FORMULA 1 - 2014

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Vettel: We will fight with all we’ve got to win in Austria

Red Bull will be looking to extend their winning form and set the stage for a real title challenge to dominant Mercedes when the grand prix returns to Austria on Sunday, after 11 years.

Fresh from Daniel Ricciardo’s maiden win in Canada two weeks ago, the Austrian team will have home advantage at the Red Bull Ring amid the rolling hills of southern Styria.

But the 24-year-old Australian still has a large gap to close if he is to catch up with current championship leader Nico Rosberg and his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who stand respectively at 140 and 118 points, to his 79.

After taking all first six races of the season – putting it firmly in the lead in the constructors’ standings – Mercedes encountered power problems in Montreal, helping Ricciardo to victory.

This will not happen again, Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff vowed ahead of F1′s return to the historic track at Spielberg: “We will be pushing harder than ever to ensure that we do not give away any more valuable points to our rivals.”

“We know that we cannot afford to slip up as our rivals are always there to take advantage,” added Rosberg.

For Red Bull, the 1-3 finish in Montreal was a perfect set-up for this weekend’s race. After four back-to-back championship titles thanks largely to German star Sebastian Vettel, the team had struggled this season before traveling to Montreal.

But Vettel, third in Canada and fifth in overall standings, was confident that racing on home ground on Sunday “will energise us.”

“I have been looking forward [to this race] since the start of the season. A grand prix on the Red Bull Ring is a very special motivation for our team. We will fight with all we’ve got to stand on top of the podium,” he promised.

Another team to be claiming home advantage will be Toro Rosso – also owned by the Austrian energy drink maker.

“It’s going to be a big weekend for the Red Bull family,” Russia’s Daniil Kvyat has already predicted.

Lotus, Caterham and Marussia, on the other hand, will just be hoping to redeem themselves after seeing all their drivers retire in a crash- and accident-packed race two weeks ago.

“Canada was a kick where it hurts for everyone at the team but we took stock, identified the issues and have taken action to avoid any repeats,” said Lotus Deputy Team Chief Federico Gastaldi.

Caterham driver Kamui Kobayashi added that his team could “benefit a lot from a good weekend” after Montreal’s wash-out.

Force India’s Sergio Perez will meanwhile start with a five-place grid penalty after causing a near 300 km/h crash in Montreal with Felipe Massa of Williams, from which both drivers escaped uninjured.

Many drivers will be racing Sunday on a track they hardly know. Only Massa and former champions Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen have taken part in an Austrian Grand Prix here and the track has undergone a few changes since its takeover by Red Bull.

Fernando Alonso during the 2003 Austrian GP

A lot will therefore hang on the Free Practice sessions on Friday and Saturday and on the drivers’ ability to quickly master the 4.3-kilometre track and its tricky uphill and downhill sections. But the drivers are already relishing the challenge.

“It’s a circuit where you never really get to rest in the cockpit because the track is always going somewhere,” said McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, who will be able to draw on his experience in non-F1 races on the Red Bull Ring.

“But that’s what makes it so enjoyable – every lap is a real adrenaline rush because the corners never stop coming.”

One name that will hover over proceedings this weekend is that of German seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, who emerged from a coma this week following a ski accident.

Winner of the last Austrian Grand Prix here in 2003, he also holds the record for the fastest lap on this track.

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Ricciardo: Beating Vettel says a lot about me

While the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton slug it out for world title spoils, a very different battle is raging within the Red Bull camp.

World champion for the last four seasons consecutively, Sebastian Vettel is now fighting merely to be the top dog within his own team, following the arrival of the surprisingly imposing Daniel Ricciardo.

In Canada two weeks ago, the 24-year-old Australian stepped it up yet another notch, securing his first career win, and Red Bull’s first in 2014.

“It’s fun,” the always-grinning Ricciardo told Austria’s APA news agency. “I’m learning all the time, not just from Seb but from myself. It’s a big challenge when your teammate is a four-time world champion, so if I can beat him, it says a lot about me,” he explained.

It has been reported in recent days not only that Ricciardo has had the 2015 option in his contract already picked up by Red Bull, but that the team would also like to keep him on board for the 2016, ’17 and ’18 seasons.

Ricciardo smiled that the opening seven races of 2014 have been “just fine” for his career, “I think even Seb enjoys it. For many years he had Mark (Webber) as his teammate, now it’s a new challenge. We drive hard against each other but also with a lot of respect.

“If Red Bull wants me to stay,” said Ricciardo, “then I am more than happy to. They’ve done so much for my career. Hopefully I can give them a world championship. To do it with them, as Seb did – starting as a junior and working his way up – would be the greatest achievement.”

While some have been keen to say that Ricciardo has toppled Vettel from his perch, other well-placed insiders are less sure. Webber, Ricciardo’s countryman and predecessor, has hailed the Perth-born star’s season but he also warns that Vettel cannot be so easily written off.

“In [Ricciardo's] first four or five months he has done really well,” he told Fairfax Media, “but Seb has had a tough run with reliability.

“You measure them across the course of a few years and see how they go, because the season has been underway for five minutes in reality. Daniel couldn’t have done much more though,” added Webber.

With a similar assessment of their battle so far is Helmut Marko, the architect of Red Bull’s driver programme.

“They are at eye-level,” he is quoted by Speed Week. “It’s always been the same with us – two strong drivers in the team who are treated equally. But the current image has been distorted by technical problems that have mainly hit Sebastian.”

However, Marko also admits that Vettel has struggled with motivation in 2014, “As a four-time world champion, you come with high expectations, so when you go to the first test and find you have no power from the engine, it’s hard to digest.”

Vettel, who was told by Marko to “raise your game”, has also had to admit that his latest title defence has not been ideal.

“Many things this year are different to the past and for me unfortunately it has not been very good so far,” he said at an event in Vienna on Wednesday. “I have had major problems with the car. As a driver you always want to get the best from yourself and of course also be in front of your teammate, but our real aim is to catch up to the front.”

At the same time, Ricciardo is riding the crest of a wave that took him to the very top of the podium in Canada, “Taking points off Mercedes in Canada was fantastic. but realistically they are still the strongest at the moment. We are a bit dependent on their bad luck to close the gap.”

“Maybe we can be faster by the end of the season, but maybe the championship would have been decided a long way before that,” Ricciardo acknowledged. “This year [the title] will be difficult. Hopefully next year we’ll be in a better position. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be ready.”

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Rosberg: Psychology is a big part of sports

In Canada Mercedes suffered the first hiccup in an almost faultless season, while the internal battle between title contending teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg tilted in favour of the latter who now believes that he has the psychological advantage as the Formula 1 circus return to Austria for round eight of the 2014 F1 world championship.

