2015 Austrian Grand Prix Mercedes Preview
After the mishap of Monaco, order was restored in Montreal, as Mercedes produced their 15th 1-2 in 26 races. Lewis Hamilton led home Nico Rosberg to extend his championship lead to 17 points. Even though the pair were always close to each other, with only a 2.2 second gap in the end, the race was criticised for how boring a spectacle it was. Another criticism was the amount of “lift and coast” the drivers had to do throughout the race.
The F1 circus now comes to the Red Bull Ring, which was inserted back into the calender last year after a 11 year gap. Since last year’s race was the first one since 2003, we shall look back at how both drivers fared in 2014 around the Austrian hills.
In the Friday practise sessions, both Mercedes drivers shared the top spot on the time-sheets. Rosberg in FP1, and Hamilton in FP2. In the final practise on Saturday morning, the Mercedes were beaten by the Williams of Valtteri Bottas, with Hamilton second, and Rosberg lying in fifth.
No. 6 NICO ROSBERG (DEU)
Form: 2,1,1,3,2
2014: Grid P3, Race P1
Rosberg qualified third on the grid, behind the two Williams of Felipe Massa and Bottas. On the start, Rosberg was able to overtake Bottas, only to have the Finn take the place straight back. He couldn’t pass the Williams pair on track, so came in for a early pit-stop, and a chance of the “undercut”. It worked, and on lap 27, after overtaking the Force India of Sergio Pérez, the German led the race. He was able to repel a late charge from his team-mate, who had got within two seconds by the end, to take the win and a 29 point lead in the championship.
No. 44 LEWIS HAMILTON (GBR)
Form: 1,3,2,1,1
2014: Grid P9, Race P2
Hamilton had a terrible last part of qualifying, with two error-strewn laps meaning he failed to set a time. On his first lap, he exceeded the track limits, which saw his time eliminated. On his second lap, he spun at Remus. After Pérez’s penalty for his incident in Canada was applied, Hamilton was ninth on the grid. At the start, Hamilton rocketed through the field, and ended lap 1 in fourth place, just under a second behind his team-mate. A slow first pit-stop prevented him from leap-frogging Massa, but was able to pass him a few laps later, to put him in third, behind his team-mate and Bottas. On the second set of pit stops, Hamilton was able to get past Bottas, which put him into second place, where he stayed until the chequered flag.
With the dominance of Mercedes in Canada, and this being a power circuit, many expect the same result here. It has to be noted though that this was the only circuit where Mercedes have failed to get a pole position, or even any of their cars on the front row, since the start of the new V6 era. With Williams strong showing in Canada, can they repeat their qualifying form of last year, and even challenge the Silver Arrows pair for the victory? Will Ferrari upgrades bring them closer to the top, or is it to be another dominant display from the Brackley based outfit? With this being the closest to a German grand prix this year, then can Nico use home advantage to pile pressure on his championship rival, or will Lewis add to his lead as Silverstone approaches?
One thing is for sure. This weekend, the hills are alive with the sound of F1.
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