Nico Rosberg Wins F1’s Austrian GP to Extend Lead Over Lewis Hamilton

The Mercedes motorsport chief, Toto Wolff, speaking after the German driver extended his lead in the championship to 29 points, said: “We must not lose transparency. Yesterday we had a bit of a moment after P3 when we weren’t in good shape. And the atmosphere wasn’t like in the races before.

“We see that it’s getting very competitive. Transparency is suffering a little bit and we need to make sure this is not detrimental to the team.”

The drivers and their respective engineers are instructed to share all data for the benefit of Mercedes overall.

Wolff added: “We can only learn if we have an open and transparent way of working with each other. We don’t want to see any sandbagging. We don’t want to see any aborted laps.

“The drivers’ main agenda is about winning the drivers’ championship. Our main agenda is about winning the constructors’ championship. Maybe first we need to win the constructors’ title and then we can unleash them.”

Wolff’s stern words are a clear indication that Mercedes are fully stretched keeping a lid on the fierce competition for the drivers’ title.

Hamilton made a sensational start to Sunday’s race when he surged from ninth to fourth in the opening lap but his misfortune continued when his two pit stops took a total of 1.9 seconds longer than Rosberg – and that was Rosberg’s winning margin at the end of the race.

Wolff said: “Lewis lost the race in qualifying. He recovered tremendously with a great start and a great first lap. In all our calculations his best possible result was a second and he achieved that. Our pit stops generally were not at the level we want them to be. In Lewis’s favour we pitted him early. We pitted him before Nico, which is against what we normally do. Nico this afternoon was the faster guy. Why was he the faster guy? He was starting in P3 and not in P9 [their respective starting positions]. Lewis’s result was compromised by what happened on Saturday. Your brakes and your tyres will suffer more than the guy in the lead.”

Rosberg, who started behind the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, recorded his third win of the season, and is now more than the 25 points earned for a race victory ahead of Hamilton.

But on Sunday night the British driver received a rallying call from Mercedes’ nonexecutive chairman, Niki Lauda, who evoked memories of his own days of glory by getting behind the wheel once again at the picturesque Red Bull Ring.

Lauda said: “Lewis will fight back I have no worries about that at all. We are going to Silverstone and Lewis is Lewis. He has his home race and fans and he needs to make up ground to Nico, so I am sure he will be at his highest level. His Montreal race was a disaster but he will keep on fighting, don’t worry.”

Rosberg may have won but the drive of the day arguably came from Bottas as Williams finally converted their obvious pace into vital points. Bottas was third, his first podium finish, and Massa fourth.

Sergio Pérez also put together an impressive drive for Force India to finish sixth. That means that McLaren have slipped back to sixth place in the constructors’ championship, behind both Force India and Williams. McLaren will take some consolation from the fact that they were experimenting with a substantial new package of upgrades.

In their “home” race Red Bull also had an anticlimactic time. Sebastian Vettel retired halfway through and Daniel Ricciardo, winner of the Canadian Grand Prix, managed only eighth.

An angry team principal, Christian Horner, sounded as if he was ready to ditch his engine supplier, Renault. “It’s frustrating. We’ve had a lot of success with Renault, we’ve won all the races and championships with Renault, but the situation just isn’t improving at the moment. Reliability is unacceptable, performance is unacceptable and there needs to be change.

“It can’t continue like this. It’s not good for Renault and it’s not good for Red Bull. These kind of issues can’t and shouldn’t happen. Something needs to happen. Whatever is being done there at the moment isn’t working. It’s not our business, it’s not our responsibility. We’re the end user and it’s frustrating that the product isn’t where it needs to be.”

Horner did not discount Red Bull making their own engine. “It’s unlikely but we want to be competitive, we want to run at the front. We need to make a step.”

Rob White, Renault’s deputy technical managing director, said: “The anxiety and frustration Christian felt is completely understandable and also shared by us.”