Track Torque: Rosberg roars to victory
There wasn't too much drama at the picturesque track.
THE setting of the Austrian Grand Prix is simply out of this world.
The fairytale-like picture of green fields and snow-capped mountains is unique on the Grand Prix calendar.
Nico Rosberg out-accelerated his teammate from the start to take the lead at the first corner.
He drove a fantastic race and never looked back.
Lewis Hamilton seemed a little subdued for a change but came home a very safe second in the other Mercedes.
Meanwhile old boy Felipe Nasr drove a ‘stonker’ in his Williams to make it third onto the podium, holding off a very determined challenge from multiple world champion Sebastian Vettel.
His younger Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas was consistent, but not inspiring, and came home in a comfortable fifth position.
Nico Hulkenberg drove a very good race, keeping out of trouble, and brought his Force India home sixth.
Behind him there was a great scrap between Pastor Maldonado and Max Verstappen, which was probably the most exciting part of the race.
Verstappen really did all he could to keep Maldonado behind him but just couldn’t hold off the faster Lotus.
In ninth and tenth respectively were Sergio Perez in the other Force India and Daniel Ricciardo in the first Red Bull home.
They are now talking about changing to Ferrari engines because of the lack of performance from their Renault units, but this can only happen at the end of the year.
Although we mustn’t take anything away from Rosberg’s great drive, the race itself was otherwise a little uninspiring with a lack of the usual vigour and excitement.
Perhaps the only event that raised the adrenaline was the accident between Kimi Raikkonnen and Fernando Alonso, where the cars ended up quite dramatically on top of each other, with no-one hurt, thank goodness!
The other McLaren also retired and Vettel had a bad pit stop when one of his rear wheels stuck on. This is the point at which Nasr was able to overtake him.
I leave for England this week to report from Silverstone on the British Grand Prix which takes place on Sunday, July 5.
I always look forward to the green fields of England, and the great challenge of the high speed that Silverstone presents.
This weekend I will be at the Goodwood Festival of Speed near Chichester and will bring you some news from this event as well.
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