Hamilton Spins but Wins Pole in Austrian Grand Prix Qualifying

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

The 2015 Formula 1 tour returns to Europe after a one-race stop in North America for the Austrian Grand prix. The 9-turn, 4.326-kilometer Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria serves as host for the 8th race of the season. 

Seeking to defend their 2014 1-2 finish in the Austrian Grand Prix, Mercedes AMG with drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg exited Saturday's qualifying for the race's 2015 edition in prime position despite a less than peak performance. With a 1-minute, 8.455-second lap time, Lewis Hamilton claimed the top spot. While leaving the time trial session at the top of the field, Hamilton's fastest lap was accompanied by a spin in the final Q3 session. "I was pushing hard to find more time on the final lap of the second run and just locked the rears into Turn One. At that point I was backwards in seventh gear and just focused on trying to make sure I didn't damage the car." said the reigning Formula 1 World Champion. Keeping his pole-winning lap, Lewis Hamilton preserved an exactly 2/10ths of a second advantage over teammate and defending Austrian race winner Nico Rosberg. Rosberg had also spun on track during a last part of Austrian Grand Prix qualifying.

After a troubled qualifying but an ultimately successful race in Canada, Sebastian Vettel and his Ferrari team has resumed its role as a potential spoiler to Mercedes AMG. Vettel delivered a lap time just 0.355 seconds off the pace of Lewis Hamilton to secure a second row position at the Red Bull Ring. Vettel's Ferrari starts alongside the 2014 pole winner Felipe Massa driving a Williams-Mercedes. The third row featured another pair of Mercedes-powered entries. After starting the 2015 year slow, Force India and driver Nico Hulkenberg appears revitalized with a solid 5th place in qualifying. Germany's Hulkenberg may also be rejuvenated by his part in Porsche's overall victory at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans last week. The second Williams race car of Valtteri Bottas will start sixth. 

In qualifying, both the Red Bull Racing and McLaren teams have been demoted due to grid penalties. Struggling to find performance from their Renault power units throughout the season so far, Red Bull's 2015 efforts have deteriorated. Last year, Red Bull Racing's and driver Daniel Ricciardo salvaged a difficult 2014 competition with a Canadian Grand Prix win. After the 2015 race in Canada, Ricciardo failed to score points leaving the Austrian based team to rely on Daniil Kvyat ninth place finish for two championship points. Without a win or even podium finish this season, Red Bull Racing arrives for a home-style event frustrated. While Kvyat qualified ninth after the Q3 session, both Red Bull Racing cars were assessed a 10-grid spot penalty due to engine changes. The McLaren Honda situation at the Austrian Grand Prix seems to be in-line with their dismal 2015 season so far. The cars of both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button have been given a 25-place grid penalty as a result of engine and gearbox changes. The two McLarens will start at the back of the field for the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix.

The 2015 Austrian Grand Prix is set to start Sunday at 8 am.

2015 Formula 1

Austrian Grand Prix

Starting Grid

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari
4	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes-Benz
5	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
7	33	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
8	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari
9	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
10	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
11	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari
12	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
13	11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
14	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari
15	98	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
16	28	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
17	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Renault
18	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Renault
19	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda
20	22	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda

#44 Scores 44th Career Pole: Hamilton Starting at Front for Canadian GP

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

For the first time in the 2015 Formula 1 season, the cars and drivers of the premier open wheel series have landed on North American soil. Completing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on the outskirts of Montreal, Formula 1 teams ready for the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix for what is a 70-lap test consisting of fast stretches and hard braking corners.

Following the first leg of the European tour, many teams have come to realizations regarding their 2015 race packages. Teams such as Ferrari and McLaren-Honda has openly admitted to making enhancements to their power units over the time period between the Monaco Grand Prix and this week's race in Canada. In the quest to draw closer to Mercedes AMG's Silver Arrows, Saturday's qualifying would be the first full-bore test in competition to see where the refreshed race vehicles stand.

Since the start of the race weekend in Canada, more than one Mercedes-Benz powered team has been grabbing attention at the top of the time sheets. While the Mercedes AMG duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg has been at the top of the leaderboards through three practice sessions ahead of qualifying, there was some surprise seeing the Lotus F1 Team hovering inside the top-five. Drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado appeared to be a match against the immediate teams of Ferrari, Williams and Red Bull Racing. In two sessions, Grosjean was recorded as third fastest on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. In the Q1 session leading qualifying, Romain Grosjean was able grab the top spot. With the aid of Pirelli Supersoft tires, the Lotus-Mercedes clipped-off a 1-minute, 15.833-second lap time just narrowly beating Nico Rosberg's time.

