Austrian GP: analysis of the weekend

The race held this Sunday on the Red Bull ring proved to be very interesting from various points of view: a historic track returns to be part of the Formula 1 calendar thanks to the huge investments of Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz. The result was a beautiful and hard-fought race but above all an extraordinary success with the public with the stands being sold out thanks also to very popular prices.

Mercedes scores another one-two with Nico Rosberg victorious for the third time this season and increasingly leading the drivers' standings. A one-two that is anything but obvious if we consider that on Saturday the front row was monopolized by the Williams duo and that Lewis Hamilton with his spin in Q3, as well as finishing ninth, took away Nico Rosberg's chance to improve due to the subsequent regime of yellow flags. Despite this, the race pace of the two silver stars was superior and, also thanks to incorrect strategies on the part of the Williams wall, the two eventually managed to lead the race. With the great start Lewis Hamilton made up for Saturday's mistakes, even if they probably cost him the final victory which goes to a solid and continuous Nico Rosberg. Now the German is 29 points ahead of the Englishman and it wouldn't surprise us if the good Nico is giving more than one thought to the title. From what initially seemed to be a boring and uninspiring season we are witnessing the exact opposite so that's good.

It might seem like a missed opportunity for Williams as they failed to materialize the front row they conquered on Saturday. In reality, the third and fourth place finishes represent the maximum the team could muster given the better race pace of the two Mercedes. Of course, if the races were managed better from the pits it wouldn't be bad, considering that the two drivers lost important seconds (and positions) due to their strategies. In any case, Saturday was a day of glory for the team, especially for Felipe Massa who took pole after 93 races (the last time was in the 2008 Brazilian GP). First podium for Valtteri Bottas who demonstrated that he has a little more than his teammate in terms of consistency in the race. We'll see if the team will be able to achieve the continuity of results that has been lacking so far.

If finishing fifth, 18 seconds behind first represents the best race of the season, then we can only watch the performances of the two Ferrari drivers helplessly and disconsolately. Fernando Alonso with another solid race manages to bring home the maximum possible spoils, running a solitary race that perhaps only lights up at the end when lap after lap he gets closer and closer to Felipe Massa until reaching the finish line in the wake of the Brazilian . Kimi Raikkonen elbows far behind his teammate and finishes the race in an anonymous tenth position. Even though we should be used to seeing such an uncompetitive Ferrari, it hurts every time; we wait (as usual) for next season for redemption.

Not a bad weekend for Force India: it was expected that Nico Hulkenberg would have brought home the bulk of the points given the penalty to be served on the starting grid for Sergio Perez following the accident with Felipe Massa in the last grand prix of Canada, and instead Checo surprised everyone with a very solid race in which he managed the Pirelli tires very well, managing to extend the race stints until he took the final sixth place. For a moment he even found himself leading the leading group for a few laps, only to eventually have to give up and be overtaken by the Mercedes-Williams pairs. Once again the Mexican did better than his teammate Nico Hulkenberg who had to settle for the ninth place finish ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and behind Daniel Ricciardo.

Excellent race for Kevin Magnussen who took home important points during the weekend in which he declared that he "knows that he can be the best of all even if he still has a lot to learn". The seventh place, especially when compared with the eleventh of the much more experienced teammate Jenson Button, proves him right, hoping that this time Mclaren will find the continuity of results that was totally missing after the good yet misleading start to the season.

Disastrous weekend for Red Bull: this is what Helmut Marko said at the end of the GP. You can't blame him since Sunday's was the home race for the Red Bull team and instead it ended with Sebastian Vettel retiring mid-race and a miserable eighth place for Daniel Ricciardo. On this track Red Bull seemed uncompetitive and never able to make a difference; both Chris Horner and Helmut Marko pointed the finger at the Renault supplier, guilty, in their opinion, of having done a terrible job with regards to the power unit. The bad weekend was then completed with a double retirement for both satellite cars of the Toro Rosso team, with Daniil Kvyat who this time too was unable to materialize the excellent work done due to technical problems (this time his suspension gave way rear). If we consider that the only retirements of the race happened to Red Bull and Toro Rosso drivers, the disaster struck.

As for the others: both Lotuses finished outside the points with Pastor Maldonado twelfth and Romain Grosjean forced to start from the pitlane due to a gearbox problem before the start. It should be noted that in this race, since the entry of the Safety Car was not necessary, the drivers (listed in order of arrival) Bianchi, Kobayashi, Chilton, Ericsson and Gutierrez reached the finish line a full two laps behind the leader.

Davide Gambardella