Austrian F1 Grand Prix 2015 Results: Winner, Standings, Highlights and Reaction

Nico Rosberg comfortably won the 2015 Austrian F1 Grand Prix, his second win on the Red Bull Ring in as many years. The Mercedes driver made a fast start before establishing and maintaining a consistent speed to leave team-mate and rival Lewis Hamilton trailing.

Despite a late surge, Hamilton just couldn't get close enough, as a pit-stop penalty cost him dearly, even though Rosberg became blighted by apparent tyre trouble late on.

Hamilton's infraction was part of an eventful race that began with an early crash and also saw six drivers retire.

Here's how the standings looked at the finish, per the Sky Sports F1 official Twitter feed:

Position	Driver	Team	Race Time
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	01:30:16.930
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+00:08.800
3	Felipe Massa	Williams	+00:17.573
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+00:18.181
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+00:53.604
6	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	+01:04.075
7	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Lapped
8	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso	Lapped
9	Sergio Perez	Force India	Lapped
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Lapped
11	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Lapped
12	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Lapped
13	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Lapped
14	Roberto Merhi	Manor	Lapped
R	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Retired (37)
R	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Toro Rosso	Retired (36)
R	Jenson Button	McLaren	Retired (8)
R	Will Stevens	Manor	Retired (1)
R	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Crashed (0)
R	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Crashed (0)

Recap

Things began in violent fashion as Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen suffered a thunderous collision. Both drivers slammed into the barrier in the early stages of the opening lap.

Fortunately, each man walked away from the crash, per the Formula One official Twitter feed:

While others were struggling to just stay on the circuit, Rosberg set the early pace. Predictably, he was closely chased by team-mate Hamilton.

The surface at the notoriously difficult Red Bull Ring was proving to be a problem. Adopting super-soft tyres, a decision taken by many drivers, seemed to do little to make things easier.

Rosberg was making simple work of the sharp turns, something that was the key to maintaining his healthy early lead. At one point, he opened up a one-and-a-half-second gap on Hamilton.

The only driver to stay close to the dominant Mercedes duo during the initial stages was Felipe Massa. The Williams driver got off to a great start, but he found himself starting to slip back by the 10th lap.

But Massa's problems were nothing compared to those suffered by McLaren. After Alonso's crash, fellow driver Jenson Button had to retire his car with apparent transmission problems, according to the Sky Sports F1 Twitter feed:

The Englishman had already been in the pits twice, which incurred a penalty. Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson also drew a penalty after a jump start had been detected.

But that was no consolation at all to McLaren officials who'd seen both drivers head for early exits.

It wasn't until the 14th lap that Hamilton really started to turn his car loose. He was keeping a more-than-brisk pace, despite Rosberg's presence at the front of the track:

Behind the top two, there was a great personal battle going on between Massa and Sebastian Vettel. The former tried to overtake the latter more than once early on.

However, the German initially managed to stay a nose in front. Unfortunately, the gap to the top was beginning to widen:

A little further back, Max Verstappen was undone by his car. Technical issues derailed his solid start to the race while presenting an opening to Valtteri Bottas, per the official Williams Racing Twitter feed:

It was one the Williams driver soon seized upon:

Things behind the top two continued to be more interesting. As far back as 10th place, a fascinating battle was taking place.

Romain Grosjean was putting tremendous pressure on Sergio Perez:

Perez represented a rare reliance on slightly firmer tyres. That's normally not a formula for success at the Red Bull Ring, but Perez was the lone member of the leading pack who was making it work.

In fact, he was the only leading contender trusting the soft tyres early on, according to Pirelli Motorsport:

The tyre issue would soon become significant, though. Rosberg made the change, looking to toughen up the tread under his engine.

At the time, he had a major lead over Hamilton. Fortunately for Rosberg, his pit crew made light work of the stop:

Contrast that with Hamilton's first pit stop. He crossed the white line ahead of the exit mark as he returned to the track. It was a minor technical infraction that cost him a five-second penalty:

In terms of the second spot, the punishment did nothing to harm Hamilton. That was because Vettel was left cursing his Ferrari vehicle during a prolonged pit stop:

Vettel's woes, which may have been attributed to the work of his pit crew, sparked a wild scramble for the final place on the podium. It was one Massa led initially, but Bottas remained in close proximity.

Eventually, though, the fight for third became a straight scrap between a resilient Massa and an increasingly determined Vettel.

At the same time, Pastor Maldonado took the opposite approach to Rosberg during his pit stop. The Lotus driver sacrificed extra traction for tyres offering more coasting speed, per the official Lotus F1 Team Twitter account:

But the highlight of the late stages continued to be Vettel's dogged pursuit of Massa in third. More problems at a pit stop gave Vettel the chance he needed:

Vettel was closing the gap at every turn:

However, it looked as though he would run out of laps before chasing his man down. It was a similar story for Hamilton, who still gave it a late push for first place:

But despite Rosberg's concerns about vibrations in his car, he flew round the final corner to win the race. Meanwhile, Massa eventually sealed third place despite Vettel's brave effort.

Reaction

Niki Lauda dubbed Rosberg a worthy winner:

The driver himself was proud of repeating last year's achievement. This time, Rosberg credited his strong start as the decisive factor:

Rosberg's claim was in stark contrast to Hamilton's post-race words. The Englishman was left to lament what he felt was a costly sluggish start:

Hamilton will rue several things in Austria. His start was far from ideal but nothing the world No. 1 couldn't overcome. However, the penalty he incurred made a vital difference.

Of course, he would likely argue his eagerness to make up for a slow start prompted him to fall afoul of the rules when he returned from his pit stop. Ultimately, though, it was the type of elementary mistake a driver of Hamilton's standing should avoid.

Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams was just as happy as Rosberg after Massa earned her team a place at the podium: 

As the man who delivered that high finish, Massa was pleased with the way he stayed the course despite the intense pressure Vettel was applying, especially during the later laps:

For the world championship battle, Hamilton still holds the top spot on the leaderboard, but Rosberg has made it a closer race. Williams has gained valuable points on Ferrari, who will curse Vettel's mechanical issues.