Lewis Hamilton took a dramatic victory in the Austrian Grand Prix after colliding with team-mate Nico Rosberg on the final lap.
Rosberg was leading and tried to defend into Turn 2 as Hamilton attacked round the outside, but ran straight on as Hamilton tried to make the corner and hit the side of his team-mate, breaking his front wing. Hamilton was able to rejoin with less damage and drove past Rosberg on the run to Turn 3, with Rosberg dropping to fourth on the final lap.
Max Verstappen took second with Kimi Raikkonen third, though both drivers had been a long way adrift before Mercedes opted to pit both drivers for a final time with 16 laps remaining.
Hamilton was on the soft tyre for the final stint while Rosberg was on supersofts, but the harder compound held up well and allowed Hamilton to attack on the final lap. The pair had already passed Verstappen on track, with the Red Bull driver holding off Raikkonen by just 0.3s.
Rosberg limped home fourth ahead but there could be further repercussions as the championship leader is under investigation for causing a collision with Hamilton and for failing to stop with a seriously damaged car.
Daniel Ricciardo came home fifth ahead of an excellent result for Jenson Button. Romain Grosjean scored again for Haas in seventh ahead of Carlos Sainz, Valtteri Bottas and a stunning point for Pascal Wehrlein in 10th place.
Wehrlein secured Manor's first point of the year - and only second top ten finish in the team's history - after an excellent drive which was boosted by a last lap crash for Sergio Perez. The Force India driver was in eighth when he went straight on at Turn 3 and hit the barrier.
Hamilton had led from the start of the race with Button jumping up to second off the line and ran long on the ultrasoft tyre in the opening stint despite Raikkonen moving into second and closing for a spell. Starting from sixth, Rosberg overtook Nico Hulkenberg and Button to run third by lap ten and pit for a set of softs before lapping quickly once in clear air.
Hamilton ran until lap 21 before pitting for softs, emerging behind his team-mate and needing to pass on track. Raikkonen came into the pits a lap later but dropped behind the two Red Bulls, while Sebastian Vettel stayed out on supersofts to take over the lead.
Despite losing time to those behind - with Rosberg closing in - Vettel had just completed his 26th lap without pitting when his right rear tyre blew on the pit straight, pitching him into a high-speed spin. Vettel only slightly damaged his front wing on the pit wall but was out on the spot, with the safety car required to recover his car.
On the restart, Rosberg pulled two seconds clear as the two Mercedes drivers eased away at the front, with Verstappen and Ricciardo holding off Raikkonen behind. While the top two looked set to race to the end - with Hamilton on much fresher soft tyres - Mercedes then opted to pit Hamilton with 17 laps remain for softs and Rosberg a lap later for supersofts.
Hamilton questioned why his team-mate was on a softer compound over team radio, but the defending champion had no fresh supersofts remaining, while Rosberg only had supersofts or ultrasofts left. The pair were behind Verstappen as a result of the stops but easily cleared the Red Bull in the final ten laps.
Hamilton and Rosberg raced to the flag with Hamilton within two seconds throughout but it wasn't until the final five laps he really threatened. Hamilton then got a run on his team-mate towards Turn 2 on the final lap and attacked around the outside, with Rosberg going straight on and the pair colliding, breaking Rosberg's front wing.
Hamilton actually rejoined the track behind Rosberg who was slowed due to the front wing damage and had to limp to the line. Ahead of them, Perez was going off at Turn 3 but Hamilton was clear to pass a much slower car despite the impending yellow flags.
Verstappen held off Raikkonen after the Finn had passed Ricciardo out of Turn 2 with 14 laps to go. Ricciardo opted to pit again in the closing laps and fitted ultrasofts which allowed him to pass Button for fifth.
Wehrlein had been running in 19th at one stage after running the opening two stints on ultrasofts but climbed up to 11th on old tyres and was harassing Bottas for the final point but couldn't find a way past the Williams. Bottas was on fresher tyres but Wehrlein was then promoted to the final point courtesy of Perez retiring.
The last lap drama results in Hamilton closing the gap to Rosberg to 11 points pending any post-race penalties, with Raikkonen moving alongside team-mate Vettel in third place on 96 points, 57 adrift of Rosberg.
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Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Stops |
---|---|---|---|---|
01 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 71 laps - 1h27m38.107s | 4 |
02 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | +5.719 | 3 |
03 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | +6.024 | 3 |
04 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | +16.710 | 4 |
05 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull | +30.981 | 4 |
06 | Jenson Button | McLaren | +37.706 | 4 |
07 | Romain Grosjean | Haas | +44.668 | 3 |
08 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | +47.400 | 3 |
09 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | +1 lap | 4 |
10 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor | +1 lap | 4 |
11 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas | +1 lap | 4 |
12 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | +1 lap | 4 |
13 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | +1 lap | 3 |
14 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault | +1 lap | 4 |
15 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | +1 lap | 4 |
16 | Rio Haryanto | Manor | +1 lap | 4 |
17 | Sergio Perez | Force India | +1 lap | 4 |
18 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | DNF | 5 |
19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India | DNF | 6 |
20 | Felipe Massa | Williams | DNF | 5 |
21 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | DNF | 0 |
22 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso | DNF | 0 |
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