Another win for Nico! Valtteri's first F1 podium! - 2014 Austrian Grand Prix

Sorry that I'm posting this so late, I just had so many things going on yesterday. But finally it's here!

Great attendance at the Red Bull Ring.

The hills of Austria provided an awesome view for the race.

F1 visited Austria again after 11 years.

Race in Austria was a fresher race for F1, new circuit (actually, it has been used before but it looked just as new), lots of fans filling the stands and an amazing racing venue such as Austria back in F1 after 11 years since the last race there.

To me, the race brought me some exciting feelings at the end, but then, looking at it detailedly, I noticed it was actually a pretty non-exciting race. 

Maybe it was just the fact that a new circuit to the actual F1 cars was the venue to this race, I don't know.

In the end, there wasn't many battles for the lead or any other places at all. The lead changes came with the pit stops and, in the end, the result ended up being the same.

The race was nowhere close to being as exciting as Canada or Bahrain were but it's also far from being one of the worst races so far.

Now, the team by team analysis.

Mercedes

The Silver Arrows again dominated every other car in the grid.

A huge blow from Nico Rosberg to his teammate and championship rival Lewis Hamilton came when the German driver qualified 3rd for today's race, whilst Lewis didn't even manage to get a timed lap and started 10th.

After the race, it didn't end up being such a huge blow as Hamilton fought his way to the top to finish 2nd, just behind Rosberg. But it was still a big win for Rosberg in the championship standings, keeping the lead with 165 points, ahead of Lewis' 136.

Rosberg made an intelligent race, took advantage of Massa's struggles in the pits, then outpaced Bottas for the lead and late in the race, he held off Hamilton in what appeared to be a hell of a battle between teammates, that ended up being in Nico outpacing his teammate and earning the win.

I didn't noticed this during the race but fire came out of Lewis Hamilton's car's brakes dying his first pit stop.

Nico Rosberg raises up high his trophy, a weird shaped one in my opinion.

The podium was painted white and gray.

Former Red Bull driver Mark Webber made the podium interviews.

Mercedes' celebration.

Williams

Felipe Massa brought a hug excitement and joy to the garage of the team owned by Frank Williams by collecting the team's first pole position since Spain 2012 and Felipe himself made a great qualifying performance, getting close to the track's record lap set by Michael Schumacher and getting his first pole since Brazil 2008.

In the race the story was a lot more different, Felipe's race was ruined after a slow 3.3 secs stop in the pits which caused him to lose more positions than expected.

Then, he was unable to recover the positions and he only managed to get his FW-36 in fourth place.

Massa, Nico and Bottas after qualifying.

On the other side of the the team's garage it was all different. Valtteri Bottas kept his pace during the whole race, following a superb 2nd place in qualifying, and even though he struggled after his first pit stop and lost the 2nd position to Hamilton in the closing stages of the race, he managed to get the checkered flag in third place to claim his first Formula 1 career podium and Williams' first podium since Spain 2012. 

This is exactly what F1 needs, new guys getting on the podium to show their talent and what they are capable to do. We just had Ricciardo last race, now we had Bottas in the podium.

Bottas celebrates with the team.

Valtteri was all-smiles on his first F1 podium.

A smash-performance from the Finn in Austria.

Williams' podium picture.

Ferrari

La Scuderia's Spaniard Fernando Alonso arrived on fifth place in the race, losing one from his starting spot.

He was only outpace by Massa even though Felipe had a slow pit stop. Not enough drive to improve but still not so bad to lose places.

Meanwhile, Kimi Räikkönen qualified 8th, he got his moves wrong at the start and was unable to defend from Lewis Hamilton's attack, still, he recovered that position and gained another one by overtaking Button and Ricciardo right there in the first lap.

After the race, Kimi said that his team asked him to take care of the brakes and to slow down on lap two and this disallowed him to fight for better positions.

That was certainly a cause of the brake-by-wire system that's been a constant problem on the Finn's car.

Following his first pit stop, his pace dropped, he recovered a couple positions and took advantage of the Toro Rosso's retirements and finished 10th.

