Lewis Hamilton survived a collision with his Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg in a wild final lap on Sunday as he claimed a dramatic victory in a pulsating Austrian Grand Prix.
The defending three-time world champion, who started from pole position, attacked the championship leader who defended hard at Turn Two and drove into him.
Rosberg forced Hamilton off the track, but the Briton rejoined, the pair touching briefly again, and pulled clear to win. Behind him, Rosberg suffered a damaged front wing and dropped back to finish fourth.
The collision concluded a titanic contest between the two Mercedes men after an incident-packed race that left Mercedes team bosses describing their drivers as ‘brainless’.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen claimed his second career podium finishing second for Red Bull ahead of third placed Finn Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari.
Rosberg was fourth ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second Red Bull, Briton Jenson Button of McLaren Honda, Frenchman Romain Grosjean of Haas and Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso. The stewards announced an inquiry into Rosberg’s part in the final lap collision for continuing with a damaged car as Hamilton was jeered by the crowd as he stood on the podium.
Hamilton’s win ended Rosberg’s hopes of a third consecutive victory and cut the German’s lead in the title race from 24 points to 11 ahead of next weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Hamilton made a near perfect getaway and eased clear while Hulkenberg, from second, fell back. Button grabbed second ahead of Raikkonen.
Hamilton was finally pitted from the lead after 22 laps, but a problem with his left rear slowed his stop for super-softs and gifted Rosberg a chance to pass him.
Raikkonen led, but pitted himself after one further lap and Vettel, who started eighth, took control at the front until lap 27 when his rear right tyre exploded on the main straight.
His Ferrari swerved into the inside barriers and then slewed back across the circuit, just avoiding a collision with the oncoming cars. The Safety Car was deployed and a series of cars dived into the pits immediately.
Five laps later, racing resumed with Rosberg leading ahead of Hamilton, Verstappen and Ricciardo. Ferrari’s opportunity to win had blown up with Vettel’s tyre. Rosberg was racing on tyres that were 11 laps older than Hamilton’s and led him by two seconds on lap 37 as the Englishman bided his time, the pair trading fastest laps. The leading pair were nearly 12 seconds clear of third-placed Verstappen as the race unfolded increasingly as a test of tyre management.
Having favoured Rosberg with an early stop, Mercedes had the option to hand track position back to Hamilton with a strategic pit-stop decision.
When it came, Hamilton came in after 54 laps for a 3.5 seconds stop and Rosberg, surprisingly, just one lap later, for a slick 2.3 seconds stop.
To accentuate the rivalry between them, Hamilton was given a set of used ‘softs’ and Rosberg a new set of ‘super-softs’ and the champion, on his ‘out’ lap ran wide at Turn Two.
The double stop by the Mercedes men had given Verstappen the lead. Rosberg, with Hamilton in close attendance, attacked on lap 61 and finally squeezed past at Turn Three, leaving Hamilton third.
For Hamilton, it was a chance to avenge a perceived injustice and on lap 63 he lapped compatriot Jolyon Palmer’s Lotus and passed Verstappen in the same move to set up a chase after Rosberg over the final six laps.
Published 03 July 2016, 19:17 IST