2014 Austrian Grand Prix

[bjohnsonsmith]

Vettel's crawling along the track.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Vettel retires, his 3rd Dnf of the season.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Rosberg and congrats to Bottas on his first podium.

[TheNo1F1Fan]

First podium for a Finnish driver since 2013 at India.

[canamman]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Rosberg and congrats to Bottas on his first podium.

Here ,Here! Love the Austrian culture. Can't wait for Silverstone.

[Knowlesy]

Looking incredibly grim now for Hamilton. Even if he does somehow string together four wins on the bounce he will still sit second in the championship. Those mechanical failures are robbing us of a closer battle.

Good race anyways, love the A1-Ring. Not a great track by any means, but always enjoyable as an event.

How cringey was that "love from Bernie" graphic near the end of the race? What the hell was going on there?

[andy666]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Looking incredibly grim now for Hamilton. Even if he does somehow string together four wins on the bounce he will still sit second in the championship. Those mechanical failures are robbing us of a closer battle.

Good race anyways, love the A1-Ring. Not a great track by any means, but always enjoyable as an event.

How cringey was that "love from Bernie" graphic near the end of the race? What the hell was going on there?

Rosberg has the edge now , I think having Lewis as a team mate has made him a better driver . Enjoyed the race and yes the "thanks Bernie" message made me cringe too .

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by andy666

Rosberg has the edge now , I think having Lewis as a team mate has made him a better driver . Enjoyed the race and yes the "thanks Bernie" message made me cringe too .

Rosberg only has a 29 point lead but having said that he has the psychological advantage. Thanfully, I missed the Bernie message.

[andy666]

Mr Horner not happy with Renault after today , Red Bull Mercedes anyone ?

[stripedcat]

I think Hamilton has perhaps underestimated Rosberg? Things are going to be tight for the rest of the season, and realistically I don't the WDC will be over until the last race, but it does look like Nico has the advantage now. The "mind games" that Lewis was going to unleash on him haven't worked out!

A pretty good race from Austria, and I'm not a fan of the track. I think it's a bit too mickey mouse compared to its illustrious predecessor.

Good to see Williams get a podium. They deserved it.

Poor Fingerman - a 3rd DNF. Plus, his teammate finished the race in the points. Oh dear. Was that Mark Webber smiling on the podium, I saw?

I loved how the podium girls were in Austrian national dress!

What was the trophy meant to be? It sort of looked like half an ear and then a metal/silver bit? Was that for Niki Lauda - in reference to his ears? A bit poor taste if it was! Strange trophy.

Strong finish from Alonso again in 5th. At least this time around Kimi took 10th spot. Poor Kimi seems to be struggling with the Ferrari compared to Alonso at the moment.

[Teretonga]

Originally Posted by stripedcat

I think Hamilton has perhaps underestimated Rosberg? Things are going to be tight for the rest of the season, and realistically I don't the WDC will be over until the last race, but it does look like Nico has the advantage now. The "mind games" that Lewis was going to unleash on him haven't worked out!

A pretty good race from Austria, and I'm not a fan of the track. I think it's a bit too mickey mouse compared to its illustrious predecessor.

Good to see Williams get a podium. They deserved it......

Strong finish from Alonso again in 5th. At least this time around Kimi took 10th spot. Poor Kimi seems to be struggling with the Ferrari compared to Alonso at the moment.

Hamilton will be back. a poor qualifying due to a mistake won't knock him over. The sheer speed we saw from him in Australia qualifying and in Malaysia, Bahrain China and Spain has not disappeared, he will be back. Two retirements and a poor qualifying do not write him off.
Nico has had no retirements yet and one, with a win for Hamilton, will wipe out any advantage. That will probably happen at some point in the season.

If they went to Abu Dhabi with a 12 point advantage to Nico, barring retirements, I would back Lewis to take it in a 1-2 and win the title.

[Gingers4Justice]

Originally Posted by stripedcat

I loved how the podium girls were in Austrian national dress!

Nice to see some national Austrain dress I agree, but do we really need podium girls in the 21st century? I really don't need pretty ladies to hold my attention, and women offer far more to the sport than a round of applause and a bit of eye candy at the end of the race.

I'll probably get shot down for being part of the PC brigade, but I just think many other sports have moved on from that sort of thing, so why does motor sport have to remain a few decades behind? Thought the whole point of the new regulations was that we were moving with the times.

Sorry for the slightly off-topic post, but there never seems to be a right time to speak up about it. Wasn't having a go at you at all stripedcat either, just used your comment to make the point.

Anyone see Bernie's message to Mateschitz towards the end? Thought that was a bit bizarre if I'm honest.

[andy666]

Originally Posted by Gingers4Justice

Nice to see some national Austrain dress I agree, but do we really need podium girls in the 21st century? I really don't need pretty ladies to hold my attention, and women offer far more to the sport than a round of applause and a bit of eye candy at the end of the race.

I'll probably get shot down for being part of the PC brigade, but I just think many other sports have moved on from that sort of thing, so why does motor sport have to remain a few decades behind? Thought the whole point of the new regulations was that we were moving with the times.

Sorry for the slightly off-topic post, but there never seems to be a right time to speak up about it. Wasn't having a go at you at all stripedcat either, just used your comment to make the point.

Anyone see Bernie's message to Mateschitz towards the end? Thought that was a bit bizarre if I'm honest.

Thumbs up for the Grid Girls and cleavage !

[mattthompson79]

Rosberg managed his race perfectly today, doing just what he needed to do to take victory. Also a great drive from Hamilton but if you start in ninth you're always going be up against it.

