Nico Rosberg clinches Austrian Grand Prix for Mercedes

Nico Rosberg extends his lead at the top of the drivers’ championship to 29 points and is enjoying 'a nice gap' over teammate Lewis Hamilton after his Austrian Grand Prix victory, writes Graham Caygill.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg on his way to victory in the Austrian Grand Prix on June 22, 2014. Reuters

Fortunes change quickly in Formula One and the man most happy to attest to that fact is Nico Rosberg.

Six weeks ago in Barcelona, the German could barely conceal his despair on the podium after being beaten by Mercedes-GP teammate Lewis Hamilton despite having had the faster car at Circuit de Catalunya.

Hamilton was the man on a roll, four wins in a row had seen him take the championship lead from Rosberg and the 2008 world champion’s momentum appeared hard to stop.

Fast forward to Sunday and it was Rosberg celebrating on the top step of the podium at the Red Bull Ring, his victory ahead of Hamilton stretching his advantage in the standings to 29 points.

Not that he is getting too comfortable, just yet, about the impending prospect of matching his father Keke, who won the 1982 championship during his time as a driver.

“Twenty nine points is for sure a nice gap, but it is still so early in the season,” he said.

“I just like to concentrate on each weekend and try to make the most of them and enjoy the moment.

“It is nice to come to the next race with the best car knowing if I do a good job I can get pole and win the race.”

Rosberg’s formula for turning things around is simple: good driving, luck and making less mistakes than his teammate.

While he was perhaps fortunate to take pole in Monaco last month after going off on his final lap, he drove superbly in the race to withstand the pressure of Hamilton.

In Canada both Mercedes cars were hit by mechanical problems, but it was his car that made it to the end not Hamilton’s and, while he did not win, second place and the 18 points that came with it have been crucial to opening up his sizeable lead over his teammate.

So to yesterday and Mercedes’ sixth one-two finish of the season, and Rosberg’s third victory.

But unlike their other race wins in 2014 this was not a case of dominating from the front.

Rosberg did not enjoy an impressive qualifying session, but crucially he did better than Hamilton as he finished third.

Consequently he had to be patient in the opening stint, as he sat behind the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, who had been the surprise pacesetters in Saturday’s qualifying session.

He also had the unexpected presence of Hamilton behind him. The Briton had started ninth after making two errors in qualifying, but a great start and subsequent first lap had seen him charge up to fourth.

Pitting on lap 11, the first of the leading quartet, moved Rosberg ahead of the Williams pair when they both pitted, but he then again had to stay patient as he sat behind Sergio Perez’s Force India, who was running a long first stint on the hard tyre.

But once in clean air, he was never headed, other than in the pit stops, and the misery of Barcelona now seems a long time ago for the 28 year old.

“It wasn’t the easiest of races trying to manage certain things,” he said. “We had a bit more pace and less tyre deg than the Williams so we could go aggressive on the stops and that’s what we did.”

It was a case of taking the good and the bad for Hamilton.

He was fast all weekend and really should have started on pole, but his mistakes in the final part of qualifying destroyed those hopes.

If he had started on pole there is a good chance he would have cruised to victory, but instead Hamilton lost a further seven points to his teammate and championship rival.

But, starting ninth, things could have been a lot worse and the Briton drove superbly to take second.

His overtaking move on Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari at the end of the opening lap was brilliant as he caught the double world champion sleeping, a rare thing to happen in F1.

He also dived past Massa at Turn 2 on lap 14 with another show of late braking.

But the damage, in terms of victory ambitions, had already been done, with Rosberg a couple of seconds up the road.

As the pair are so well matched it was always going to take a mistake or a problem from the man in front for Hamilton to take the lead, but Rosberg paced his final laps perfectly.

Hamilton has scored 36 points in the past three races to Rosberg’s 68 and the momentum has undeniably swapped places in the Mercedes garage.

But he took the positives from his run to second. “We have been working very hard on the starts and the team have done a great job,” he said.

“I positioned the car in great places. That would have been great if I had started where I should have started, but damage limitation, to get from ninth to second and pressing Nico showed the pace I had this weekend.”

Six weeks ago it was Rosberg desperate to stop Hamilton’s momentum.

Now the Briton must hit back and he has the perfect opportunity at his home race, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, on Sunday, July 6.

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