve had this discussion before — though I don’t doubt the British media pump him up beyond his still considerable talent." I would love to make a youtube video of all the rookie mistakes Rosberg has since 2014 while in combat with Hamilton. Rosberg cracks when he has the slightest pressure applied to him. He does it over and over. Rosberg lacks race craft full stop. I would love for you to point me towards 4-5 races where Rosberg has shown superior race craft to his rival Hamilton. Please don't use those last 3 races of 2015 when Hamilton was hungover and Rosberg had no pressure on him since the title was done and dusted. The fact Hamilton can't beat this guy like Vettel beat Webber is damning. Same for not destroying Button during their time at McLaren. "For me it comes down to Hamilton being far more experienced dealing with competitors in similar machinery in a championship fight than Rosberg. Rosberg can overtake when there’s no pressure, but when he’s up the front and defending or attacking for a win — and that’s inevitably been in the context of a championship — he loses it. I’d be interested to know if he’s doing anything to mentally address this in the same way Grosjean sorted his head out after his early years." How many years does Rosberg need? This is his 11th year. Already Verstappen has shown far superior race craft to Rosberg (look at Montreal defending in the slow Renault powered Red Bull) and he's in his second season and has just reached adulthood. Rosberg just doesn't have IT.
Trent Price
Roar Guru
One for Aki Hintsa possibly...
DaSpoon
Guest
50% success rate against a field that contains an identical car and all the other teams cars. Incredibly poor? it's possibly one of the best sequences in F1 history. Bitter Aussies. Off to another sport section on here to see what other poison is being spouted against British sport. May be I'll pick the Tour de France. There's sure to be a team sky on drugs accusation on there.
Bayden Westerweller
Roar Guru
From a psychological standpoint, the outcome reiterates that Rosberg won't meekly step aside as he has done in the past and is willing to let a certain 1-2 slip even if he didn't overtly attempt to eliminate or even collide with Hamilton, so he'll cop the sanction and move on. Conversely, he's yet to prove that he can beat Hamilton in a straight fight to legitimise his claim to the title.
Bayden Westerweller
Roar Guru
This is the primary reason why team orders shouldn't be implemented - they're still miles ahead despite setbacks for each driver this season plus the incidents, thus it's not as though they need to prioritise one ahead of another, and the exposure for Mercedes is priceless!
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Can't say I agree that Rosberg intended for a collision, just to squeeze Hamilton off the track on the exit. I just feel that a penalty for an incident like this needs to be reserved for cases were the move was reckless or purposeful and I don't think you can make that claim. The fact that we're even talking about how Hamilton has put the same move on Rosberg multiple times suggests it was perfectly acceptable, this wasn't Maldonado ramming Gutierrez or anything.
Michael Lamonato
Expert
Interesting that this all happens in the midst of Rosberg's contract negotiations, it must be said, but I couldn't see either being dropped — ultimately they're still winning the majority of races between them and delivering both championships, so the formula works, even if it's not always to taste!
Michael Lamonato
Expert
I think you underrate Hamilton and Rosberg, and I think we've had this discussion before — though I don't doubt the British media pump him up beyond his still considerable talent. For me it comes down to Hamilton being far more experienced dealing with competitors in similar machinery in a championship fight than Rosberg. Rosberg can overtake when there's no pressure, but when he's up the front and defending or attacking for a win — and that's inevitably been in the context of a championship — he loses it. I'd be interested to know if he's doing anything to mentally address this in the same way Grosjean sorted his head out after his early years.
Michael Lamonato
Expert
I think it was worth the penalty, remembering that the stewards knew that the 10-second time penalty wasn't going to change the classification and that Rosberg almost certainly won't accrue anything near the number of penalty points to earn a ban. It's an image thing to make a point about stewards being onto driving standards. It isn't fair that Hamilton has escaped without similar in the past — his move in Austin last year was pretty similar to this, though he did at least take the apex before pushing Rosberg wide — but Rosberg never even pretended to be doing anything else other than try to put Hamilton off the track. For me that's the defining difference and the reason the stewards had to come down on him, even if superficially.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Well, the team have said he had a brake-by-wire issue for the final few laps which left with some braking but with a very different feeling in the pedal, it also explains why he smashed over the curb for no reason. And I agree that he ran Hamilton wide on purpose, just as Hamilton has done to him many times. It could have been a misjudgement or a brake issue, but it wasn't executed as well as it probably should have been. Penalty worthy though? Considering it was an incident between teammates that saw Hamilton take the victory... that's an absolute joke.
Rodney Gordon
Expert
Wolff has threatened that he'll bench one or both of them if we see these kinds of issues repeat. I think it's unlikely, the main reason Hamilton was able to catch Rosberg so easily is that he was on the vastly more durable tyre at the end of the race and Rosberg was managing a brake issue. Most races when they are on level footing we hearing moaning about how you can't get close enough to overtake, that's most likely what'll happen for the majority of this season.
armchair expert
Guest
I didn't see any braking issues from Rosbergs car prior to the incident. I think Mercedes are using it as an excuse to try to get him out of any recriminations coming. He absolutely ran wide to force Hamilton off. Hamiltons constant whinging (this time it was why was Rosberg on softer tyres) and his lack of respect while the National anthems were playing only refirmed my dislike of him though.
anon
Guest
Rosberg is leading the championship. Hamilton hit Rosberg in Austin last year with a similar move, Hamilton was way too aggressive in Spain and hit Rosberg, aggressive in Montreal and lucky not to have taken out himself and/or Rosberg. Mercedes simply have to be consistent in their treatment of their drivers.
Harvey Wilson
Roar Rookie
Could we see a Mercedes demotion for one of the drivers like Red Bull did. They don't seem to be team mates, they have their own agendas and aren't working for the team.
anon
Guest
Rosberg has never been a killer. He's at very best the third best German driver on the grid, possibly 4th best after Wehrlein's stunning drive on the weekend. That was Rosberg's race, it would have been a big blow to Hamilton psyche for Rosberg to have won from such a low starting position. Rosberg would have finally beaten Hamilton in a straight fight with the championship on the line (unlike in the final races of last year). Rosberg was a little unlucky at the end of the race in that multiple back markers held him up and allowed Hamilton to get right into DRS zone. But Rosberg yet again made a mistake while in a duel with Hamilton. He smacked the turn 1 kerb which allowed Hamilton to get right in the slipstream heading into turn 2. Up until that point he drove flawlessly, but he cracked yet again. Even Hamilton didn't drive that well. For all the complaining by the British media about the Hamilton being "robbed" on strategy, how Hamilton was "robbed" with the slow pit stops, Hamilton found himself behind Rosberg after the second stops because of the big error he made while on the under cut. All Hamilton had to do was put together a clean lap, but couldn't manage it. Hamilton has managed only 24 race wins from 47 races since the start of the 2014. In the most dominant car of all time, against a team mate with no race craft and buckles under pressure almost always when in a duel, this is an incredibly poor return. Is Hamilton really as elite as the British media pump him up to be? This is the same guy that was outscored by Button in their three seasons together at McLaren.