It’s not often I agree with Bernie, but he said “I think we need to have a very, very, very good look at all our sporting regulations”; “Don’t go over the white line, don’t do this, don’t do that, if you change your engine you go back 20 places… The public don’t understand and when they do understand they don’t care.”
So the outcome of Qualifying was: HAM, ROS, VET, MAS, HUL, BOT, VES, KVY, NAS, GRO; MAL, ERI, SAI, RIC, ALO; PER, BUT, RAI, MER, STE
But then came the penalties:
- ALO – total of 25-place grid penalties after McLaren elected to change several elements of his Honda power units. Because the full penalty cannot be applied, ALO must serve a drive-through penalty in the first three laps of the race.
- BUT – same penalty as ALO. He also can’t take the whole penalty, so he gets a 10-second stop-go penalty at his first pit stop.
- KVY – 10-place grid penalties for taking fifth Renault engines of the year. KVY qualified P8 so the whole penalty is applied.
- RIC – also 10 spots but he qualified P14 so he’ll serve an additional five-second time penalty at his pit stop.
So the revised provisional grid is: HAM, ROS, VET, MAS, HUL, BOT, VES, NAS, GRO, MAL, ERI, SAI, PER, RAI, KVY, MER, STE, RIC, ALO, BUT.
Air temperature 14°C; track 27°C; humidity 44%
Local weather info says there’s a shower only ~8km away
The mechanics clear the grid; HAM leads everyone away
Only MAL, PER, RAI, RIC starting on primes (soft compound); rest of the grid on the options (super-soft)
BUT reporting the car entered forced neutral – more gearbox problems for the McLaren
01/71: ROS steals P1 before Turn 1
Poor start from RIC – drops right to the back
RAI and ALO in the wall – ALO on top of RAI!
Safety Car deployed
Both drivers out OK
02[SC]: KVY pits – new nose
Radio from BUT asking if ALO is OK
STE pulls off as the Marussia rolls to a stop
03[SC]: Marshals still clearing the ALO/RAI incident
ERI pits
Replay of the start shows MAL and ERI both slow off the mark
04[SC]: BUT pits but cannot serve his penalty
Replay of the ALO/RAI incident – looks like RAI wasn’t tagged, got bit of a tank-slapper out of Turn 1; ALO tried to pass but they made contact
05[SC]: ROS, HAM, VET, MAS, HUL, VES, BOT, NAS, SAI, GRO, PER, MAL, MER, RIC, KVY, ERI, BUT; retirements: ALO, RAI, STE
06[SC]: Radio for ROS reminding him of the restart process
SC in at the end of this lap
07: ROS makes a clean start and opens a small gap to HAM
BUT pits again; serves his stop-go penalty
SAI tapping GRO as he takes P9; PER follows SAI past GRO
08: ROS fastest lap 1:13.607
BUT well off the pace; the McLaren is sounding sick
09: Incident involving car 9 (ERI) under investigation – jump start
Radio for BUT – box this lap, retire the car
10/71: ROS, HAM, VET, MAS, HUL, VES, BOT, NAS, SAI, PER, GRO, MAL, RIC, KVY, ERI, MER; retirements: BUT, STE, RAI, ALO
ROS f/lap 1:12.629
11: ROS f/lap 1:12.419
BBC report BUT was told to select 5B but replied there is no 5B 🙂
12: ROS f/lap 1:12.157
13: Radio for VES – front brakes are hot
GRO runs wide in Turn 8
ERI pits; serves drive-through penalty
14: Turn 2 incident involving cars 7 and 14 (RAI and ALO) will be investigated after the race – causing a collision
15/71: ROS, HAM, VET, MAS, HUL, VES, BOT, NAS, SAI, PER
BOT inside VES into Turn 2; takes P6
16: GRO sitting on the tail of PER but can’t find a way past
17: Radio for KVY – quite a bit of body damage
18: Radio for HAM – closing the gap nice and steady
19: ROS 1.8sec ahead of HAM; VET ~6sec behind HAM
GRO locks up into T2; still on the rear of PER
20/71: ROS, HAM, VET, MAS, HUL, BOT, VES, NAS, SAI, PER, GRO, MAL, RIC, KVY, MER, ERI
ROS f/lap 1:12.001
21: Yellow flags as ERI crawls to a halt on the main straight
Radio for ERI talking him through rebooting his car!
22: ERI running again
24: ROS laps MER (P15)
GRO pits from P11; switches to soft (prime) tyres; rejoins P14
25/71: Slow lap for HAM – traffic?