Rosberg told the Press Association, “If your team-mate has three or four wins in a row that’s obviously going to strengthen his position. So it was really important to bring that run to an end because psychology is a big part of sports.”

“If you have those results behind you, like I do now, it gives you that little bit extra, that little bit of an edge, so it does help. It’s important.”

Rosberg beat Hamilton in Monaco then two weeks later scored second place in Canada while his teammate had a second DNF – his first having been at the season opener in Melbourne – which means that the German is now 22 points ahead in the points table. Nevertheless, he remains cautious in the aftermath of a problem packed race in Canada for the Silver Arrows.

“With reliability problems like that, it’s not good. We need to be bulletproof,” warned Rosberg.

“It’s a work in progress. We’ve been good with reliability, but we have had a few problems now, so we have to keep on going and make sure that it’s 100%, but of course it’s never easy.

“It sucks because our car is fast enough to win every race, so coming away from Canada without the win was a big disappointment for our team. We need to bounce back in Austria and finish one-two in every race – given the car we have,” added the Mercedes driver.

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Mercedes stick with ‘Keep Fighting Michael’ tribute

Nonetheless, further details have emerged. Blick said reports that Schumacher has lost a lot of weight are true, but that Schumacher – who was awake for much of the trip – was able to communicate to the ambulance staff by nodding his head.

Robert Belvi, the chief neurologist at a Barcelona university hospital, said the latest developments in the Schumacher story are positive.

“Waking from a coma means establishing contact with the environment,” he told Spain’s AS newspaper, “for instance the patient can respond to simple commands — open or close your eyes, stick out your tongue.

“If he obeys, there is a clear communication between the brain and the environment. Coming out of coma really is a very good prognosis.

“Schumacher has answered the first question: is he awake or in a vegetative state. Now we have to see where the recovery goes, and hopefully it is to 100 per cent.

“It’s difficult to see the same person as before, in terms of language, movement. This all depends on the injuries he has suffered. But when a patient has woken up, things usually go very fast. The first three months will decide what is Schumacher’s pace of recovery and what the lasting injuries will be,” Dr Belvi added.

World champion Sebastian Vettel and Schumacher’s former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg this week have both said they do not plan to visit Schumacher at this stage.

“That would not be inappropriate,” Rosberg told Bild, “as I’m not in his immediate circle of friends.”

But he tipped Schumacher to eventually win his toughest battle, “I remember one of his last races, in Austin, he was still flat out on every lap even though we were fighting for tenth place or something.”

“Then he sat down with us for a two-hour debriefing. After what he achieved in his career, you could forgive him for doing something else, but not him. That’s why I know that if anyone can fight back from this, it’s Schumi,” added Rosberg.

So, for now, the Mercedes stickers are staying on the team’s championship-leading 2014 cars, confirmed team boss Toto Wolff, “The Schumi sticker will stay on the car as long as Michael is fighting his difficult fight.”

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Force India appeal Perez penalty

Force India have lodged an official request for Sergio Perez's penalty, claiming there are "new elements" that need to be examined.

Perez was handed a five-place grid penalty for Sunday's Austrian GP after he deemed be responsible his and Felipe Massa's crash in Canada.

The Montreal stewards ruled that Perez had changed his racing line, resulting in the duo colliding and slamming in the barriers at force.

Force India, though, have appeal the penalty.

According to the official F1 website, the midfield team wants "new elements" relating to the crash examined.

It is now in the hands of the Austrian stewards who will meet on Friday to discuss the matter.

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No lingering issues at Marussia

Max Chilton says he and Jules Bianchi have moved on from their Canadian crash that put both cars in the wall.

Fighting for position at the start of the Montreal race, Chilton was judged to have been responsible for the crash that took out both drivers at Turn 4.

Despite the stewards' ruling, Chilton felt Bianchi had braked too late while Bianchi believed his team-mate responsible.

The duo, though, have subsequently cleared the air with Chilton confident that it is now behind them.

The Brit said: "I was hugely disappointed when it happened. It was a typical first-lap accident; two drivers in pretty close proximity.

"I was pretty upset after the race, losing that, and for the team because there was a lot of damage. But we've got to draw a line in the sand and move on from that.

"I think we're on a good roll at the moment as a team, we're definitely pulling away from certain teams and catching others up, so we've just got to keep focusing on that now and focus on the future."

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Sutil doesn't regret Sauber move

Even though he has yet to get off the mark this season, Adrian Sutil does not regret his decision to swap to Sauber.

The German driver left Force India at the end of 2013 and moved to Sauber, who outscored Force India in the latter stages of last year's Championship.

This year, though, it has been a very different story.

While Force India have scored 77 points and a podium finish, Sauber have yet to score even one point.

But despite their contrasting fortunes, Sutil says he has no regrets.

"Well I took my decision, I said 'I've had wonderful years with Force India and I needed a change' and I went to Sauber," he told ESPNF1.

"This chapter is done for me and I'm happy to see them being successful. I did a lot of work, maybe this is what they have right now.

"I'm not thinking back 'what a shame I'm not there', no. It's ok, they have a good result there and I'm happy for them. Life goes on in a new team with a new challenge."

The 31-year-old added: "I have no regrets but of course I am motivated to get out of this situation we are in right now and make the same with this team with what Force India are doing right now.

"In Montreal we had a smooth weekend which was important; we had some difficulties in the first ones where little things always went wrong.

"The current situation is not easy which is why it's important to not make mistakes and maximise what we have."

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Kaltenborn: Sauber can bounce back

Monisha Kaltenborn is hoping Sauber can turn their fortunes around this season in much the same way they did last year.

In 2013, the team managed just seven points in the opening 11 grands prix before adding a further 50 in the remaining eight.

This year, though, Sauber's start to the campaign has been even worse.

Struggling to get performance out of an over-weight C33, the team has yet to score a single point, one of only two sitting on zero.

Team boss Kaltenborn is still confident that Sauber can bounce back.

"We had to set a different focus, which means compromises and not allocating so much resource to the new car," she told Autosport.

"We are still hopeful. There is potential in the car. Last year we could unlock it and we have to do the same here."

She added: "The fact we are behind Marussia at the moment is something we certainly don't like.

"I'm not going to dramatise it, because it comes from a race where anything can happen. We were looking sure for points, but let's leave that aside.

"We know we have to improve, but we still have enough races to show what we can do.

"I'm hopeful, like last year, that we will manage that."

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Tyre warmer ban opposed by drivers

F1 drivers oppose the FIA’s plan to ban the use of tyre warmers next year, which may now not go ahead.

