DHL Fastest Lap Award: 2016 FORMULA 1 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX

Lewis Hamilton reached a notable milestone at the 2016 FORMULA 1 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX in Spielberg. Apart from clinching his 46th Formula 1 victory, the Mercedes driver posted the fastest lap for the 30th time in his career. Among the current crop of F1 drivers, only Kimi Räikkönen has more fastest laps to his name with 42 in all. Hamilton achieved his first fastest lap in the 2007 Malaysian GP in only his second Formula 1 race.

Hamilton started once again from pole position last weekend in Spielberg. This was the 54th time that he had lined up at the very head of the field. The 31-year-old had never won the Austrian Grand Prix before and was aiming to turn things around at all costs. Mercedes originally put him on a one-stop strategy, but he came in twice for fresh tires in the end that afternoon.

After his first stop, Hamilton rejoined the track behind his teammate Nico Rosberg, who led the field from then on. Both drivers set their fastest laps late in the race. The German posted his personal best time of 1:08.491 minutes on the 66th of 71 laps, while the British driver set the fastest time of anyone one lap later with a 1:08.411 to go exactly eight hundredths of a second faster and clinch the DHL Fastest Lap Award at the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.

In a dramatic finish, Hamilton overtook Rosberg to win the race at Spielberg. “I was in a good position, head down and targeting as many points as possible today. The opportunity to try for the win came on the final lap,” said the current Formula 1 world champion afterwards.

This was Hamilton’s second fastest lap this season after the Monaco GP in late May. He is currently ranked second in the 2016 DHL Fastest Lap Award. His Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg still leads with four fastest laps. 

Formula 1 has another back-to-back race following on from the Austrian Grand Prix, so teams had to quickly pack their gear after the race at Spielberg. Drivers will start their engines up again this Friday in practice for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Fastest race laps: 2016 FORMULA 1 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX 

01 Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:08.411 – on Lap 67
02 Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:08.491 – on Lap 66
03 Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:08.770 – on Lap 66
04 Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 1:08.876 – on Lap 66
05 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 01:09.618 – on Lap 69
06 Esteban Gutierrez (Haas) 01:09.694 – on Lap 55
07 Felipe Massa (Williams) 01:09.899 – on Lap 59
08 Romain Grosjean (Haas) 1:09,925 – on Lap 67
09 Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:10.001 – on Lap 70
10 Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:10.120 – on Lap 66