Formula 1 Großer Preis von Österreich 2016™

[lance_rambert]

Rosberg receives a 10 second time penalty and two penalty points.

If so, that penalty has no effect given that he finished 14 seconds ahead of Ricciardo, so Rosberg would still retain his position.

Asides from that, it seems that Rosberg has also received a separate reprimand for driving around the circuit with a damaged car.

It's basically the FIA saying "We want to say that it was Rosberg's fault, but we don't want to intervene in the Championship points tally".

Could be worse. Did Rosberg ever get the meatball flag? If so, that's a VERY light punishment.

[Fetzie]

If so, that penalty has no effect given that he finished 14 seconds ahead of Ricciardo, so Rosberg would still retain his position.

Asides from that, it seems that Rosberg has also received a separate reprimand for driving around the circuit with a damaged car.

It's basically the FIA saying "We want to say that it was Rosberg's fault, but we don't want to intervene in the Championship points tally".

Could be worse. Did Rosberg ever get the meatball flag? If so, that's a VERY light punishment.

No, only yellow flags were shown.

[AdrianBelmonte_]

WEH crossing the finish line is even better with Titanic music


https://twitter.com/AdrianBelmonte_/status/749658655990091777

(No spam, i swear)

[Waris]

Wehrlein scores a point! Unbelievable!

Nice cockup from the Mercedes boys at the end. Well, I suppose it makes the championship more exciting or something.

I want to say Verstappen got onto the podium on merit, but I'm sure if Vettel and Rosberg hadn't had their respective moments of failure he would've finished 4th. Good race from him though.

[mario]

No, only yellow flags were shown.

I'm not even sure if they were showing yellow flags for Rosberg - the ones at the approach to Turn 3 were for Perez's car after his brake failure.

Overall, I agree with your assessment that the decision does come across as the FIA being unprepared to issue a penalty that could have impacted on the championship battle, even though they have quite strongly indicated that they thought Rosberg was at fault.

I also wonder if they were perhaps mindful of the fact that the next race is the British GP, and therefore the stewards didn't want to be seen as if they were trying to give Hamilton an advantage for his home race if they imposed a heavier penalty (such as a grid penalty for the next race) on Rosberg.

Perhaps they felt that Rosberg had effectively punished himself by dropping down to 4th place, but I do feel that the stewards should have imposed a penalty equivalent to a drive through penalty (a 25 second penalty), which has more normally been the punishment for causing a collision.

[Paul Hayes]

Well, even without the rain it was a good race! Great result for Button, too - let's hope it does help him keep a drive in 2017. I'd love to see him back at Williams, as rumoured!

[Rob Dylan]

Racing incident at best. But only one driver was actually punished for it. That's probably the main reason for the booing, I think. Rosberg was leading and if he'd won it would have been probably his best win. A lot of people probably felt cheated that Hamilton won it on an incident and Rosberg wasn't even on the podium.

[AndreaModa]

What a last lap. I'd been watching Wehrlein's progress through the race, and you're right Mario, from quite early on he was stone dead last, he pitted first for a second set of ultrasofts, and then must have made his second stop for softs under the safety car, at least that's how I understood it. He didn't just one stop did he?

Either way, massive result for them, and he was right on Bottas' tail too so another couple of laps and it could have been even better. It's a real shame for Sauber but apparently their longer term future is secure now, a new investor will take over the team - June's wages were the first to be paid on time this year. They need to pull their fingers out and get some points soon though. On balance they have been the better team over Manor during the course of the year.

Overriding impression of the race for me however were the empty stands. God knows what the official attendance was, but it couldn't be much more than 30-40,000. Watch the end of the formation lap as they line up on the grid, the camera shot shows the main stand almost completely empty! All the stands round turn 1 had big empty patches too. Such a shame. There's no point pricing grandstand tickets at silly prices if no-one is going to pay for them.

As for Mercedes. LOL!

