The 2015 Austrian Grand Prix (formally known as the Formula 1 Grosser Preis von Österreich 2015) was a Formula One motor race held on 21 June 2015 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. The race was the eighth round of the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship, and marked the 29th running of the Austrian Grand Prix and the 28th time it had been held as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg entered as the defending race winner, while his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, entered with a seventeen-point lead over him in the Drivers' Championship standings. Mercedes were leading rivals Ferrari by 105 points in the Constructors' standings.
Hamilton started from pole position, but was overtaken by Rosberg at the first corner. Rosberg held the lead for the remainder of the race, barring brief periods during pit stops, and won by over three seconds. Hamilton remained ahead of Williams driver Felipe Massa to claim the runner-up position. Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel had been holding third position for much of the first half of the race, but a delay due to a stuck wheel nut during his pit stop dropped him into fourth place. Former World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Fernando Alonso were eliminated on the first lap, after Räikkönen lost control of his Ferrari at the second turn and collided with Alonso. The two came to rest against the safety barrier, with Alonso's McLaren atop the Ferrari.
Report
Background
Having just nine turns, the fewest on the Formula One calendar, the circuit offers very few low-speed sections and gave teams an opportunity to push their power units to their potential. As in the previous year's event, and for the third straight event overall, the yellow-banded soft compound tyre were the prime dry selection while the red-banded supersoft compound were the option dry selection. Pirelli also supplied two wet weather compounds: the green-banded intermediate compound and the blue-banded full wet compound.
Going into the race, Lewis Hamilton was leading teammate Nico Rosberg by 17 points, having won the previous race in Canada. Mercedes were leading Ferrari by more than 100 points in the Constructors' standings. After introducing an engine update at the previous round in Canada, Ferrari were considered the most likely contenders for favorites Mercedes. Several other teams introduced updates to their cars as well, including Williams and McLaren.
Supporting programme
As part of the Grand Prix programme, a Legends Parade was held before the race, with a group of eight Formula One drivers from the 1980s set to present cars, mostly from Formula One's first turbo era. Participating were local favorite Gerhard Berger ( Ferrari F1/87/88C), former McLaren teammates Niki Lauda ( McLaren MP4/2) and Alain Prost ( McLaren MP4/2B), Nelson Piquet ( Brabham BT52), Jean Alesi ( Sauber C14), Pierluigi Martini ( Minardi M186), Riccardo Patrese ( Renault RE50) and Christian Danner ( Zakspeed 871).
Free practice
Per the regulations for the 2015 season, three practice session were held, two one-and-a-half-hour sessions on Friday and another one-hour session before qualifying on Saturday. At the first session, both Mercedes drivers were fastest, with Nico Rosberg being three-tenths of a second faster than teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen was the only other car to come inside one second of the Mercedes. The other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel set the slowest lap time, as a gearbox problem prevented him from driving more than four laps. The McLaren of Fernando Alonso suffered from gearbox issues as well, but the Spaniard was able to get back on track for the later part of the session. The team had brought a new aerodynamics package to Spielberg, which was tested by Alonso in free practice, who described it as "an improvement to the car".
After his problems in the first session, Vettel was fastest in the second session on Friday afternoon. Nico Rosberg was second, about a tenth of a second behind, but did not set any timed laps in the last twenty minutes as his car was losing gearbox oil. Lewis Hamilton meanwhile struggled on the super-soft tyres, making several errors that left him fifth. Both Lotus cars made it into the top ten, with Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean in fourth and seventh respectively. Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso was the fastest Renault-powered car in eighth position, while the McLarens once again had to stop their session early.