Somethings change while others stay the same. Mercedes AMG's reliability woes at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix - that allowed Daniel Ricciardo to post his first ever career win - had given the trailing pack in F1 some hope of beating the Silver Arrows. However, despite a surprise in qualifying, those hopes were dashed by yet another 1-2 finish with Nico Rosberg beating Lewis Hamilton in a straight fight at the Austrian Grand Prix.
ROSBERG TO THE FORE
It was Rosberg's sixth career win, that took him past the career win tally of his father Keke, the 1982 world champion. Rosberg also improved upon his famously candid and chainsmoking father's best finish at the Austrian GP. Keke had lost out on victory in the 1982 edition of the race by just 0.05 seconds to Elio de Angelis' Lotus back when the circuit was nearly two kilometers longer and a damn sight more frightening.
Aside from the very high average speeds - exceeding 257 km/h - there were technical and fast corners along with one clear cut heavy braking point along with elevation changes that tested the bravery of those who opted to race.
Following a chaotic 1987 edition that was marred by accidents at the start of the race the track was closed off to F1 until it was shortened by 1.6 kilometers and fairly well sanitized.
It still remained a picturesque, fast, and fun track even though it was not as scary as its Osterreichring avatar.
However, due to F1's downforce heavy approach to car design the A1 Ring - as it was called after its makeover - it was not a particularly overtaking friendly circuit.
A NEW BEGINNING
F1's current era of measures aimed at reducing downforce and actively pursuing more overtaking (DRS etc) has returned to what was once the Osterreichring - and then the A1 Ring and now the Red Bull Ring - and the fight for the world championship got a little spicier thanks to that.
Williams Racing in their classic Martini livery caused a few double takes when they locked out the front row at the return of the Austrian GP on Saturday. However, they were quick to point out that it was more a podium finish and a 'haul of points' that they were fighting for rather than a race win against Mercedes.
Mind you the Mercs were not as strong in qualifying trim as in past races. Rosberg was third behind Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.
SPEED WHEN IT MATTERED
While Hamilton was seemingly languishing in ninth before a cannonball start propelled him into the top four where he proceeded to hound Rosberg and the two Mercedes powered Williams to ultimately pass them as they struggled with tyre issues while the Sliver cars' engineers heavily managed the technical package on the go to avoid a repeat of the Canadian GP.
That Williams were fast on a track that is little more than a few straights with hairpins in the middle was not all that surprising.
THE TITLE FIGHT
What was a surprise to many Hamilton fans, however, was the high level of driving displayed by Rosberg to keep the Briton at bay and stretch his championship lead to 29 points heading into the British GP weekend.
It was a straight fight with no dust in the eyes of either of the competitors, no controversial qualifying incidents and no retirements.
Just mano e mano, as fans of F1 are hoping the battle will remain into the final round. And fingers crossed, double points (arrrrgghh!) will not be a factor.
THE BEST OF THE REST
Bringing up the classification behind the Mercedes AMG and Martini Williams Racing machines was the indomitable Fernando Alonso who had yet again managed to drag and keep his woefully slow Ferrari near and briefly at the head of the field.
The former double world champion's form this year has been a bit of a revelation as he has tallied 79 points in eight races so far. A long way behind championship leader Rosberg's 165 bit crucially way ahead of the 19 points tally of highly rated teammate and 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Alonso has also managed to score more points than four-time defending world champion Sebastian Vettel who has 60 points as compared to new teammate Daniel Ricciardo who had triumphed in Montreal. Vettel had to suffer his third retirement of the season while Ricciardo took eighth place.
The ever smiling Australian was the only Red Bull sponsored driver to finish in the top ten at the energy drinks giant's home race. One where the only driver with any Red Bull Racing connections on the podium was Mark Webber who had quit F1 after last season to focus on endurance sports car racing.
However, Webber was there just to conduct the post race podium interviews. Maybe, as some speculated, he showed up because a certain finger pointing German was nowhere in sight.
With the higher downforce requirements of Sliverstone, scene of the British GP, Vettel could very well make an appearance on the podium just to let people know that those four world titles were not exactly a fluke.
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