[SuzukiSwift]

Austria produces good races, I think. Need more tracks like this one.

[CoopsII]

Seems like I'm alone in thinking Hamilton and Rosberg was a racing incident. I was going to add that both were equally to blame but I don't think applying that negativity to the situation was warranted. They tussled and Hamilton came out on top. A great race with Manor scoring too. What's not to like?

[AndreaModa]

Currently reading Mark Hughes' review of the race on Motor Sport. I hadn't realised that Wehrlein had set his fastest time in Q2 for 12th place on supersofts. If he'd repeated the lap he did in Q1 on ultrasofts, he would have made Q3. Amazing!

[Neno]

I think it was 100% rosberg fault, he did not want to turn it was ridiculous.
But for the penalty , he penalised himself, the penalty was useless.

Why giving him a penalty if he keeps the 4th place ?
Why a reprimand but you keep your 4th place?

The fia said we give you the penalty but you were right

[dr-baker]

Currently reading Mark Hughes' review of the race on Motor Sport. I hadn't realised that Wehrlein had set his fastest time in Q2 for 12th place on supersofts. If he'd repeated the lap he did in Q1 on ultrasofts, he would have made Q3. Amazing!

Maybe it was race strategy. If he had got through to Q3 on ultrasofts, he would then have had to have started the race on those tyres.

[Waris]

Whereas I'm delighted that Manor scored a point, I can now almost not see Sauber not finishing last in the championship this year. But anything can happen in F1, and it usually does, so let's wait and see. I think this season might spring up a few more surprises.

[Barbazza]

What a last lap. I'd been watching Wehrlein's progress through the race, and you're right Mario, from quite early on he was stone dead last, he pitted first for a second set of ultrasofts, and then must have made his second stop for softs under the safety car, at least that's how I understood it. He didn't just one stop did he?

According to F1 Fanatic, Lap 13 for Ultrasofts, then Lap 23 for Softs which would've been under the SC I think. Gutierrez didn't pit under the SC and that was the difference ultimately.

[Dj_bereta]

Austria produces good races, I think. Need more tracks like this one.

Pirelli tyres helped too. Almost all two or three stops races in this year were great. One stop races are usually boring. Monza is a good example.

[mario]

Seems like I'm alone in thinking Hamilton and Rosberg was a racing incident. I was going to add that both were equally to blame but I don't think applying that negativity to the situation was warranted. They tussled and Hamilton came out on top. A great race with Manor scoring too. What's not to like?

I have seen it pointed out that, ultimately, Rosberg did not need to defend his position against Hamilton in the way that he did. If he had been a bit smarter about it, the best thing he could have done would have been to focus on taking the cleanest line through Turn 2 and getting a decent run onto the back straight - with yellow flags being waived at Turn 3 due to Perez's accident and the remaining corners being relatively easy to defend, all Rosberg would have had to do was to keep Hamilton behind him until he reached the yellow flag zone and he would have won.

In that sense, Rosberg didn't need to take such a risk against Hamilton and place his car in a position where a collision became inevitable. It's the fact that it was, in many ways, not necessary for him to behave in the way he did, and the move he made felt more like one of frustration.

What a last lap. I'd been watching Wehrlein's progress through the race, and you're right Mario, from quite early on he was stone dead last, he pitted first for a second set of ultrasofts, and then must have made his second stop for softs under the safety car, at least that's how I understood it. He didn't just one stop did he?

According to F1 Fanatic, Lap 13 for Ultrasofts, then Lap 23 for Softs which would've been under the SC I think. Gutierrez didn't pit under the SC and that was the difference ultimately.

He had to pit before the safety car came out (it was on lap 27 that they deployed the safety car) - that was why he fell to the back of the grid, since it meant that his rivals lost less time when making their pit stops.

[Ataxia]

Seems like I'm alone in thinking Hamilton and Rosberg was a racing incident. I was going to add that both were equally to blame but I don't think applying that negativity to the situation was warranted. They tussled and Hamilton came out on top. A great race with Manor scoring too. What's not to like?