The use of tyre warmers is not permitted in most other single-seater racing categories, including IndyCar racing, GP2 and other junior formulae.

However several drivers in today’s press conference spoke out against the plan to ban their use in Formula One. Sergio Perez said it would be “very unsafe to take the blankets away” and added “I don’t think that will really improve much the show”.

Drivers have already tested revised tyre compounds supplied by Pirelli which are intended for use without warmers but expressed concerns over the difficulties of driving with them.

“We all came from junior formulas where you don’t have tyre blankets and we survived perfectly well,” said Max Chilton, “but I think for Formula One we’d drastically have to change the compounds for it to be safe so it’s a good thing we’ve still got them”.

Daniel Ricciardo said the opening moments of races would be especially dangerous on cold tyres: “I think it’s more for safety, especially at the start of the race when there are a lot of cars in close proximity.”

“I don’t think it’s quite necessary right now to do that. I think we can find other measures or other things, better solutions. I think tyre blankets are still a good thing.”

Tyre warmers were introduced to Formula One in the mid-eighties. The FIA previously abandoned an attempt to ban them in 2009.

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F1 to keep weekend format in 2015

Formula 1 has decided that canceling Friday’s Free Practice 1 session is not something they are willing to do just yet. In a meeting this week, the F1 Commission met to discuss future plans for F1 and as AUTOSPORT mentioned recently, the notion of canceling the first practice session on Friday was one of them.

According to their recent news report, the concept was turned down by the commission as promoters feared a negative impact on ticket sales—you think? The whole notion of canceling Friday’s first practice session was to save money but there are other factors being considered although FIA president, Jean Todt, called those a “joke”.

What was left to discuss is the use of tire blankets and the group did not cancel the use of those but did suggest that Pirelli branding on the blankets would reduce their costs. Other changes discussed were expanded Parc Ferme restrictions and the number of team personnel who can attend a race—something in the neighborhood of reducing that number by two.

There was a tweak to 2015 testing, however, and now we will have two in-season sessions with the pre-season testing to take place in Europe only.

The “changes” have to be ratified by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in Munich next week. The timing is crucial as F1’s looming June 30 regulatory deadline is near and any changes after this date require unanimous agreement from all teams. As of now, it only requires a 70% majority via the F1 Strategy group and its representatives.

So these are the big cost-cutting ideas that F1 has come up with? Tire blankets, having two fewer people at a race and possibly looking at a simplified fuel system, braking system with reduced testing? Sometimes you simply have to shake your head and wonder what these folks are truly thinking.

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FIA to back off on Formula 1 driver collision investigations

The FIA is ready to ease back on driving standard investigations from the Austrian Grand Prix to make Formula 1 drivers more willing to battle hard, AUTOSPORT has learned.

Amid ongoing discussions between the sport's key players aimed at improving the show, the perception that drivers are getting discouraged from making overtaking moves because they are worried about penalties for minor contact was aired.

Sources have revealed that during this week's Formula 1 Commission meeting, a number of teams asked the sport's governing body to reconsider the way it deals with racing incidents.

The teams argued that if the FIA no longer automatically investigates every bit of contact on track then there is a chance that drivers could take more risks - which would improve the spectacle.

Following discussions in the meeting, the FIA has agreed to a change of approach in how it deals with clashes on track from now on.

Up until now, under Article 16.1 of the Sporting Regulations, F1 race director Charlie Whiting has had to report to the race stewards any incident between two drivers that has resulted in a collision.

From this weekend's race - providing there is no formal complaint from a team about the actions of another driver - Whiting will leave it entirely up to the stewards to decide whether an incident is serious enough to warrant a punishment.

The stewards will only get involved, though, if there is a situation when one driver is clearly at fault for a crash that could easily have been avoided.

It means that Romain Grosjean would still have been punished for his 2012 Belgian Grand Prix crash, but Max Chilton may have escaped without a reprimand for his clash with Kimi Raikkonen at this year's Monaco Grand Prix.

Whiting informed team managers about the new approach during the pre-Austrian Grand Prix meeting on Thursday afternoon - and made it clear that if the new system was going to work it would require teams not to keep pushing for rivals to be punished in incidents.

Earlier this year, Pastor Maldonado expressed his own fears of drivers not pushing as much as they wanted because of the penalty situation.

"[The threat of penalties means] you cannot race, you need to only stay on track and wait for problems," he said.

"If you attack and your manoeuvre is not that clear, or the guy is defending the place and you have a gamble, and you are fighting, you can be penalised.

"So they [the FIA] need to be slightly more flexible."

MIKA: Great news! Now hopefully we can watch some racing without every little bump being challenged. Although this will not stop the likes of Massa complaining about the smallest of bumps but otherwise, the rest of the field might just get on with the job and race.

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Mercedes, Ferrari to hold F1 'sparks' test in Austrian GP practice

Ferrari and Mercedes are to conduct tests with titanium skid blocks in Austrian Grand Prix Friday practice, with teams now set on bringing back sparking cars to Formula 1.

AUTOSPORT revealed earlier this year that F1 teams were looking at ways to make cars more spectacular, considering ideas including sparking cars, glowing brake discs and vapour trails.

Discussions about the ideas have moved forward, and AUTOSPORT has learned that teams and other representatives on the F1 Commission have given provisional approval for the sparks plan to come into force for 2015.

The current idea is for the sparks to be created by mandating titanium skid blocks within the planks of the cars.

Work is now ongoing among the teams to work out where to locate the skid blocks to produce the best sparks.

As part of those efforts, Ferrari will fit Kimi Raikkonen's car with two skid blocks for the opening day of running at the Red Bull Ring, with Mercedes fitting some in a different position on Nico Rosberg's car.

It is understood that Mercedes and Ferrari are unlikely to make any other changes to the cars, such as lowering the ride height, to enhance the chances of sparks being produced.

The work in Austria will likely be just the first step in a number of tests that will take place over the remainder of the season to ensure that the rule is successful when it comes into force for 2015.

The introduction of mandatory skid blocks still needs to be ratified by the FIA's World Motor Sport Council, which is meeting in Munich next week.

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Mercedes F1 team tweaks cooling of electronics system for Austria

The Mercedes Formula 1 team has made changes to the cooling of its control electronics system to prevent a repeat of the problem that cost it victory in Canada.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton lost the use of the MGU-K on the 36th and 37th laps of the race respectively, meaning they lost all ERS power.

While Rosberg managed to bring the car home second, Hamilton retired with rear brake problems.

Mercedes has completed a comprehensive analysis of the failures in the high-voltage control electronics (CE) that led to the loss of ERS, deeming that it was because of insufficient cooling.

