Nico Rosberg extended his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship with a measured victory over team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The middle phase of the race saw Rosberg, Bottas and Hamilton run in increasingly close company at the front, especially after the title leader made a mistake under braking for Turn Two and ran wide over the asphalt run-off area.
Attempting to undercut the lead Williams at the second stops, Mercedes then pitted Hamilton first but a four-second service meant that the Briton lost further ground to Rosberg, whose own stop a lap later was a second quicker. The one solace for Hamilton was that an impressively quick time on his first flying lap on fresh tyres still allowed him to leapfrog Bottas for second place.
It was the team’s sixth one-two of the season, and although they crossed the line 1.9s apart, both drivers were pushing hard until the final lap. At Turn 3 on lap 71 of 71 both drivers ran wide as Hamilton, who had started ninth on the grid, gave one last push in the closing stages despite both cars managing minor issues.