I have seen it pointed out that, ultimately, Rosberg did not need to defend his position against Hamilton in the way that he did. If he had been a bit smarter about it, the best thing he could have done would have been to focus on taking the cleanest line through Turn 2 and getting a decent run onto the back straight - with yellow flags being waived at Turn 3 due to Perez's accident and the remaining corners being relatively easy to defend, all Rosberg would have had to do was to keep Hamilton behind him until he reached the yellow flag zone and he would have won.

In that sense, Rosberg didn't need to take such a risk against Hamilton and place his car in a position where a collision became inevitable. It's the fact that it was, in many ways, not necessary for him to behave in the way he did, and the move he made felt more like one of frustration.

That said, if you put anyone in Rosberg's car during that point with same scenario and no benefit of retrospect, I would expect it would have played out exactly the same. He's living in the moment with that collision; with half a lap to go, I don't imagine he's sat there calculating the points tables, calculating the risk and picking out where yellow flags are.

Was it clumsy and a bit silly? Yes, very. However, Nico's in a difficult situation; if he gives it up, Mercedes might see him as the subservient driver, and he risks enraging the team if things get close when he fights for the place. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Regardless, it's good to see Nico actually getting his claws out.

[AndreaModa]

Currently reading Mark Hughes' review of the race on Motor Sport. I hadn't realised that Wehrlein had set his fastest time in Q2 for 12th place on supersofts. If he'd repeated the lap he did in Q1 on ultrasofts, he would have made Q3. Amazing!

Maybe it was race strategy. If he had got through to Q3 on ultrasofts, he would then have had to have started the race on those tyres.

No, apparently the team had no more new sets of ultrasofts left so they had to use supersofts. Their hand was forced.

As for how many stops he did and when, his stop for soft tyres was just before the safety car as Mario points out. With him almost a a full lap down he's allowed to go ahead of the safety car and tour round to the back of the field, but still had a bit of a gap when the safety car came in. From that point he simply drove out of his skin to cut the deficit and pass cars on track to end up where he was. Naturally helped by a bit of attrition and people pitting too of course. Very, very impressive drive considering it was so nearly all over for him.

[watka]

Seems like I'm alone in thinking Hamilton and Rosberg was a racing incident. I was going to add that both were equally to blame but I don't think applying that negativity to the situation was warranted. They tussled and Hamilton came out on top. A great race with Manor scoring too. What's not to like?

I have seen it pointed out that, ultimately, Rosberg did not need to defend his position against Hamilton in the way that he did. If he had been a bit smarter about it, the best thing he could have done would have been to focus on taking the cleanest line through Turn 2 and getting a decent run onto the back straight - with yellow flags being waived at Turn 3 due to Perez's accident and the remaining corners being relatively easy to defend, all Rosberg would have had to do was to keep Hamilton behind him until he reached the yellow flag zone and he would have won.

In that sense, Rosberg didn't need to take such a risk against Hamilton and place his car in a position where a collision became inevitable. It's the fact that it was, in many ways, not necessary for him to behave in the way he did, and the move he made felt more like one of frustration.

That said, if you put anyone in Rosberg's car during that point with same scenario and no benefit of retrospect, I would expect it would have played out exactly the same. He's living in the moment with that collision; with half a lap to go, I don't imagine he's sat there calculating the points tables, calculating the risk and picking out where yellow flags are.

Was it clumsy and a bit silly? Yes, very. However, Nico's in a difficult situation; if he gives it up, Mercedes might see him as the subservient driver, and he risks enraging the team if things get close when he fights for the place. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn't.

Regardless, it's good to see Nico actually getting his claws out.

Have to agree with Ataxia here. Nico was compromised coming out of turn 1 and defended accordingly, making Hamilton take the long way round. Watching the race, I initially assumed that Nico had one of his trademark lock up with caused him to collide with Hamilton, but as we've seen he had a brake-by-wire issue. So if anything, it was the car's fault for the collision. As for the yellow flags, I'm not sure he'd have known about them or had much time to process that with Lewis breathing down his neck.

