Austria race: Rosberg extend his lead, while Bottas get the first podium

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.

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 71 1:27:54.976 3 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 +1.9 secs 9 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 71 +8.1 secs 2 15
4 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 71 +17.3 secs 1 12
5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 71 +18.5 secs 4 10
6 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 71 +28.5 secs 15 8
7 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 71 +32.0 secs 6 6
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 71 +43.5 secs 5 4
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 71 +44.1 secs 10 2
10 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 71 +47.7 secs 8 1
11 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 71 +50.9 secs 11
12 13 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Renault 70 +1 Lap 13
13 99 Adrian Sutil Sauber-Ferrari 70 +1 Lap 16
14 8 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault 70 +1 Lap 22
15 17 Jules Bianchi Marussia-Ferrari 69 +2 Laps 18
16 10 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham-Renault 69 +2 Laps 19
17 4 Max Chilton Marussia-Ferrari 69 +2 Laps 21
18 9 Marcus Ericsson Caterham-Renault 69 +2 Laps 20
19 21 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari 69 +2 Laps 17
Ret 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 59 +12 Laps 14
Ret 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 34 +37 Laps 12
Ret 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 24 +47 Laps 7