AUTOSPORT understands that this was not because of any weakness in the cooling capacity of the Mercedes, but down to the configuration that it ran in Canada.

Mercedes has reproduced the conditions of the failure on the dyno and understood the cooling requirements and taken action to prevent a repeat.

This includes revising the operating procedures to manage any similar problems and also deeper understanding of the cooling required according to ambient conditions and the track configuration.

Mercedes has also confirmed that there is no need to change the base hardware of the control electronics.

Hamilton is confident that there will be no repeat of the problem and that the fix will not compromise the pace of the car.

"We definitely haven't lost any performance, we would only have gained from that experience as you do generally from all experiences regardless of if you lose points," said Hamilton when asked by AUTOSPORT about whether he was confident the problem had been solved.

"You step back from it and a lot of work goes into understanding the situation and then rectifying it.

"So, if faced with a situation like that [again] I think firstly we will be able to handle it a lot better and, secondly, the car has been fixed so it won't happen again."

Rosberg, who held on to finish second and only lost the lead to Daniel Ricciardo with two laps remaining, does not expect a repeat of the problem and insists that solving it has not required the team to be conservative with its cooling packaging.

"They understand it and are working on it to try and resolve the problem and we are confident that it's not going to happen here," said Rosberg.

"It's something we will sort out without needing to do go conservative."

SIMILAR ISSUES FOR WILLIAMS

Valtteri Bottas said that Mercedes-powered Williams had similar problems with cooling in Canada, although the problem did not become serious enough to cost it ERS power

"They are quite similar," said said when asked by AUTOSPORT if the Canada problems were similar to those encountered by Mercedes.

"We were a bit on the limit with the cooling of the car, for the engine and the brakes, and will definitely learn from that."

"I think many of the Mercedes cars have [the same issue].

"As the temperature raised, I think many of the teams underestimated it."

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Austrian Grand Prix: Rosberg fends off Hamilton

Nico Rosberg took his third win of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix ahead of Lewis Hamilton despite a determined charge by the Briton to second from ninth on the grid. The German’s win extends his World Drivers’ Championship lead over Hamilton to 29 points. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas claimed his first podium finish with third place. ahead of pole winner Felipe Massa.

At the start, pole position man Felipe Massa made a solid getaway to briefly hold the lead. Behind him Bottas lost second place to Rosberg into Turn One but managed to wrestle back the position at the following corner.

Behind them Hamilton made a storming start, climbing to fift,h from ninth on the grid. He went one better in the final turn of lap one to pass Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and he then settled in behind team-mate Rosberg as the field crossed the line to begin lap two.

Sebastian Vettel though was in trouble. At the start of lap two he slowed dramatically and reported that he had lost power. He pulled over and seemed set to stop but then mysteriously his Red Bull RB10 seemed to right itself. He was told to ‘go racing’ by his race engineer. The champion though was a lap down on the field and a significant recovery looked impossible.

The Red Bull driver soldiered on at the back of the field, surviving a collision with Esteban Gutierrez along the way, until he was eventually told to retire his car midway through the race.

Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo also had a rocky start. He was pushed wide in turn two on the first lap he dropped from fifth on the grid to eighth. He was soon after informed that he should not use his overtake button for the whole race and, hampered by power problems, he was soon down to tenth.

With the opening Super-soft tyres being used by the bulk of the field graining badly, the first round of pit stops wasn’t long in coming. Jean-Eric Vergne was the first in, on lap nine, the Toro Rosso swapping the Option tyres for Prime Softs. He was followed a lap later by Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and on the following lap by Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat and Ricciardo.

Rosberg pitted from third place on lap 11, allowing Hamilton to fly past. Hamilton couldn’t find the pace necessary on his own in-laps and stop, however, and when he emerged after his own stop on lap 13 he found himself just behind Rosberg.

Leader Massa, meanwhile, was readying himself for his tyre change on lap 14. His stop was far from perfect however and when the Brazilian emerged he found himself behind Rosberg and was then quickly passed by Hamilton.

Bottas’s stop on lap 15 was much quicker, however, and the Finn was able to split the leading Mercedes after taking on Soft tyres. The order on lap 16, then, was Sergio Perez, who had started on Softs and had yet to pit, followed by Rosberg, Bottas, Hamilton, Massa and McLaren’s Jenson Button, who had also started on the Soft tyre, from 11th on the grid.

On lap 27 Rosberg passed Perez for the lead, the Mexican ceding the position without much of a fight having been told by his pit wall that the race would come back him as his strategy played out later on.

Bottas too sneaked through but Hamilton had to wait until the next tour before he could pass the Force India. The delay allowed Rosberg to pop in a fast lap. Hamilton responded with his own, but the gap had by now drifted to 2.4 seconds.

Perez eventually made his first stop on lap 29, taking on a second set of Softs before rejoining in eighth position.

At the front the battle was hotting up again as Bottas and Hamilton closed in on Rosberg, who made a small mistake. The Williams driver got to within a second of the leading Mercedes, with Hamilton in close attendance, but Rosberg soon responded, and the gap widened to 1.1 seconds.

Hamilton made his second stop in lap 39, taking on a final set of Softs and rejoining in fifth. Rosberg though kept going for another lap and following a three-second stop he retained his advantage over Bottas and Hamilton. When Bottas pitted on lap 41 his relatively tardy 3.4 seconds stop allowed Hamilton to move ahead and claim second.

Massa made his final stop on lap 43, switching to Soft tyres in 3.4 seconds. The Brazilian then unfortunately found himself behind Sergio Perez, who was set for a longer stint on his second set of Soft tyres.

On the road the leader was Alonso and the Ferrari driver continued until lap 47 when he took on his final set of Soft tyres. He emerged in sixth place behind Massa. At the front, Rosberg led by 1.6 seconds from Hamilton, with Bottas a further 5.7 seconds behind.

The question now was whether Perez in P4 and Button in P7 behind Alonso could make any impact once they made their final stop for Super-soft tyres

Unfortunately for Force India, the answer was not much. Perez took on the Option tyre on lap 55 and rejoined in eighth position, five seconds behind McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen. The Mexican had enough pace in hand to pass Magnussen for sixth place, on lap 66, but with a 13 second deficit to Alonso and just laps left, sixth was the best that Perez could do.

Button, meanwhile made his stop on lap 58 but lodged behind tenth-placed Raikkonen in the closing stages, the McLaren driver failed to make a significant move.

At the front the battle for the lead finally flared in the final three laps, with Hamilton attempting to get inside DRS range of his team-mate. With a lap left and with Hamilton just 1.1 second behind his team-mate both drivers were told they could use all the tools at their disposal. As the pair went through turn three Rosberg lit up his brakes.