While the top of the Q1 grid showed an amusing development when time expired, the lower part of the first timed session was also striking. The only driver able to break the Mercedes AMG's winning mode in 2015, Sebastian Vettel encountered troubles with his Ferrari. An electrical problem said to have robbed Vettel of a decent run in qualifying. Out of the running in qualifying after Q1 with a 16th fastest time, Ferrari has elected to fix the power unit on Sebastian Vettel's SF15-T race car resulting in a two-position demotion on the starting grid for Sunday's main event. Slower than Vettel was the former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa. Driving Williams-Mercedes, Massa also dealt with a loss of power in preventing him from advancing beyond Q1.

Following Q1 at the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix, the Mercedes AMG decided to take a more affirmative role in Saturday's time trials. Lewis Hamilton came to life and charged to top times in Q2 as well as the final Q3 session to grab pole on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Lapping the track with a 1-minute, 14.393-second effort, Hamilton secured his 44th career pole position in Formula 1 (matching his current car number). Hamilton's Mercedes AMG was 0.309 seconds faster than the car of teammate Nico Rosberg. Last year, the Canadian Grand Prix proved to be an Achilles heel to Mercedes AMG. Issues with the hybrid powertrain took Lewis Hamilton out of the event while Nico Rosberg experienced similar problems but salvaged a second-place finish.

In contrast to Sebastian Vettel's problems with his Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen delivered his strongest qualifying effort in a long time. Starting third, the 2007 Formula 1 World Champion has been enjoying an improved 2015 season with Ferrari after Raikkonen's miserable 2014 return to the team. Joining Raikkonen on the second row for the Canadian Grand Prix is Valtteri Bottas's Williams-Mercedes. In the previous two events on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Bottas has qualified third and fourth. 

The third row for the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix will consist of both Lotus F1 Team vehicles. Romain Grosjean found the edge over Pastor Maldonado for the inside grid position. While a victory for the Lotus F1 Team may be a longshot on Sunday, Mercedes-Benz power and an improved race car for 2015 could lead to the potential that the team could again compete for podiums. Never in the Canadian Grand Prix's history under Formula 1 has a Lotus team vehicle won. 

Also of note, Max Verstappen qualified 12th for the Canadian Grand Prix but will be starting Sunday's race at the back-end of the field. After incurring a grid position penalty after a ruling made following the Monaco Grand Prix, Verstappen's Toro Rosso team was penalized an addition 10 grid positions for installing a new Renault powerplant in his race car. Additionally to a 20th place starting spot (the deepest position possible for the 2015 Canadian Grand Prix, Verstappen will also have to spend 10 seconds in the pits during Sunday's race.

The 2015 Canadian Grand Prix will start at 2pm local time in the Eastern time zone.

 

 

2015 Formula 1

Canadian Grand Prix

Starting Grid

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
3	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
5	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
6	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
7	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
8	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Renault
9	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Renault
10	11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
11	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
12	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari
13	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda
14	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari
15	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes-Benz
16	98	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
17	28	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
18	22	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda
19	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari
20	33	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault

Nico Rosberg Claims 3rd Monaco Grand Prix in Half-Blundered Mercedes AMG Outing

Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG

What is commonly regarded as the Formula 1 circuit's most prestigious event, the Monaco Grand Prix twist and turns through the streets of Monte Carlo surrounded by extravagance. A race dating back to 1929, the historic event is one of the slowest for grand prix cars in the season. With Formula 1 teams dealing with less dependence on engine horsepower and overall speed, the circuit presents an equalizing circumstance where some of the smaller teams can compete closely to Mercedes AMG and Ferrari. However, at the end of the 78 laps, the Monaco Grand Prix hosted yet another fine performance by the Mercedes AMG team during the early part of the 2015 Formula 1 season.

The Mercedes AMG team captured the front row spots in qualifying for the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton clocked a lap of 1-minute, 15.098 seconds to convincing claim the pole making it his fifth pole in six qualifying attempts for 2015. Having won the race on the streets of Monte Carlo with McLaren in 2008, Hamilton held onto the lead through much of this year's race. When 78 laps concluded on the streets of Monte Carlo, the outcome of the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix could be measured as a race Lewis Hamilton had to lose before Rosberg could win.