Force India

What appeared to be a weak weekend for the Indian squad, after their free practice performances, their qualifying and Perez's 5-place grid penalty, was saved by both Hulk and Checo.

The Mexican showed an incredible pace the whole race, the team made no mistakes in the pit stops and those two things helped him recover from the penalty he was given, that caused him to start 16th, and he raced to the field up to his finishing spot, in 6th. 10 places recovered. Good way to come back after Montreal's disappointment.

After the race Checo said that if it hadn't been for the 5-place grid penalty, he would've been in the podium. I think he's right, his race pace was incredible that day.

Hulkenberg made a regular race, he started in a decent 8th and took advantage of Ricciardo that ran wide in turn 2, but he lost two positions with Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton.

After his first pitstop, his situation changed as he, as many others, took advantage from Massa's slow pit stop and this pushed him as high in the standings as 4th. He fought for that position with the Mercedes behind him with also a chance of taking a podium, in the end, the Silver Arrows outpaced him and after his second stop, he fell back to P9, where he finished the race.

McLaren 

Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen carried the team on his back on this race after grabbing a seventh place and after his teammate Jenson Button struggled with the tires after his last stop and finished eleventh.

But even though Button finished outside point-scoring places, I wouldn't say he made such a bad race cause before his first pit stop and before his second one, he found himself battling for 6th, 5th and even 4th places. Then, his second stop was somewhat slow and he lost the pace with that new set of tires.

Red Bull

On the team's first ever home race they lived at true nightmare.

The team's best finishing spot in the race came from Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian looked to be going for a good performance, starting in fifth but he had a terrible start and ran wide in turn two. There, he was picked up by Magnussen, Hamilton, Räikkönen and Hulkenberg behind.

Then, he was unable to pick up the pace and on the final stages of the race, he beat Hulk for P8.

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel had what was arguably his worst race this season.

He told his team that he had lost drive right in the first lap? He was going pretty slow, and quickly, he was picked off by all the other drivers, falling back to last place. He got drive on his car back late in the same lap but by that time, it was too late and he had been already lapped by all the cars.

He tried to climb through the field and managed to recover a few positions by later he was called into boxes to retire the car. Terrible race for the energetic drink squad. 

Vettel, after losing drive in the first lap.

Seb lost a big part of his front wing after contact with Gutierrez.

Lotus 

Romain Grosjean started from the pit lane and lost all chances of scoring points starting last.

Instead of just driving around the track as I expected first, he recovered eight positions during the race to finish 14th.

On the other side of the garage, I believe we just witnessed Pastor Maldonado's best race this season.

He began the race in a decent 14th and recovered two positions in the race to finish 12th in one of his best approaches to scoring points.

Toro Rosso 

The team looked to be with a promising race in front of them, with "The Toro Russian" Daniil Kvyät starting in P7.

However the race turned out very differently.

Kvyät struggled with his brakes and with suspension and retired.

A few laps later, his teammate Jean-Eric Vergne, who qualified 15th, also retired due to brake issues on his STR9. A race to forget for the Italian squad.

Kvyät out of the track after his brakes' failure.

Sauber

The Swiss team made a nice approach to the points with Adrian Sutil finishing in P13, recovering 4 positions. 

While in the other side, luck wasn't on Esteban Gutierrez's side as he had a terrible first stop when his right rear was loose and he had to serve a 10-second stop and go for unsafe release in his stop. At the end, he lost a position and only got to finish P19.

Marussia

The Russian squad made a decent race with Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton finishing 14th and 17th respectively.

A result that seemed non-probably as Bianchi and Chilton qualified 19th and 21st respectively.

Caterham

The Malaysian squad again came up close to beating their closest championship rivals, Marussia, as Kamui Kobayashi finished 15th after qualifying 20th, he finished just behind Marussia rival Bianchi.

Meanwhile Marcus Ericsson also did a good race, finishing 18th after starting 21st.

See you all again in two weeks, when Formula One visits again the cathedral of racing in Silverstone for the British GP.

Thanks for all the reads and support!

Ricciardo's first F1 win, Red Bull's first win in the season, breathtaking race in Montreal. - 2014 Canadian Grand Prix

I have got to say, WOW! What a race we just had in Montreal! It was nothing more than a burst of adrenaline.