Hamilton saw an opportunity but he too erred in the corner and the chance was gone. Rosberg hung on to claim his third win of the season. The win means he stretches his championship lead over Hamilton to 29 points.

With Hamilton second, Bottas took his first podium finish with third, ahead of Massa and Alonso. Perez held onto sixth ahead of Magnussen but Ricciardo made and excellent last-lap pass on Hulkenberg to steal eighth. The final points position went to Raikkonen who easily kept Button at bay.

Austrian Grand Prix driver quotes:

Rosberg: “It wasn’t the easiest of races, trying to manage certain things happening, but I had a very very fast car again but it is great to win again. It was also great to get another one-two. It’s great to be back in Austria, it’s great to have a race here again and the fans have been fantastic. I am looking forward to the next one [at Silverstone], it is the home race so another one-two would be great to give the guys in the garage something to cheer about.”

Hamilton: “I enjoyed it, it’s much better than being in the front all the way but going nowhere, it’s great to see how strong Mercedes is right now. I am always on maximum motivation but today I knew I had to pull something special out of the bag to achieve what I wanted. It was important to get a one two for the team. I was so so fast in practice that I should have been on pole. I was really happy with the start and after that it was a really good fun race. This has been a bad weekend for me but to get second place on a bad weekend was great.”

Bottas: “I am really really happy and I am finding it hard to put it into words. The race was just what we needed at this point, the car was good again today and I am just grateful for the guys for giving me such a good car.”

Ricciardo: “It was all unfortunate, we would have loved to have given the local fans a lot more love here today. On the drivers parade it was awesome to see so many fans and I think we all felt good going into the race. We tried to do all we could but unfortunately we couldn’t really get much more from the race today. This weekend there have been teams who have come here and have improved, Williams and Toro Rosso, they have bought some upgrades so it feels a few teams have made bigger strides here this weekend but hopefully we will be back on form at Silverstone.”

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Vettel’s nightmare season goes from bad to worse

Quadruple Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel retired from Red Bull’s home Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday in the German’s second blank in the last three races.

Vettel, who had started in 12th position at the Red Bull-owned circuit, had a mechanical problem after the opening lap when he informed the team that he had lost drive.

“OK, for some reason I got drive again,” the 26-year-old then reported over the team radio after crawling along and dropping to last place.

Vettel had to pit on lap 30 for a new front wing after making contact with the back of Mexican Esteban Gutierrez’s Sauber as they battled for 20th place, an incident that stewards were investigating.

The team then instructed him to return to the pits and retire on lap 35.

“We stopped because we wanted to save some mileage. We were hoping to get a safety car but it wasn’t coming so it was pretty pointless to go around a lap down to the field,” he told reporters.

Vettel won the last nine races of 2013 on his way to a fourth successive title but he has had a troubled 2014 with the change to new V6 turbo hybrid power units and a strong new teammate in Australian Daniel Ricciardo to contend with.

“Obviously, it has been a bad first half of the season with a few retirements and other problems, but I guess it’s part of the game. Equally we were able to learn a lot today and it’s good that Daniel got some points for us,” mused the reigning world champion.

Ricciardo won the previous race in Canada, where Vettel finished third, and was third overall in the championship before Sunday’s eighth round of the season with 19 points more than his teammate.

Vettel,who also retired in Monaco and the opener in Australia, concluded, “It would be bad to say I got used to it, but obviously we have had a lot of problems so far already and I got calmer when the problem occurred.”

MIKA: I'm following Mercedes but I really feel for Vettel. I think this is extreme bad luck for him, the team will most certainly do something about it. Looking at Helmut Marko from the braodcast, he didn't look impressed.

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Bottas: I’m really happy we showed what we can do

Valtteri Bottas turned his 27 grand prix start into his first ever Formula 1 podium at the Austrian Grand Prix, where he qualified second and went on to be the best of the rest as Mercedes found their dominance agaiun at Red Bull Ring. Bottas spoke about his afternoon at work in the Tyrian hillside.

Your best-ever grand prix finish to follow up your best-ever qualifying performance yesterday – you’re starting to really make your mark on the sport. I guess the decisive moment for you was the first round of stops with Felipe and getting ahead.

VB: Yeah, I think overall the best-ever weekend. So, really happy. Really happy for us as a team. We were really strong the whole weekend and that’s down to all the hard work. Of course it was a good track for us. You never know what’s going to happen in the next race but overall we are making progress. Step-by-step we are getting there, getting closer to the positions where we belong. I’m really happy. The race today: it was really nice to have a really nice, clean race. Good points for the team. We’ve had some issues lately, been a lot of talk, not maximising car we had but I think today we showed what we can do.

Do you think with a slightly different strategy the win could have been possible today because your pace was quite strong and you were simply undercut by first Nico and then Lewis at both pit stops?

VB: Yeah, it’s a difficult one. We need to always – like we always do – we need to analyse if there’s anything we could have done better. It’s difficult to say. Today it was difficult to know the real difference between the option and prime because the prime tyre has been taking quite a long time to warm up so we really thought it would be really difficult to undercut because it takes many laps to warm up and get a good pace after the supersoft tyre. Yeah, we need to analyse, it’s difficult to say. Yeah, too early to say. For the moment, I’m really happy with what we’ve done as a team, third and fourth. Obviously we always aim for better.

Yesterday at Williams you looked in a way pretty sure you wouldn’t win the race…

I think that from all the data that we had from practice we knew that in the race it’s going to be difficult and overall Mercedes have still got the quickest car but we really nailed it yesterday so we knew that maybe Sunday could be difficult but actually it was a bit better than I expected. We were really close to them on pace.

Was that because it was 14 degrees warmer today than it was on Friday, do you think?

VB: Difficult to say that was the factor or not, I don’t know what Mercedes did just before qualifying with the car set-up. I don’t know. It’s difficult to say; we need to analyse.

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Hamilton: From ninth to second shows the pace that I had

Lewis Hamilton admitted after his botched qualifying that he would be in damage limitation mode at the Austrian Grand Prix, and the Mercedes driver delivered on his goal by finishing second to teammate Nico Rosberg in an enthralling contest. Here is his version of what went down at the Red Bull Ring.

A good recovery after a tough qualifying… At the end of the race did you have to manage any issues and could you fight Nico?

Lewis Hamilton: I don’t know. I have to have a look at the feedback and just see what the team say about the stops. Maybe my positioning is not right, you know obviously in those situations you’re just pushing. But the guys have done a fantastic job. To get another one-two here is just incredible. This track has been fantastic and the fans have been insane this weekend, so thank you all for the support.