Given that the collision was a brake-by-wire issue I'm really not sure why Toto Wolff reacted by suggesting they need team orders. The drivers gave enough room to one another, they'd have been no collection if the brakes were working properly, neither driver was at fault.

The Mercedes team should really be looking at themselves given how often there seems to be failures (if not race-ending) on their cars. Perhaps it is more widely reported because they are at the front, but every other race seems to feature one ailment or another. Both cars had power issues in Baku, the crash in Spain was partly caused by Rosberg's car losing power, brake-by-wire issues on other occasions I can't recall specifically.

[AndreaModa]

Given that the collision was a brake-by-wire issue I'm really not sure why Toto Wolff reacted by suggesting they need team orders. The drivers gave enough room to one another, they'd have been no collection if the brakes were working properly, neither driver was at fault.

Because the brake-by-wire issue was fabricated perhaps? (Just something I've heard a few people mention)

[Ataxia]

Given that the collision was a brake-by-wire issue I'm really not sure why Toto Wolff reacted by suggesting they need team orders. The drivers gave enough room to one another, they'd have been no collection if the brakes were working properly, neither driver was at fault.

Because the brake-by-wire issue was fabricated perhaps? (Just something I've heard a few people mention)

Hulkenberg and Perez had the same issue but Force India were unable to tell them over radio. It's not outside the bounds of possibility.

[Cynon]

Seems like I'm alone in thinking Hamilton and Rosberg was a racing incident. I was going to add that both were equally to blame but I don't think applying that negativity to the situation was warranted. They tussled and Hamilton came out on top. A great race with Manor scoring too. What's not to like?

No, you're not.

If I'm Nico Rosberg, I don't care who the hell is trying to pass me on the last lap, I'm going to run their ass off the track and into the fence to keep the lead and win the race. Doesn't matter if it's my teammate, Mario Andretti, Vladimir Putin, my mother, I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure I win the race.

My mother would probably hit me (and it would be deserved) for doing that. I think Nico Rosberg's only problem is that the man he tried to wreck kind of owns the modern F1 playbook on causing collisions and then coming out looking like a saint afterwards. Let him get almost all the way past and then hook his rear tire, Nico.

My advice to Nico Rosberg would be to look up both times Dale Earnhardt and Terry Labonte got into it at Bristol in the 90s. It would benefit him should he repeat the act in the future.

I don't buy the brake-by-wire argument, but if I'm Nico I would sure as hell use that argument to cover my ass.

Racing incident? Yes.
Rosberg's fault? Yes.

[Dj_bereta]

For me it was a racing incident too. Rosberg tried gives no room for Lewis but he turned into Rosberg too.

Also, the Rosberg hate bandwagon around the internet is disgusting. People calling him a dirt driver and not thinking in the team while had give his position to Hamilton in Monaco.

[DanielPT]

For me it was a racing incident too. Rosberg tried gives no room for Lewis but he turned into Rosberg too.

Also, the Rosberg hate bandwagon around the internet is disgusting. People calling him a dirt driver and not thinking in the team while had give his position to Hamilton in Monaco.

I can understand the point of those thinking it was a racing accident. I still think it was Rosberg fault. Yes, despite Hamilton waiting a bit before turning, he did it in the end anyway but it is also true that Rosberg never left any room and for me he attempted to run Hamilton off the track. I think it is not a fair defensive move if you try to run people off the track. It was desperate from Rosberg and totally uncalled for. It seems he was only thinking in the drivers championship and not on the team.

Obviously folks around Internet will overreact and emphasize disproportionate reactions but Rosberg is not making himself look good with all these shenanigans. What is worse is that he cannot even say Hamilton would have done the same (which he probably would, IMHO) because he cannot get this close to him.