2014 Austrian Grand Prix

  2014 Austrian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 8 of 19 in the 2014 Formula One season
Layout of the Red Bull Ring
Date	22 June 2014
Official name	Formula 1 Großer Preis Von Österreich 2014[1]
Location	Red Bull Ring Spielberg, Styria, Austria
Course	Permanent racing facility
Course length	4.326 km (2.684 mi)
Distance	71 laps, 307.146 km (190.564 mi)
Weather	Partially cloudy, hot and dry
Attendance	77,702
Pole position
Driver	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes
Time	1:08.759
Fastest lap
Driver	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes
Time	1:12.142 on lap 59
Podium
First	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes
Second	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Third	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2014 Austrian Grand Prix (formally the Formula 1 Großer Preis Von Österreich 2014)^[1] was a Formula One motor race held on 22 June 2014 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. It was the eighth round of the 2014 season and the 28th Austrian Grand Prix and the first to be held since 2003. The 71-lap race was won by Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg after starting from third position.^[2] His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished second with Valtteri Bottas third for the Williams team.

Felipe Massa started the race from pole position, his first since the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.^[3] Massa had one previous participition in an Austrian Grand Prix, back in 2002, while from the last Austrian Grand Prix to be held before 2014, which was in 2003, only three drivers (Fernando Alonso, Kimi Räikkönen, and Jenson Button) returned to drive in the 2014 Austrian Grand Prix.

Report

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by eleven teams, each of two drivers. The teams, also known as constructors, were Red Bull, Mercedes, Ferrari, Lotus, McLaren, Force India, Sauber, Toro Rosso, Williams, Marussia and Caterham.^[4] Tyre supplier Pirelli brought four different tyre compounds for the race; two dry compounds, the soft "primes" and the supersoft "options", and two wet-weather compounds, the intermediate and full wet.^[5] The drag reduction system (DRS) had two activation zones for the race; one was on the start/finish straight from the final to first corners, and the second on the straight between turns 2 and 3.^[4]

Going into the race, Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg led the Drivers' Championship with 140 points, ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton on 118 points and Daniel Ricciardo on 79. Fernando Alonso was fourth on 69 points while Sebastian Vettel was fifth on 60 points. In the Constructors' Championship Mercedes were leading with 258 points and Red Bull were second on 139 points. Ferrari with 87 points and Force India with 77 points contended for third place, with McLaren fifth on 66 points.^[4] Mercedes had so far dominated the championship, winning six out of the previous seven races, with Ricciardo winning the Canadian Grand Prix. Championship competitor Kevin Magnussen had gained one second place finish, while Jenson Button, Vettel (twice), Sergio Pérez and Alonso had achieved third place podium finishes.^[4]

Practice and qualifying

Nico Rosberg was the fastest in the first free practice session with a lap time of 1:11.295.^[6] Teammate Lewis Hamilton was the fastest in the second free practice session with a lap time of 1:09.542.^[7] Valtteri Bottas was the fastest in the third free practice session with a lap time of 1:09.848.^[8]

Williams driver Felipe Massa became the first driver other than Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to claim pole position in 2014 with a Q3 lap time of 1:08.759.^[9] He was joined on the front row by teammate Valtteri Bottas; it was the team's first front row lockout since Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher did so, at the 2003 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

Hamilton failed to post a time in Q3, ending up ninth on the grid after Sergio Pérez's penalty was applied. On his first flying lap in Q3 – having been 0.4 seconds faster than Bottas' provisional pole time of 1:08.846 through the first two sectors – Hamilton ran wide at the final corner and had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. On his second and final lap Hamilton locked his rear brakes under braking for turn 2 and spun.^[10] Sebastian Vettel failed to reach Q3, although his teammate Daniel Ricciardo did.

Race

At the start, Felipe Massa led the field into the first corner, with Nico Rosberg passing Valtteri Bottas, but being repassed the following straight. Lewis Hamilton gained five places on the first lap, after passing two cars on the run into the first corner and two further cars heading towards turn 2, before taking another spot from Fernando Alonso at turn 7. As a result, he ended the first lap only one position and 0.9 seconds behind his teammate, despite starting ninth. Sebastian Vettel once again suffered from technical problems, losing drive on the first lap and attempting to retire on lap two. However, his car then regained drive and he was able to continue, albeit a lap down. After damaging his front wing halfway through the race, he later retired from Red Bull's home Grand Prix on lap 34.

At the front, the Mercedes cars were able to pass the Williams cars by stopping earlier and undercutting them during the pitstop phases. Rosberg passed both Williams during the first stops, and Hamilton took second position during the second round, despite suffering two slow pit stops. Sergio Pérez once again drove a good race with a different tyre strategy, only running the super soft compound for the last 16 laps and successfully challenging Kevin Magnussen for sixth place, despite starting sixteenth following a grid penalty.

For much of the race both Mercedes cars had to manage overheating brake issues. On lap 55 Hamilton was held up by backmarkers, losing around a second. During the final laps, Hamilton was slowly gaining on teammate Rosberg, and despite having lost a total of 1.9 seconds to his teammate through slower pit stops he began the final lap 1.1 seconds behind. However, he was not close enough to his teammate to challenge him and backed off at the end of the lap. Rosberg took the chequered flag for his third win of the season.^[11]

Post-race

As a result of the race, Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead to 29 points, the largest it had been all season.