To me, it was a bittersweet experience as it was very nice to see a youngster like Ricciardo picking up his first F1 win but, in the other side, as a Kimi fan, it was awful to see his bad pace during the race and as a Mexican fan it was horrible to see Sergio Perez and Felipe Massa ruining each other's race when Checo was doing a very good race as well as Massa. In the end, if it came to me, I would haven't given a penalty to Checo as the FIA did.

To me, this is exactly what Formula 1 needs, lead changes, five-car battles for the lead or podium spots, a possibility of having 5 possible race winners and the highlight of the day, history being made, a young and talented driver like Ricciardo taking his first ever win.

Now, the team by team analysis.

For Mercedes, the Silver Arrows didn't drop the pace this weekend. Red Bull's win doesn't mean the absolute end to Mercedes' domination. What happened this weekend was the German squad experiencing braking and engine problems which in the end forced British driver Lewis Hamilton to abandon the race.

Had it not been for those problems on his car, he would've been able to get second or even to challenge Nico Rosberg for the win.

He surely won't be happy after seeing Rosberg get second and gaining more lead on him in the WDC standings.

On the other side, Rosberg was also stricken by the problems experienced by the team but he and his crew managed to pull out of it.

Then, he was outpaced by Daniel Ricciardo, who overtook him for P1 and Vettel who came just a few seconds behind him. Rosberg lost the win but he surely can't be disappointed about this race as he's gaining a good lead on Lewis.

Rosberg locked his wheels and ran out of track, he had to cut the chicane. No intentional move to gain advantage there.

For Red Bull, all around an amazing weekend for the Austrian outfit. 1-3 in the race. Their first win of the season. Daniel's first win in his career.

What Vettel did was just enough to keep his starting position he kept his pace and didn't commit any mistakes, he ran with a lot of luck at the end as he was almost picked off by Massa's Williams.

Vettel had luck in his side...

What Daniel did was, a show of pace, a show of strategy from Red Bull. I have nothing more to say than he deserved this first win, he totally earned it. He attacked both Williams drivers and Vettel in front of him and managed to get in P4 before the first safety car. Then,  with strategy, he managed to get past Vettel and Perez, who had gotten up to P3 because of his flawless strategy. Later on, Lewis' struggles helped the Australian to get in P2 and to challenge Rosberg for the lead which later became into the race lead and eventually, the race win.

For the next team, Ferrari. The Italian team didn't have many opportunities of doing a good race as Alonso and Räikkönen qualified 7th and 10th respectively.

The Spaniard made an average race, he did enough not to lose positions but he didn't do enough to gain positions and in the end, the several race retirements pushed him up to sixth place. 8 points that surely didn't satisfy the Spanish driver.

Kimi Räikkönen made a bad race, he made a good start and recovered one position to put himself behind Alonso and to battle for P8 for a few laps after the safety car. He stopped before Alonso so, when Fernando stopped, the Finn found himself at the back of his teammate's car.

A few laps after his stop, battling for P9, the Finn spun at the hairpin and lost a few positions, was pushed back to P13. Following his next pit stop, there was nothing to do, he managed to recover a position and in the end, retirements pushed him up and he earned a point.

'The Iceman', facing backwards.

For Force India, at first, it seemed to be like a bad race ahead for the Indian squad but they turned the game to their side thanks to their strategy. Sergio Perez went up as higher as P3 on his super-soft tyre stint that lasted 35 laps, an impressive number of them. Then, after the Mexican's only pit stop, he fell to P8, but managed to climb back to P3 after everyone else stopped. His third place turned into a second place due to Lewis' retirement, he got to be as close as 0.7 seconds behind leader Nico Rosberg but, as he struggled with brakes and his soft tyres started to drop the pace, he lost P2 to Daniel Ricciardo and next, on lap 69, he lost P3 to Sebastian Vettel and a few meters later, he was hit from the rear by Massa's Williams. It was surely a terrific accident, Checo hit the wall in turn 1. This could've been a strong scoring weekend for him but it all got screwed in the last lap. He even had a chance of finishing second, his performance shouldnot be taken lightly, this young man fought his heart out in that race,with almost no brakes. A race the Sergio himself has described as the best of his life on his Instagram. Give him all the credit he deserves.