The platform for your result today was that stunning start, off the grid from ninth into fifth on that opening lap. Tell us about that and then also about how you made your way through the field. Clearly that second round of stops was important for getting in front of Valtteri.

LH: Yep, it was a good start. We’ve been working very hard on our starts throughout the year and the team have done a great job to help out with that, and yeah, so I got one of the best starts I’ve ever had really and positioned the car in the correct places. It would have been great if I’d started where perhaps I should have started this weekend – but damage limitation. To get from ninth to second and be pressuring Nico at the end of the race really shows the pace that I had this weekend.

Can you tell us more about the final five laps, about the chance to overtake Nico?

LH: There wasn’t an opportunity to overtake.

Now there are 29 points difference between you and Nico…

LH: Well, Nico’s done a great job. He’s finished every race and fortunately hasn’t had any car problems so it’s inevitable.

After one your stops we actually saw some flames coming out of your front right. To what extent was the braking problems that you suffered hampering your ability to really take the fight to Nico in the final laps?

LH: Yeah, I think it was probably the same for both of us, maybe, I don’t know. I need to check later but it was constantly an issue during the race. Obviously I was following people all the time so that’s not always the best but I was being told to back off quite a lot, unfortunately. The last couple of laps I tried to eke it up a little bit more but still I had to be cautious, but I’m just grateful I finished. I didn’t finish the last race, that’s really got to be goal for the next few races, trying to actually finish.

You lost 1.9 seconds across the two stops to Nico, very evenly split in each stop. Is that frustrating, because for a long time you were running about 1.9 seconds behind Nico at the end and did the team tell you the reasons for it?

LH: They haven’t yet. I didn’t even know I lost that much time, they didn’t feel that fast. Could be my positioning. I don’t know. I’ll obviously investigate… obviously it is frustrating when you lose time because you’re constantly doing everything you can to gain a tenth here, a tenth there, so when you lose quite a chunk… two seconds over two pit stops it’s tough but the guys… at least we haven’t really made any mistakes. If we step back a little bit and look, we’ve had so many one-twos this is just incredible this year so I’m hoping in the future we won’t have those problems.

You seem to have a brake problem; this problem is coming back since Montreal or maybe even before. You’ve had this problem during this race. What can you do against these troubles, to get over it finally? What can you do together with the team?

LH: I don’t know. Going into the race I wasn’t aware that we had a brake problem, so it was news to me when we started to… when they started to speak to me about it. We had the problem in the last race but the last race was the rears and in this race it was the fronts, a little bit different perhaps. I’ll be guessing what’s gone wrong but it didn’t look like it was the same as Nico; maybe it was, I don’t know. I think they said maybe it was. We just need to make improvements.

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Ferrari: Overall the gaps are coming down

Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth and tenth respectively in this the eighth round of the Formula 1 World Championship.

Marco Mattiacci: “The way this season is going becomes particularly evident when one races at a track where what counts the most is the power of the car. Today, we tried to get the most out of what we have and we believe we have taken another small step in the right direction. Unfortunately, we were unable to demonstrate that with Kimi, who did not have an easy time on this circuit, but we are sure that with the progressive improvement of the car he too will be able to show what he’s capable of. Fernando could not have done any better today. He managed to maintain a great pace for the whole race, at times even quicker than the leaders and this must serve as an incentive to continue developing the F14 T. Overall the gaps are coming down and the number of teams fighting it out behind the front runners is increasing. So our aim is to exploit all our potential to be at the front of the pursuing group.”

Fernando Alonso: “I think that I can consider this to be my best race of the season, because finishing eighteen seconds off the Mercedes in a race without a Safety Car or any particular incidents, is a good result. It was impossible to keep Hamilton behind me and fifth place is really the best we could do today, because the first four cars were quicker and therefore deserved to finish ahead of us. We pushed hard all race without any problems, which means that little by little, we are improving. Sure, there’s still a long way to go but the aim is still to do well and score points. Each track is a different story and we will always try our best.”

Kimi Raikkonen: “This was another very difficult race for me, despite having gone in a different direction yesterday to try and improve the performance. Unfortunately, it did not bring the improvements I’d hoped for and again here I found myself fighting the handling of the car. At the start I made up one place, but already on the second lap I began to have a problem with the brakes overheating and this meant I had to slow down. At the time of my first pit stop, my tyres were completely worn and on my in-lap alone I lost two places. We should definitely have stopped sooner. Compared to the start of the season, progress has been made, even if there’s still a lot to do as our speed still doesn’t allow us to fight for the top places.”

Pat Fry: “After a good start both Kimi and Fernando struggled a lot on the Supersoft because of graining on the rears which slowed their pace. In this stint, a gap grew to the Mercedes-engined cars which made the most of their superior power down the three straights. Apart from the actual result, we can nevertheless be pleased because in the second and third stints, especially with Fernando, we were one of the quickest cars on track and that shows that, race by race, we are making small steps forward. Kimi struggled more than Fernando and unfortunately, with him we paid a high price for his in-lap before his first stop when the rear tyres were on the limit. Now we must look ahead to the next race in Silverstone, a very different circuit to this one, where we can also expect the Red Bulls to be back on form. As usual we will try and be in the fight and to prepare our car as well as possible for this new challenge.”

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Williams: Very proud of this result

Valtteri Bottas achieved his first ever Formula One podium with Felipe Massa finishing fourth after a competitive race in Austria.

Felipe led from Valtteri at the end of the first lap and maintained a gap to the chasing Mercedes until the first round of pitstops

Both Mercedes were able to get ahead of the Williams during the pitstops but the team did a great job with Valtteri recording the quickest stop of the race

The team scored a valuable 27 points moving Williams up to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of its home race at Silverstone.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: “I believe we got everything out of today that we could have done. It was a difficult race in terms of managing brakes, systems on the car and tyres, and that dictated what we could do with strategy. The two car crews did a great job to manage tyres and get us to the end of the race and both drivers drove a sensible race. Considering where the team was 12 months ago, to where we are today, everyone should be very proud of this result and enjoy this moment. Securing 27 points is a great result today.”

Valtteri Bottas: “It’s difficult to explain how I feel right now. That was the best champagne I’ve ever tasted. All the hard work that the team puts in shows in moments like this. I had one pitstop that really put in me in the fight and that changed my race, so well done to the boys for that. I had put in a good lap before that and so I got in front on Felipe and from there I could manage my pace with the cars in front. Having both cars score good points is what we wanted and so third and fourth for the team is a great result. There are still two places to go up the podium, but for now we will enjoy this moment.”

