2016 EUROPEAN GP: ROSBERG CRUISED TO VICTORY - FORMULA 1

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Sunday, June 19, 2016

2016 EUROPEAN GP: ROSBERG CRUISED TO VICTORY

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg cruised to a comprehensive Grand Prix of Europe win, finishing more than 16 seconds ahead of second-placed Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, while Sergio Perez recovered from a grid penalty to take a deserved third place. With plenty of incidents enlivening the support races at the inaugural race in Baku, similar unpredictability had been expected from the grand prix, but when Rosberg went through the first corner in the lead and quickly built up a solid gap to fellow front-row starter Daniel Ricciardo, the identity of the winner, at least, was never in doubt.

Racing in clear air, Rosberg set a blistering pace and by the mid point of the race, jst after his one and only stop to shed supersoft tyres in favour of a set of softs, he was more than 18 seconds clear of then second-placed man Kimi Raikkonen. From there it was a simply a case of managing his pace, staying clear of the walls and bringing his car home.

The potential stumbling block in Rosberg’s path came from a technical glitch that affected both he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The Briton was badly affected by issue, which his race engineer explained was a problem with mode he was in. Rosberg, though, was able to solve the problem.

Hamilton began the race in 10th position after a Q3 race but recovered well to rise to fifth before the technical problems began to affect him. He was unable to close on Perez and Raikkonen ahead and had to settle for salvaging 10 points from a troubled weekend.

Ahead, Perez had used his Force India’s Mercedes power unit and a one-stop strategy to great effect and in the closing laps he found himself chasing down Raikkonen. The Finn has risen as high as second in the race, passing team-mate Vettel with an undercut, but he later ceded the position back to the quicker German and then found himself fending off Perez. Raikkonen was also hit with a five-second penalty due to crossing the white line at the pit entry and while Perez was safe in the knowledge that with a 0.5s gap to Raikkonen he would take P3 in the classification, the Mexican was determined to take the position on the track. He managed it on the final lap.

With Hamilton fifth, Valtteri Bottas took a lonely sixth for Williams, ahead of the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen. Ricciardo started the race from P2 but while he held the position in the early stages he quickly went backwards following an early stop for soft tyres and then again when he took on medium tyres in a second stop. Verstappen was on a similar strategy and while he dropped to as low as P18 after starting in P9, both Red Bull drivers eventually began to climb back through the pack as their more durable tyres gave them an advantage of those on soft tyres at the end of a two-stop race. Nico Hulkenberg took ninth place for Force India, while Felipe Massa took a solitary point for Williams with tenth position.

Rosberg's victory extends his championship lead over Hamilton to 24 points, while Vettel closes the gap to second place to 21 points. Raikkonen is 15 points further back in fourth.

Grand Prix of Europe, Bacu
51 laps, 306.306km., Weather: Sunny.
CLASSIFIED:
 P.    DRIVER          TEAM          TIME/GAP 
 1. Nico Rosberg      Mercedes AMG 1h32:52.367
 2. Sebastian Vettel  Ferrari       +   16.696
 3. Sergio Pérez      Force India   +   25.241
 4. Kimi Räikkönen    Ferrari       +   33.102
 5. Lewis Hamilton    Mercedes AMG  +   56.335
 6. Valtteri Bottas   Williams      + 1:00.886
 7. Daniel Ricciardo  Red Bull      + 1:09.229
 8. Max Verstappen    Red Bull      + 1:10.696
 9. Nico Hülkenberg   Force India   + 1:17.708
10. Felipe Massa      Williams      + 1:25.375
11. Jenson Button     McLaren       + 1:44.817
12. Felipe Nasr       Sauber        +    1 lap
13. Romain Grosjean   Haas          +    1 lap
14. Kevin Magnussen   Renault       +    1 lap
15. Jolyon Palmer     Renault       +    1 lap
16. Esteban Gutierrez Haas          +    1 lap
17. Marcus Ericsson   Sauber        +    1 lap
18. Rio Haryanto      Manor         +   2 laps

Fastest Lap: Nico Rosberg - 1:46.485          

NOT CLASSIFIED:
DRIVER           TEAM                         
Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso
Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso
Pascal Wehrlein Manor
Fernando Alonso McLaren

After 8 races:                
Drivers:                   Constructors:      
 1. Nico Rosberg      141  1. Mercedes AMG 258
 2. Lewis Hamilton    117  2. Ferrari      177
 3. Sebastian Vettel   96  3. Red Bull     140
 4. Kimi Räikkönen     81  4. Williams      90
 5. Daniel Ricciardo   78  5. Force India   59
 6. Max Verstappen     54  6. Toro Rosso    32
 7. Valtteri Bottas    52  7. McLaren       24
 8. Sergio Pérez       39  8. Haas          22
 9. Felipe Massa       38  9. Renault        6
10. Daniil Kvyat       22
11. Romain Grosjean    22
12. Nico Hülkenberg    20
13. Fernando Alonso    18
14. Carlos Sainz JR.   18
15. Kevin Magnussen     6
16. Jenson Button       5
17. Stoffel Vandoorne   1

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