Austrian Grand Prix: Hamilton loses the race at the start – Rosberg wins

Lewis Hamilton was overtaken at the start of the Austrian Grand Prix by Nico Rosberg, and failed to get his place back with Rosberg taking the win.

The talk of the start of the Austrian Grand Prix should have been Nico Rosberg’s pass on his team mate – which led to a win for the German – but it was actually about a major crash between Alonso’s McLaren and Raikkonen’s Ferrari.

The coming together of Alonso and Raikkonen seems to be down to Raikkonen losing control under acceleration, catching  Alonso, who ended up sliding along the barrier and ending up on top of Raikkonen’s Ferrari. Both drivers seemed to be unhurt, but the crash brought out the safety car.

That put paid to any chance of Lewis Hamilton re-taking the front spot, although he kept close to Rosberg right through to the pit stop.

Hamilton came out of the pit stop still behind Rosberg, but a five second penalty for crossing the white line on the exit effectively put paid to his chances of the win, although he got closer as the race progressed and Rosberg started to fret about his car. But it ended with Rosberg winning and Hamilton settling for second spot.

Behind the top two Mercedes, Vettel didn’t manage to raise a realistic challenge – despite some expectation – in his Ferrari, and lost his third spot to Massa’s Williams after a slow stop, and despite making up time it was still Massa who finished in third with Vettel having to settle for fourth.

Massa’s team mate – Valtteri Bottas – managed to fight off Hulkenberg in the Force India for fifth, with Pastor Maldonado taking seventh after a pass in the closing laps of the race on Max Verstappen, with Sergio Perez taking ninth and Daniel Ricciardo salvaging the last points for Red Bull.

Retirees – apart from Alonso and Raikkonen – were Jenson Button, Grosjean, Sainz and Stevens.