Felipe Massa: “I am very happy for Valtteri, he did a great job. We had a good fight with the Mercedes but it was clear we were never going to win. I had to manage my tyres the whole race and also struggled with traffic. To stop first and come back out fourth is a bit disappointing but that’s racing. It was a positive weekend for the whole team and an emotional one as well. The main thing is that we got 27 points which means we move up in the Constructors’ Championship. We have progressed a lot but there still work to do to close the gap to Mercedes.”

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Sauber: Our work today is not acceptable

The Sauber F1 Team’s drivers Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutiérrez finished the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg in a disappointing 13th (Sutil) and 19th (Gutiérrez). The decisive factor for the way the race went was Esteban’s first pit stop, which went wrong. The wheel nut was not secured, however, he received the instruction to move off, but stopped the car immediately afterwards.

Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication during this incident and Adrian Sutil was asked to stop his car. Sutil lost a lot of time and Gutiérrez got a ten second stop and go penalty.

Esteban Gutiérrez: “It was not a satisfying race. We made a mistake during the first pit stop, as the wheel nut on the right rear wheel was not secured, so I had to stop in the pit lane and my mechanics had to pull me back. Afterwards, I got a ten second stop and go penalty. Apart from this incident, I was trying to get the most out of the car. I got a lot of blue flags, so I had to let other cars by, which resulted in slower lap times. We tried by compromising qualifying in order to get a better race pace, but it didn’t seem to pay off. It was difficult to keep the tyres alive.”

Adrian Sutil: “From a driving perspective, it was a good race. I had a good start and was able to gain two positions on the first lap. Up to lap 15, after my first pit stop, everything went according to our plan. Suddenly, I got the instruction through the radio to stop the car immediately. However, the radio communication was not for me, but for Esteban. After telling me this I immediately continued in the race, but I had already lost quite a lot of time due to this incident.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “Our work today is not acceptable. Such a mistake at a pitstop must simply not happen. We will carefully look into our procedures and the consequences, and we will take appropriate measures. Today, both drivers put in good performances, but this doesn’t help when we make mistakes. We cannot afford that. Concerning the event in Spielberg, I would like to forward a big thank you to the organisers and the spectators for welcoming us to this great race and creating such a fantastic atmoshpere.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “What we delivered today is inexcusable. Our performance was decent, considering our potential, but the mistakes at the pit stop spoiled our race. Procedures were not adhered to. As a result we stopped the wrong car on the track. Equally unacceptable was Esteban’s first pit stop, during which he was released although the wheel nut on his rear right wheel didn’t go on. At the same time, Adrian, who was out on the track, was stopped by a radio communication which was simply a huge mistake.“

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McLaren: Not the result we were hoping for

On different strategies (Kevin started on Option tyres before moving to Primes; Jenson, the opposite), we attempted a pincer movement in order to improve on our grid positions.

That choice proved only partially successful – on the more conventional strategy, Kevin was able to run high in the top 10 throughout the race. He lost out on sixth to Sergio Perez in the closing laps after proving unable to hold off the Force India driver, who was running on markedly fresher (Option) rubber. Kevin consequently finished seventh.

Jenson had a difficult afternoon. From 11th on the grid, he dropped to 13th after being pushed wide at the first corner. Thereafter, he wasn’t quite able to get his tyres working, and spent the last two stints pushing to usurp Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who was running ahead of him for much of the race. Jenson eventually finished 11th.

Kevin Magnussen MP4-29-01: “I really thought we were going to finish sixth today, but Checo [Perez] just had too much pace at the end of the race. That wasn’t great, but it’s positive that we’re making improvements. We’ve made progress this weekend, but we still need to keep pushing: we still need to find good, efficient downforce.

“Still, I think we got everything out of our package this weekend. It’s tough racing in the midfield pack, like we did today, but we’re going to get there. It’s maybe difficult to see it from the outside, but, believe me, we’re making improvements all the time.”

Jenson Button MP4-29-04: “I’d hoped we could make up some places today, but it’s never easy to overtake around here. We went for a different strategy – starting on Primes – but it didn’t really work for us.

“At the start, Nico [Hulkenberg] pushed me wide at the exit of Turn One – there was no real need for that as there was enough room for both of us – so I lost a couple of places. From then on, my race was all about sitting in the train, waiting for people ahead of me to pit, and trying to make my strategy work – which in the end I couldn’t. It was a long afternoon’s work for 11th place. I’m now really looking forward to Silverstone.”

Eric Boullier, Racing director, McLaren Mercedes: “Kevin drove extremely maturely all afternoon, balancing the need to turn fast laps when required with the ever-present necessity to manage tyre wear.

“For the first half of the race, he was able to maintain a steady sixth place, best of the rest behind the two Mercedes-Benzes, the two Williamses and Fernando’s [Alonso] Ferrari. He did well to hold that position until lap 66, when, running on worn Primes, he was unable to prevent Checo, running on fresh Options, from passing him.

“Jenson was never quite able to compensate for his less-than-optimal grid position, but he nonetheless did his level best to capitalise on an adventurous race strategy which in the end didn’t quite work out. As a result, he was able to finish only 11th, through no fault of his own.

“In summary, then, seventh and 11th isn’t the result we were hoping for, but, as I said yesterday, we’re on the right development path, even if the gains we’re making are frustratingly incremental at the moment. We’ll continue to work as hard as we possibly can in an effort gradually to enlarge those gains, but it won’t be an instant fix.

“Even so, we’re very much looking forward to the Santander British Grand Prix, at Silverstone, the spiritual home of British motorsport, where, once again, you can be well sure that Jenson and Kevin will both be driving their hearts out in an effort to put on a good show for McLaren’s many UK-based fans, who’ll be cheering them on from the packed grandstands all around the circuit.”

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Force India: Encouraging to see both our cars in the points

Sahara Force India scored ten points in today’s Austrian Grand Prix with Sergio Perez racing to sixth place and Nico Hulkenberg finishing in ninth place. Sergio Perez also set the fastest lap of the race.

Sergio Perez: “Today we got a very positive result for the team, especially considering where we started the afternoon. When you start in 16th it is always going to be difficult to make up ground, but I had a very strong start and made up a good few positions. It was especially important to pass Jenson [button] because he was on a similar strategy to mine: it was a key moment for my race. The strategy worked; we showed once more that we can manage the tyres well, and we had a very strong race pace, as we have had all year. It was nice to be in the lead for a while, although we obviously knew that the cars behind us were on a different strategy. The only regret is that without the grid penalty I would have been further up the grid, which would have made a big difference because we had the pace to fight for a podium today. It’s nice to be back in the points after two disappointing races: the car is improving and we are in good shape.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “It was quite a tough afternoon and more difficult than I was expecting. Inside the car I was struggling with the balance quite a lot, which hurt our pace and also had an impact on the tyre wear. So I think it was just a general lack of pace which stopped me from being able to get a better result. Checo obviously had better race pace, even though he was on a different strategy, so we need to understand why that was the case. It’s good to continue picking up points and I had some good battles this afternoon, especially with Ricciardo on the final lap. I was fighting hard to keep him behind but he had a tyre advantage and I could not hold him off.”