Checo, shortly after being overtaken by Ricciardo. A four-car battle for P2. Exactly what F1 needs.

Safety car came out following the hard crash in turn one.

Nico Hulkenberg was also boosted by the team's strategy and squeezed 40 laps out of a set of soft tyres. Later, as the race went on and retirements happened, he went as high in the standings as sixth but then, in the final stages of the race he was picked up by Jenson Button, which put him back in P7. After Checo and Massa collided, Nico gained two positions, which put him in fifth and gave him 10 points.

A good performance from the German but still, it wasn't enough to fight for a podium.

For Williams, Bottas and Massa had a massive chance of podium this race starting 4th and 5th respectively.

Bottas made a good start, protected himself well from Ricciardo but, after his first stop, I don't know what happened, he just could recover the pace and lost many positions, as many others, he was benefited from the retirements to finish P7.

Felipe made an even better race, his team had a better strategy for him, pushing his second stint, several laps further. This, eventually helped him to get to the lead and lead the race for a few laps. I seriously thought he was on for the win going for a 1-stop strategy, that, until his second stop, which pushed him back to P7, with fresher tyres than anyone else, Felipe pushed through the field and came as high as P4 in the standings in lap 70. Just in that lap, his race ended. He hit Sergio Perez's rear and  lost control of his car, ending up in the wall and almost hitting Sebastian Vettel on the way. It was a hard crash and I'm glad to hear he's ok.

Call me crazy if you want but for me, this crash was a flashback of Senna hitting Prost in Suzuka in 1989.

Massa came was so close to ending Vettel's race too.

 Massa, being attended after the crash.

For McLaren, Jenson button pushed through the field at the final stages and was helped by the retirements to finish in P4 in what appeared to be a hard race for him, starting in P9.

Magnussen also had a tough scoring chance at the beginning, starting 11th, he didn't push through the field but he didn't lose any positions although he beat Kimi Räikkönen becayse if the Finn's mistake and he was helped by the retirements to finish P9.

It was surely a terrible day in Canada for Lotus. First, Pastor Maldonado suffered engine problems at the start and retired.

Then, later on, Romain Grosjean suffered due to rear wing problems and was also forced to retire. The Enstone squad still didn't have many good scoring chances but it would've been better to at least reach the finish line.

At least for the Mexican Esteban Gutierrez, the struggles in Sauber continued, his nightmare weekend was finished with a retirement caused by mechanical issues halfway through the race. 

Meanwhile, his teammate Adrian Sutil came close to scoring points for the Swiss squad finishing P13.

The Swiss team is still not quick enough for scoring points.

Jean-Eric Vergne joined the group of drivers benefited by Perez and Massa's last lap crash and finished P8, his exact starting position.

On the other side of Toro Rosso's garage, "The Toro Russian" Daniil Kvyät kept struggling and retired halfway in the race due to problems in the car.

It was a day to forget for the two bottom teams. Starting in 18th and 19th respectively, Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi finished their races in a first lap crash in turn 4. Chilton's car ran out of track and Max lost control of it and hit teammate Jules Bianchi. Not an intentional move but Chilton was given a 3-grid spot penalty for next race.

Bianchi's destroyed Marussia.

There was many oil spilled in the track.

Safety car was called in following the first lap incident.

On Caterham's side, rookie Marcus Ericsson retired early in the race and his teammate Kamui Kobayashi got his rear suspension broken at the middle point of the race. As simple as that. Still, the Leafield squad had few opportunities of dreaming about scoring points, starting in 20th and 21st.

It's safe to say that this has been the best race so far. Overtakes, battles, retirements and other things made it interesting and exciting.

A race where only 11 cars made it to the end.

Vettel congratulated his teammate.

The Aussie's celebration in the podium.

Handshake between Red Bull dtivers.

First time the German anthem wasn't played in the podium.

Daniel holds his trophy up high.

Thanks for all the support! 

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Let's make that number go up and I'll see you in two weeks, when F1 goes back to Europe and visits Austria for the first time since 2003.