BOT has caught HUL
BOT around the outside of HUL to take P5
26: HUL pits, as does SAI
27: NAS inside GRO; side by side; GRO ahead
28: BOT exits the pits alongside HUL; BOT on new tyres but HUL’s are up to temp; HUL comes out ahead
Incident involving car 55 (SAI) under investigation – speeding in the pit lane
29: VES closing on KVY
30/71: ROS, HAM, VET, MAS, PER, MAL, HUL, BOT, RIC, KVY, VES, GRO, NAS, SAI, MER, ERI
5-second time penalty for car 55 (SAI) – speeding in the pit lane
VES takes P10 from KVY
33: Radio for ROS – 1 more lap (before the pit stop)
HAM 1.2sec behind his teammate
34: Massive lock-up as ROS tries to get down to the pit lane speed limit
Clean pit stop for ROS
35/71: HAM stays out
MAS pits; good stop
36: HAM pits; rejoins behind ROS again
ROS f/lap 1:11.235
GRO off track; delayed radio from GRO saying problem with gearbox
37: VET pits, as does GRO
Slow stop for VET – right rear problem; rejoins behind MAS
BOT all over the rear wing of MAL
GRO pushed into garage
38: SAI pits and retires
Incident involving car 44 (HAM) under investigation – crossing the line at pit exit
39: 5-second time penalty for car 44 (HAM) – crossing the line at pit exit
Replay shows HAM slithering out of the pit lane; front left clearly crosses line
HAM ~17sec ahead of MAS
40/71: ROS, HAM, MAS, VET, BOT, HUL, VES, RIC, KVY, MAL, NAS, PER, ERI, MER
41: Radio for HAM informing him of penalty
42: ROS ~5sec ahead of HAM
45/71: PER closing on NAS
46: Radio for ROS – debris has been dislodged
47: KVY pits
PER attacking around the outside of T2 but NAS stays ahead
Instead NAS defends into T3 and PER out-brakes him
ERI pit stop #3
48: VET ~3sec behind MAS but slowly closing
50/71: ROS, HAM, MAS, VET, BOT, HUL, VES, RIC, MAL, PER, NAS, KVY, ERI, MER; retirements: GRO, SAI, BUT, STE, RAI, ALO
51: MAL steals P8 from RIC
RIC finally makes his pit stop; serves engine penalty; rejoins P11
55/71: MAS keeping the gap over VET
56: VET pushing hard as MAS closes to lap RIC
59: Radio for PER – more life in tyre than expected; push to the end
60/71: ROS, HAM, MAS, VET, BOT, HUL, VES, MAL, PER, NAS, RIC, KVY, ERI, MER
61: RIC closing on NAS; RIC has fresher, softer tyres so needs to attack ASAP
RIC dives inside; NAS fights back but RIC takes P10
62: MAL has caught VES
63: VET under 1sec behind MAS, so VET will use DRS to attack
64: VES holding off MAL
Radio from PER – very bad vibration
65/71: ROS, HAM, MAS, VET, BOT, HUL, VES, MAL, PER, RIC, NAS, KVY, ERI, MER; retirements: GRO, SAI, BUT, STE, RAI, ALO
MAL runs high on the rumble strips; accelerates and car thrown across the track; MAL catches it
66: Radio from ROS – vibration getting worse
67: VET under 0.5sec behind MAS
68: Radio for ROS asking if vibration is all the time or under braking; ROS says all the time; asks if there are reliability concerns; told no
MAL attacking but VES holds his line
69: VET still harrying MAS for P3
70/71: VES locked up into Turn 1; MAL takes P7 despite the car snaking
Radio from MAL – tyres are completely gone
71 = final lap: VES fighting back
ROS is ahead of the MAL-VES battle but HAM is just behind
Chequered flag for ROS
HAM P2; more than 5sec ahead of MAS, so penalty doesn’t change the result
Provisional result: ROS, HAM, MAS, VET, BOT, HUL, MAL, VES, PER, RIC; NAS, KVY, ERI, MER
DNF: GRO, SAI, BUT, STE, RAI, ALO
ROS very happy on the radio, as is MAS
It’s MAS’ 40th podium
Gerhard Berger conducting the podium interviews
ROS: Berger asks “why don’t you always drive like this?” I will from now on 🙂
HAM: I had a really bad start
MAS: Fantastic race
“The stewards in Austria have decided to take no further action over the dramatic first-lap clash that eliminated McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen from Sunday’s race in Spielberg.” [FIA]