SPIELBERG, Austria, (CMC) – Lewis Hamilton squandered the advantage of pole position and was forced to play second fiddle as Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg won the Austrian Grand Prix for the second straight year here yesterdayThe Brit led off but was overtaken by Rosberg on turn one and despite his valiant attempts, failed to make up ground and finished just over 3.5 seconds behind the German who clocked one minute, 30:16.930 minutes.
Williams’ Felipe Massa was third while Ferrari’s Sebastien Vettel claimed fourth spot.
“It was a pretty straightforward race. I didn’t have the best start. I had a problem with the revs in that, when I came off the throttle, the revs stayed up,” said Hamilton, whose paternal grandparents are Grenadian.
“So, when I dropped the clutch, I had too much wheel spin and lost ground. That’s something we’ll look at after the race. Then, I was keeping up with Nico in the first stint – but in the second phase he just had better pace.
“At the end it was just about bringing it home – but Nico deserved the win so congratulations to him.”
The victory reduced Hamilton’s lead to just ten points, with the reigning World champion on 169 points.
For Rosberg, the win was his 11th career and the result also marked the fifth one-two of the current Formula One season for Mercedes.