Rosberg closes in on Hamilton after Austrian GP win

Germany’s Nico Rosberg has won the Austrian Formula One Grand Prix for the second year in a row in a Mercedes one-two finish with teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton’s overall championship lead was cut to 10 points, after eight of the 19 races, with the Briton starting on pole position but beaten crucially into the first corner by Rosberg.

The victory was the German’s third of the season, to Hamilton’s four.

Any hopes of a thrilling chase to the end were dashed when the double world champion, who finished 3.8 seconds behind, collected a five-second penalty for a pit lane infringement on the 35th of the 71 laps.

“I will try from now on,” grinned Rosberg when asked why he did not drive every race like that.

“It’s an awesome feeling of course to win again here. The start made the race. It really worked out perfectly today.”

Brazilian Felipe Massa finished a distant third for Williams after holding off Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who had lost crucial seconds on his one pitstop when the wheel gun jammed on his right rear tyre.

Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso collided and crashed into the barriers at the second corner, bringing out the safety car for five laps as the wreckage was removed.

Feature: The making of Lewis Hamilton

The McLaren ended up on top of the Ferrari, fortunately without hitting Raikkonen’s head or hands, and perched on the barriers.

“The start was very good. Kimi had a lot of wheel spin out of turn two,” Alonso said.

“We were overtaking him and he lost the car on the left. I was on the left. I could not see anything. I looked in the mirror and saw a car under my car.

“I jumped quickly to see he was OK. I saw he was so I was happy,” added the Spaniard, who waited for Raikkonen to get out of the car before they walked away together.

Williams’s Valtteri Bottas finished fifth, ahead of 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Nico Hulkenberg in a Force India and Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado seventh for Lotus.

Race results (top-10):

1. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Felipe Massa (Williams)
4. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari)
5. Valtteri Bottas (Williams)
6. Nico Huelkenberg (Force India)
7. Pastor Maldonado (Lotus)
8. Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso)
9. Sergio Perez (Force India)
10. Daniel Ricciardo (RedBull)