Lewis Hamilton admitted he was frustrated by his slow pit stops, but said that second was still a "good result" considering his qualifying position.^[12]

Fernando Alonso, who managed to finish closely behind Felipe Massa in the Williams and with a smaller gap to Mercedes than usual, later described the race as his best of the season so far.^[13]

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Grid
1	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.292	1:09.239	1:08.759	1
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:10.356	1:09.096	1:08.846	2
3	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:09.695	1:08.974	1:08.944	3
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1:10.405	1:09.479	1:09.285	4
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:10.395	1:09.638	1:09.466	5
6	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.081	1:09.473	1:09.515	6
7	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	1:09.678	1:09.490	1:09.619	7
8	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:10.285	1:09.657	1:10.795	8
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:09.514	1.09.092	No time	9
10	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:10.389	1:09.624	No time	10
11	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:10.124	1:09.754		15^1
12	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1:10.252	1:09.780		11
13	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	1:10.630	1:09.801		12
14	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	1:10.821	1:09.939		13
15	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault	1:10.161	1:10.073		14
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	1:10.461	1:10.642		PL^2
17	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	1:10.825			16
18	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber-Ferrari	1:11.349			17
19	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	1:11.412			18
20	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	1:11.673			19
21	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	1:11.775			21^3
22	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	1:12.673			20
107% time: 1:14.379
Source:[3]

Notes:

• ^1  — Sergio Pérez was given a five-place grid penalty for changing his racing line and causing an avoidable collision in the Canadian Grand Prix.^[14]
• ^2  — Romain Grosjean qualified 16th, but started from pit lane after gearbox and set-up changes.^[15]
• ^3  — Max Chilton was given a three-place grid penalty for causing an avoidable collision with Jules Bianchi at the Canadian Grand Prix.^[16]

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	71	1:27:54.976	3	25
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	71	+1.932	9	18
3	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	71	+8.172	2	15
4	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	71	+17.357	1	12
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	71	+18.553	4	10
6	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	71	+28.546	15	8
7	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+32.031	6	6
8	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	71	+43.522	5	4
9	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	71	+44.137	10	2
10	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	71	+47.777	8	1
11	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	71	+50.966	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	PL
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 Gutiérrez	Sauber-Ferrari	69	+2 Laps	17
Ret	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Renault	59	Brakes	14
Ret	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	34	Electronics	12
Ret	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Renault	24	Suspension	7
Source:[15][17]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 Nico Rosberg 165 2 Lewis Hamilton 136 3 Daniel Ricciardo 83 4 Fernando Alonso 79 5 Sebastian Vettel 60

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Mercedes 301 2 Red Bull Racing-Renault 143 3 Ferrari 98 4 Force India-Mercedes 87 1 5 Williams-Mercedes 85

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "Formula 1 Großer Preis von Österreich 2014". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. May 22, 2014. Archived from the original on 17 June 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
2. McEvoy, Jonathan (22 June 2014). "Nico Rosberg wins Austrian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton battles to second spot and Sebastian Vettel is forced to retire". Daily Mail (DMG Media). Retrieved 2 July 2014.
3. "Qualifying Results". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 21 June 2014. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
4. "2014 Austrian Grand Prix - Preview". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
5. "Pirelli announce tyre nominations up to Hungary". Formula1.com (Formula One Management). 6 June 2014. Archived from the original on 6 August 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
6. Smith, Luke (20 June 2014). "Rosberg first to tame the Red Bull Ring in Austria practice". motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
7. Smith, Luke (20 June 2014). "Hamilton hits back to edge out Rosberg in FP2". motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
8. Smith, Luke (20 June 2014). "Bottas beats the field in final Austrian GP practice". motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
9. Smith, Luke (21 June 2014). "Massa secures shock pole in Austria at Mercedes' expense". motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
10. Anderson, Ben (21 June 2014). "Austrian GP: Lewis Hamilton qualifying spin not a car issue". autosport.com. Autosport. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
11. "Mercedes schlägt auf dem Red Bull Ring zurück" [Mercedes Strikes Back at the Red Bull Ring]. Kicker (in German) (Olympia-Verlag GmbH). 22 June 2014. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
12. "Slow pit-stops cost Lewis Hamilton in Austrian GP as early charge limits damage". Sky Sports. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
13. "Austrian GP – Fernando Alonso: "My best race of the season"". formula1.ferrari.com. 22 June 2014. Archived from the original on 25 June 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
14. Collantine, Keith (8 June 2014). "Perez penalised for last-lap crash with Massa as both released from hospital". f1fanatic.co.uk. F1 Fanatic. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
15. "Formula 1 Grosser Preis Von Österreich 2014". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 22 June 2014. Archived from the original on 23 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
16. "Perez, Chilton penalised for Montreal collisions". Formula1.com. Formula One World Championship Limited. 10 June 2014. Archived from the original on 10 June 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
17. "Austrian Grand Prix Live". Yahoo. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2014.

External links