For what is guaranteed to be debated as a controversial call through remainder of the 2015 Formula 1 season as Hamilton battles for a second-straight world championship, the Mercedes AMG team chose to divide pit strategies between their race cars. With minimal tire wear, a one pit stop strategy was utilized by many drivers and teams. Leading handsomely in the late stages of the grand prix by around 10 seconds over teammate Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton's race was shaped in the events following a crash involving Max Verstappen and Romain Grosjean. As a safety car was entering the circuit, Mercedes AMG decided to pit the #44 car of Hamilton for fresh supersoft Pirelli tires. Expecting to come out second behind Rosberg, Hamilton rejoined the field in third as the Ferrari driven by Sebastian Vettel snuck by the #44 Mercedes F1 W06 Hybrid. When the race restarted at the end of lap 70, Hamilton's newer tires were not enough of an advantage to contend for the win.

Photo Credit: FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO X PIRELLI

Winning his third-straight Monaco Grand Prix, Germany's Nico Rosberg captured his second-consecutive victory of the 2015 season finishing 4.486 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettel. With the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix win, the Mercedes AMG driver joined highly exclusive company as a winner of three-consecutive streets of Monte Carlo triumphs. Graham Hill, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna also completed the feat during their careers. Rosberg's effort has again shown a strong potential for the driver to obtain one thing that currently separates him from the other streak winners of the Monaco Grand Prix; a Formula 1 drivers' championship.

The choice of winner Nico Rosberg and second-place Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes AMG decision to place their #44 car driven by Lewis Hamilton on a two-stop plan was clearly a mistake. "I can’t express the way I feel at the moment. I saw the team out in the pit-lane on one of the screens and thought Nico was pitting. I came in with full confidence that the others had done the same. This is a race that’s been close to my heart for years and it’s special to me, so I really wanted to win. The team have been brilliant all year, so I don’t blame them." said Lewis Hamilton in post-race. A mistake that cost Hamilton an almost certain second win on the streets of Monte Carlo, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport Toto Wolff publicly apologized to Hamilton for the race-changing decision in post-race. "But this is a day when we simply have to say sorry to our driver, because our mistake cost him the victory here. What happened? In simple terms, we got our numbers wrong.", said Wolff citing a miscalculation of Hamilton's position on the track as the reason for the miscue.

Fouled-up pit planning notwithstanding, Mercedes AMG is still living in the fast lane of the grand prix tour with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. So far this Formula 1 season, Hamilton and Rosberg can claimed podium finishes in all the grand prix events for 2015. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel has been the closest challenger to the Mercedes AMG team so far. Splitting the Silver Arrows at Monaco has given the German his fifth podium in six races.

Photo Credit: FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO X PIRELLI

Aside from the fight at the front, the late-race crash was also a talking point following the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix. After battling for several laps, Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso slammed into the rear of the Lotus-Mercedes driven by Romain Grosjean. Both drivers were competing for championship points in the race when the incident happened that was ultimately judged to be Verstappen's fault by the FIA. Following the ruling, Verstappen has been vocal in an argument that Grosjean brake-checkered him causing an unavoidable accident. However, Grosjean has refuted to claim that has been supported by the FIA investigation. For the next race in Canada, Max Verstappen will receive a five-grid position penalty after qualifying.    

As is often the case with the narrow street course event, the Monaco Grand Prix produced some desperately-needed good performances for several drivers and teams. Undergoing a rough transition from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing for 2015, Russian driver Daniil Kvyat recorded a career-best fourth place result. Kvyat finished one position ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull-Renault. A past Formula 1 World Drivers' Champion, it may be hard to attempt the importance of an eighth-place finish for Jenson Button but it was meaningful for the 2015 season. Button and teammate Fernando Alonso are veteran drivers for McLaren as the team works to iron out the bugs to the all-new Honda hybrid power unit. The eighth-place result was the first time this season that the McLaren-Honda finished in a points-paying position. For Alonso, the Monaco Grand Prix was his third DNF of 2015.

Next for the Formula 1 tour is the first of three stops on the North American continent for 2015. The Canadian Grand Prix is set for Sunday June 7th.

2015 Formula 1

Monaco Grand Prix

Race Results

Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	Ferrari
3	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	Mercedes-Benz
4	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull	Renault
5	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull	Renault
6	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Ferrari
7	11	Sergio Perez	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
8	22	Jenson Button	McLaren	Honda
9	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber	Ferrari
10	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
11	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	Mercedes-Benz
12	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz
13	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber	Ferrari
14	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams F1	Renault
15	19	Felipe Massa	Williams	Mercedes-Benz
16	98	Roberto Merhi	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
17	28	Will Stevens	Manor Marussia	Ferrari
18	33	Max Verstappen	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Renault
19	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren	Honda
20	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus	Mercedes-Benz