In what seemed like a bad omen for a competitive race, the dominant Mercedes of Nico Rosberg sat on the pole for the 2016 Formula One European Grand Prix – but maybe the fact that there was some unfamiliarity with this new Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan might make it a competitive race. Nope. Rosberg led from start-to-finish [even with a pit stop tossed in] and 51 parade laps later, Rosberg was the easy winner over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in a distant second and Force India’s Sergio Perez in third.
It was the return of the snoozefest as all the drama – such as it was – occurred on the first lap when the cars were still bunched together and fighting for position. By the time things had sorted themselves out on the third lap, Rosberg had bolted away from everyone else and nine minutes into the race it became clear that this was going to merely be a funeral procession for everybody behind Rosberg. Vettel moved into second place on the fifth lap and stayed there for the majority of the remainder of the race. Russian Hitman Daniil Kvyat did not get a chance to hit anybody as he exited the race on the seventh lap and for the next 26 laps, absolutely nothing of consequence happened.
A trio of backmarker cars left the race over the next 11 laps and that left the entertainment of the remaining seven laps to be watching Mercedes’ F1 defending champion Lewis Hamilton try and figure out how his car worked and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen forced to give up the third and final podium position to Perez after an earlier pit lane infraction incurred a five-second penalty.
With the win, Rosberg increases his lead over Hamilton in the 2016 driver’s season standings to 24 with 141 points to Hamilton’s 117 points while Vettel now sits comfortably in third with 96 points.
2016 European Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit – 51 laps – 190 miles
1 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes
2 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari
3 Sergio Perez – Force India
4 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari
5 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
6 Valtteri Bottas – Williams
7 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull
8 Max Verstappen – Red Bull
9 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India
10 Felipe Massa – Williams
11 Jenson Button – McLaren
12 Felipe Nasr – Sauber
13 Romain Grosjean – Haas
14 Kevin Magnussen – Renault
15 Jolyon Palmer – Renault
16 Esteban Gutierrez – Haas
17 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber
18 Rio Haryanto – Manor
19 Fernando Alonso – McLaren
20 Pascal Wehrlein – Manor
21 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso
22 Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso