Mercedes dominates at the Austrian Grand Prix

As the chequered flags danced after 71 intensifying laps, all except Jenson Button's Mercedes-powered McLaren finished within points scoring classification, while the German works team secured their sixth one-two finish of the season out of eight races. The first four cars to cross the finish line were powered by engines adorning the star in a circle emblem and if anything else, yesterday's results was a clear message of brute dominance over its competitors not only in the present, but for the rest of the season.

Both silver arrows crossed only 1.9 seconds apart, but Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were pushing hard until the final second of the final lap, as they were struggling with several issues including brakes, fuel consumption and for the Brit, slower pit stops than his team mate.

At Turn 3 on the last lap, both drivers ran wide as Hamilton, who qualified ninth, gave one last push. Also as Rosberg made an error at the first turn on lap 31, he was fortunate to defend his lead and extend his advantage over his teammate by 29 points in the Drivers' charts at the end of the day.

Despite a front-row lockout, the Williams put up a fight for the first two stints of the race, but their charge, led by Valtteri Bottas after the first pit stops, waned in the final stint. Regardless, Bottas took the team's (and his) first podium finish since tasting victory at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix as the car presented the promising pace it showed in pre-season testing.

Pole-setter Felipe Massa drove strong and finished fourth, one of his best results since the 2013 Indian Grand Prix, and defended well from a late charging Alonso, who lurked within a second of the Williams towards the end of the race.

Kevin Magnussen finished a decent seventh while the sole Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo finished a honourable eight on home turf. It was a disaster for both Red Bull and its sister team, Torro Rosso. Defending World Champion, Sebastian Vettel, initially lost and regained drive on the first lap but eventually retired from the last position on lap 36. And both Torro Rossos did not finish at the Red Bull ring in Austria.

Williams' misjudgement in pit stop strategies and Hamilton's slow stops were some of the highlights on the first half of the race which soon became the usual flair of Mercedes dominance that we have been accustomed to in the season thus far.

Mercedes' Game of Thrones returns in a fornight at the historic Silverstone circuit with Rosberg, Hamilton and Ricciardo leading the Drivers' chart with 165, 136 and 83 points respectively while the German team is a staggering 158 points away from its nearest rival - Red Bull - with 301 points to 143 points in the Constructors' table. Ferrari is (desperately) clinging on to third with just 98 points as Force India and Williams are just 11 and 13 points away as the season hits mid-point.