Tired with the pit theory that this cost Hamilton the race, it's complete nonsense. If the times had have been exactly the same then Rosberg would still have come out on top. More to the point Hamilton had a massive advantage being asked to pit first for the second stops. It enabled him to leap the Williams but also more than made up for the extra second he spent in the pits. In normal circumstances the lead driver has call on the stops.

The season is shaping up lovely, Rosberg will have some bad luck and the points will close up again. However, Rosberg is driving better at each race and as I stated above, is doing what he needs to do. As Fangio would have said, the key is to win the race at the slowest possible speed.

[bella]

i thought the girls were tasteful, topical and looked very attractive. as long as grid girls look like that i don't really mind, it helps weed out the idiots who fall over themselves to take pictures. it'd be nice if all races reverted to the telefonica approach of a few years ago - half guys, half girls, all as cute as each other.

interestingly, it's usually the same people who "cor blimey guvnor" and objectivise the grid girls who make a lot of noise about ladies commenting on the aesthetic merits of some of the drivers.

if you're going to point fingers at a sport then bike racing is far worse. it's the (borderline aggressive) over-sexualisation of the girls that's the problem, not their presence.

[Moneyseeker]

Good to see a race in a 'old fashioned' real scenic setting, I thought the circuit and environs looked great.

Mercedes toying with the rest of the field again - wait until two thirds distance, turn up the wick and vanish.

Horner sounds pretty fed up with Renault - unacceptable performance and reliabiity - in his words.

[Paradise City]

It's good to see Williams right in the fight again. The nightmare for Vettel continues. Webber must be doing a voodoo hex on a Seb action figure or something. The overall Red Bull crew lost three cars too.

Very composed performance from Rosberg.

Grid/podium girls are an old way to add a kind of splendor to the event. I haven't got a problem with that particularly.

[Lancsbreaker]

Was nice to see Webber on the podium.......and he did very well not to comment on Seb's absence!

As said, Nico is only realistically one retirement away from near as dammit equal with Lewis...bets certainly aren't off Lewis's performance from starting 9th was an excellent drive, in all fairness.

Great to see Williams coming good, too.

[TrapezeArtist]

Originally Posted by Teretonga

Nico has had no retirements yet and one, with a win for Hamilton, will wipe out any advantage. That will probably happen at some point in the season.

Don't be fooled by the "Law of Averages". It doesn't exist. Hamilton's two retirements are in the past, and have no influence whatsoever on the future. If a Mercedes is going to be hit by a reliability issue, it is 50-50 whether it will be Rosberg or Hamilton.

[wolfhound]

I have a feeling Williams left a better result behind them today. Did their later pitstops cost them on stratagy?
Massa got stuck behind a number of cars after one of his stops.
I only saw the highlights so I might have missed something.

[Tucky]

Even if they got their pit stops perfect, it's highly likely that Mercedes would have still got past them as they have such an advantage over everyone else. 3rd and 4th is probably the best result a team could hope for if Mercedes didn't have any problems

[mikuni]

I rushed to read the statements by Williams, because I knew what they would say, and I was right. They were extremely happy with 3rd and 4th, and I was disappointment. Granted it is a fantastic result for them, after struggling for so long, and they didn't push it, particularly after missing out so horribly last week. But I can't help but feel with a proper strategy Bottas could have been looking at the top step, or at least second, and Massa might have been fighting a bit better with Hamilton. It just seemed like damage limitation to me, when they were there on pace. I could be wrong, had the pushed maybe they would have broken their cars or gone off, but it just seemed like they have it in their heads not to rock the Mercedes boat, so they back off.

Either way, and enjoyable race, if perhaps a little predictable in the end. Looking forward to Silverstone, another track that should see Williams fighting fit.

[wnut]

Originally Posted by mikuni

I rushed to read the statements by Williams, because I knew what they would say, and I was right. They were extremely happy with 3rd and 4th, and I was disappointment. Granted it is a fantastic result for them, after struggling for so long, and they didn't push it, particularly after missing out so horribly last week. But I can't help but feel with a proper strategy Bottas could have been looking at the top step, or at least second, and Massa might have been fighting a bit better with Hamilton. It just seemed like damage limitation to me, when they were there on pace. I could be wrong, had the pushed maybe they would have broken their cars or gone off, but it just seemed like they have it in their heads not to rock the Mercedes boat, so they back off.

Either way, and enjoyable race, if perhaps a little predictable in the end. Looking forward to Silverstone, another track that should see Williams fighting fit.

Yes Mikuni, you have expressed very neatly what I thought of the Williams effort.
They never looked like they were flat out trying to win; "It just seemed like damage limitation"; disappointing!

[Razzzor]

Bottas was only 8 secs behind Rosberg at the finish, and the two Mercedes were pushing hard all the way. If only Williams didn't screw up their strategies I think Bottas would have won if he'd come out of the pits ahead of them. I think Rosberg may have struggled to get by.

This was finally Williams' chance at making up for not showing their potential this season, and they blow it again.

If they'd done team orders and got the second Williams to hold the Mercedes up 10 secs, then still pitted both cars a lap before Mercedes, they could have held on for a 1-2, or at least one of them winning.

Williams might as well have a plank of wood calling the strategies. They pit Massa out of the lead at Canada when they didn't have to, now they allow both Mercedes to get the undercut...

[mikuni]

There's some interesting info from Austria at this link
http://www.fia.com/championship/fia-...nt-information

I know it is only part of the information, but there are some interesting aspects to the race.
Like fastest lap, S. Perez.
N. Rosburg top speed 310km/h, L. Hamilton 320km/h
J. Bianchi considerably slower than anyone else at 295km/h, his team mate 307km/h

Downforce and DRS will come into it, but those are considerable differences.


Oh and that reminds me, did anyone else hear DC on the BBC feed say during qualifying under his breath (with the mic left on) "Surely Bianchi can get a better drive?!" haha