ROSBERG NAILS STRATEGY FOR WIN DOWN UNDER
(yes, the pitstop counter is broken)
In a race exciting from the start, Raikonnen got the best start and managed to hold his lead, and pulled away massively from the scrap behind him. Notably, the two Sony Racing cars were going very well, as well as Hulkenberg, while Vandoorne started to drop back, with the pit wall being concerned about a potential problem for him. Then, Schumacher dropped out, while Raikonnen, Mansell, and Hulkenberg all pitted (the latter two due to a default strategy), just before the rain started falling down, giving the lead to the Rosberg-Vandoorne battle. In the dampening conditions, Alesi had a big shunt (for which he will miss the next race to recover), while Barrichello and Verstappen collided at turn 6. Raikonnen then dropped his certain podium position with an electrical failure, while Vandoorne lost his brakes. This gave Rosberg an easy run to the victory, with Hulkenberg finishing less than a pitstop behind (hinting to the miss strategy deadline and default strategy
), while Karthikeyan held off Rossi in a rain-long battle for the final podium spot. Still, Grip Racing can't be unhappy, as the only team to bring 2 cars home in the points. Mansell also missed the opportunity to fight for 3rd with his early pitstop (again hinting at the default strategy
), so had to settle for 2 times less points instead in 5th.
Podium interviews:
@Márk Lintner (as Rosberg): Amazing drive, how big of an influence did the strategy and the retirements of Raikonnen and Vandoorne have to do in that?
@oorjit07 (as Hulkenberg): Are you disappointed the team seemed to not care about your strategy for this race, costing you a chance for victory? (I know I'm cruel, you'll be hearing a lot more nose-rubbing for that
)
@Vimal Ana (as Karthikeyan): Did you enjoy the battle with Rossi, and is the podium a good reward for it?
Paddock interviews:
@Millsy24 (as Rubens)
@Decenten (as Max): Any hard feelings after that collision?
@Timmieturner12 (as Alesi): That looked like a big accident, how did it look from the cockpit?
(as Vettel): Seems like you'll be debuting in the next round, what are your expectations?
@Andy 'Mars Bar' Graham (as Winkelhock): With Michael winning in GP2, and Stoffel nearly winning this race, is there any pressure for you to perform better?