The mental toughness this season from Nico Rosberg is proving favorable in the European Grand Prix, the setback suffered by Lewis Hamilton in qualifying relegated him to tenth place on the grid. Rosberg could make a flawless race, with little pressure, taking their rivals distances from the first laps and not giving up the lead even in tire changes.
His one-stop strategy was the right one. And his victory was incontestable. He won with unquestioned authority, managing perfectly the lead and demonstrating again that Mercedes is not only the best car on the grid, but is also far from everyone else. The second place went to Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel third for Checo Perez (Force India), which overtook Kimi Raikkonen in the last lap.
While Rosberg won his 19th grand prix in the F-1 and the fifth this season, Hamilton suffered a thousand and one problems. The British returned to show his aggressiveness and began a comeback that led him to fourth place, just as he decided to enter the shop to put the soft tires and leave the super soft (15th round). He fell back to ninth. But he returned and continued to fight until his car started to put to some problems he did not know how to solve. He asked his engineer on the radio. “I can not give instructions by the rules,” he responded. And he despaired: “Well, I’ll touch all the buttons and maybe I have to stop.”
They spent a few laps before he found the right button. But in the end he succeeded. His Mercedes scored again fastest laps. But then, the difference with the Mexican Perez was nearly 14 seconds and could not pass him. Missing 10 laps to the end of the race and everything she was already decided. Rosberg had secured the victory, while the two Ferrari Vettel and Raikkonen held the second and third position until the last lap, Perez did not want him to give away the podium with the sanction of five seconds Raikkonen, and He took pains thoroughly until he managed to overtake and win the third drawer.
His career was amazing, since the Force India driver had to start from the seventh position, the penalty five places on the grid for changing the gearbox. Rosberg and increased his lead over Hamilton, standing at 24 points.
Fernando Alonso made a good start and struggled throughout the race to get into the points, which was his goal. With tire changes rivals managed to reach ninth place, but it was clear that it was a circumstantial situation. His McLaren was not for it. And the reality is over imposing. On the straights he could not compete with those who preceded him.
Overcoming 38 laps, including his teammate, Jenson Button, finally beat him when the Asturian car began to clearly have power problems. then drove two seconds slower than Button.
And he began to lose positions down to the 15th place. At that time (43rd round), he was told he needed to enter the shop and left with problems in the power unit and gearbox.
“At the end was a gearbox problem and to avoid greater evils had to retreat,” said Alonso. “We must overcome the lack of pace, because we are behind Force India and other teams that will complicate things for us in the next circuits. We thought that would have safety cars or other circumstances, but nothing happened. And it also hurt us. “
For Carlos Sainz the race became an ordeal. His complaints on Saturday ranking were confirmed and the Madrid pilot had to change the gearbox before starting the race. The penalty forced him to take the start in the 18th position and not on the 12th as his due.
However, this ended up being a lesser evil. Sainz was gaining ground and came to occupy the eighth place, just ahead of Fernando Alonso, when 21 laps of the 51 planned had elapsed. It seemed then that Carlos could even get into the points. But only a few laps later (32nd), the Spanish was forced to leave with rear suspension problems on his Toro Rosso, the same thing had happened to his teammate Daniil Kvyat, on the sixth lap
“Nothing went well, but we will bounce back,” Sainz said. “In the end, I ran with brakes yesterday, without confidence, and power losses. And then came the suspension problems that forced me to leave. Personally, I think he could do nothing more. “