Dr Vijay Mallya, Team Principal & Managing Director: “All in all it’s encouraging to see both our cars come home in the points to maintain our fourth place in the championship. Checo’s race was particularly noteworthy when you consider that he started from P16. It was a very mature drive and he did a fantastic job of looking after the tyres and making an alternative strategy work. His pace was excellent, he set the fastest lap of the race, and he didn’t put a wheel wrong. The opening lap was the key to making the strategy work because he overtook five cars. Nico’s two-stop race followed a similar pattern to most of the frontrunners, but he struggled for outright pace on the soft tyres. He still picked up a couple of points – continuing his run of points in every race this year, which shows how consistent he has been. It sets us up nicely for the British Grand Prix where we will try and deliver another strong showing at our local track.”

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Lotus: Obvious where we are lacking against our rivals

Both Lotus F1 Team cars saw the chequered flag in the first Austrian Grand Prix since 2003 with Pastor Maldonado finishing just shy of the points in twelfth position and Romain Grosjean in fourteenth. Hot conditions and the undulating nature of the Spielberg circuit meant a number of cars experienced issues, with both Lotus F1 Team cars suffering from braking concerns.

Romain started from the pit lane following a gearbox change with new super soft tyres, pitting on laps 3 and 27 for new soft tyres.

Pastor started from thirteenth position on new soft tyres, stopping for a new set of softs on lap 26 and a new set of super softs on lap 56.

Romain Grosjean: “Today hasn’t been easy. We had various issues during the race to add to our struggle for overall performance so it was quite a challenge! We stopped very early for soft tyres but unfortunately we soon experienced graining from these which made it difficult for the rest of the race. Looking at the past, the team has always managed to make a great comeback. It might be a bit of a big build-up this time, but I know that we will work hard and do all we can to fight back to where we want to be.”

Pastor Maldonado: “For me in the car it was actually quite a good weekend. We finished the race which is positive and we made the most of the package we had today. We are losing a lot of time in the slow speed corners and we need to keep improving in this area to be more like our good high speed corner performance. Unfortunately we had some brake issues from very early on in the race so I wasn’t able to fight others around me, even though it was nice to be running in the top ten during the course of the race. After that, it was a case of saving fuel and brakes to get to the chequered flag. I think Silverstone will suit us much better.”

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: “There are positives from today. Both cars made the chequered flag in what’s been a difficult race for many teams. Pastor and Romain really got their heads down and made the most of the cars under them and should be applauded for today’s drives. It is obvious where we are lacking against our rivals so our focus going forwards is clear.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “That was a tough race in many respects. The nature of this circuit is definitely a challenge for us and we had concerns over the brakes after the hot conditions here today. We’ve certainly learnt a lot from our return to Spielberg and our focus now turns to the familiarity of Silverstone which should suit our package far better.”

Simon Rebreyend, Renault Sport F1 track support leader: “Unfortunately that was the best result we could have expected today from our starting positions. We extracted as much as we could from the power unit in the race, both in terms of energy management and power, but we were not close enough to fight for the points. We will work with the team to be in a better position for its home race in Silverstone in two weeks.”

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Gutierrez handed Silverstone penalty

Esteban Gutierrez has been given a 10-place grid penalty for next month's British Grand Prix after the Sauber driver's release from the pits was adjudged to be unsafe.

During his first pit stop in Sunday's Austrian GP, his mechanics struggled to fit the right rear wheel and while the Mexican only made it approximately 20m down the pit-lane before his garage realised their error, a mandatory penalty applies.

While he was given a 10-second stop-go penalty during the race, he will now also be docked 10 positions after qualifying at Silverstone in two weeks' time.

The stewards decided against penalizing Sebastian Vettel after the German broke his Red Bull's front wing when he tried to overtake Gutierrez.

The decision was made in accordance with "the new guidelines from the Formula One Commission" that calls for fewer penalties for minor incidents.

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Raikkonen: Give me more power!

When told over the Ferrari team radio during the Austrian Grand Prix to catch up to his nearest on track rival, Kimi Raikkonen answered in typical forthright manner that has become his trademark.

Raikkonen’s race engineer came over the radio three quarters of the way into the race: “We are racing Button, we need two tenths per lap.”

The Finn snapped back in response: “Give me more power!”

Raikkonen has notably struggled since returning to the Italian team in 2014, but so too has Ferrari with its V6-turbo powered F14T.

The 2007 F1 World Champion said after the race, “This was another very difficult race for me, despite having gone in a different direction yesterday [with set up] to try and improve the performance. Unfortunately, it did not bring the improvements I’d hoped for and again here I found myself fighting the handling of the car.”

“Kimi complained about the engine,” new team boss Marco Mattiacci conceded after the Austrian Grand Prix, “but it’s up to us to give him a car with which he can deliver his value.”

Raikkonen added, “Compared to the start of the season, progress has been made, even if there’s still a lot to do as our speed still doesn’t allow us to fight for the top places.”

Meanwhile, tempers are fraying all over the Maranello based camp, whose cool Jean Todt / Brawn / Schumacher era is now a distant memory.

Reports of discontent within the outfit are rife, with Marca reporting that, after the Canadian Grand Prix, Mattiacci had an angry exchange with Pat Fry, whose technical role at Ferrari has been in doubt for several months since the arrival of James Allison, and who now leads the 2015 project.

Marca claims that Fry offered to resign after the Montreal row.

“It’s rubbish,” a spokesman insisted. “Do not listen to these reports.”

Mattiacci, however, does not deny that a frank exchange after Canada took place, as Ferrari plots a desperate course to improve.

“I like meetings where people talk openly and honestly and no one is silent,” he told Spanish television in Austria. “After Canada, we held meetings to discuss our weaknesses and in what direction we should go for the future.”

That is because, although Raikkonen wants more “power”, Mattiacci said Ferrari needs to work on every single area of the car for 2015, not just the underperforming engine.

“I would not isolate one area,” he said. “I do not think that all of our problems are related to the engine, although the one Mercedes has produced is excellent.”

Indeed, in Austria, Mercedes-powered cars totally dominated the top seven finishing positions – with the only exception being Fernando Alonso in fifth place. Raikkonen finished tenth, albeit nearly 30 seconds behind his teammate.