GPI 2016 Austrian Grand Prix Edition | Page 72

RACE REPORT The race stewards immediately launched an investigation and called Rosberg to explain his role in the collision and for continuing to race when his car was badly damaged. He was later given a ten seconds penalty by the FIA race stewards, which did not affect his final standings in the race. Amid boos directed at him on the podium, Hamilton said, “Nico made a mistake going into Turn 1 so I had an opportunity in Turn 2. l left a lot of room on the inside and he locked up and went into me. He had a problem with his brakes potentially. I’m here to win.” Asked about the boos, Hamilton shrugged as he pointed to the crowd, “That’s their problem, not mine.” As the two Silver Arrows powered downhill towards Turn 3 it was clear Rosberg was in trouble and compromised. Hamilton had seized the moment and went on to score his third victory of the season, while Rosberg limped home to claim fourth. Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen managed to get past Rosberg’s stricken Mercedes on the last lap. The Red Bull teenager doing a fine job to keep the Ferrari veteran at bay for a dozen or so laps until the end – the pair finishing second and third respectively. Earlier in the race, Sebastian Vettel suffered a blowout on his Ferrari while leading. He crashed into the pitwall, halfway up the start-finish straight, prompting a safety car for several laps as the debris was cleared. It appears that Ferrari got their strategy wrong, keeping Vettel out too long on the red band Pirelli super-soft tyres.