Motor racing-Rosberg refuses to be predictable

By Alan Baldwin SPIELBERG, Austria, June 21 (Reuters) - Sunday's Red Bulletin paddock magazine had declared Lewis Hamilton the Austrian Grand Prix winner even before the start but Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg ripped up the script. Double world champion Hamilton had seemed set for a fifth win in eight races after taking pole position and the irreverent Red Bull-owned publication was clearly taking a dig at how predictable the sport had become. "Hamilton wins...in Spielberg, Silverstone, Monza, Singapore, Suzuka, Abu Dhabi 2015 and 2016, 17, 18, 19...," it declared on a cover hinting at what the future of Formula One might look like. Hamilton has certainly had some dominant wins, with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone saying early on that he feared the Briton would wrap up his third title by Monza, but not this time. The conventional wisdom lasted only seconds once the lights went out, with Rosberg quicker off the mark and muscling through into the lead. And that was that. Hamilton never got close enough to make a move and then picked up a five-second penalty for a pit lane infringement in his haste to catch up. Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff was not surprised, even if some others might have been. "We have this discussion every time, a couple of races ago when he (Rosberg) finished second the question came up 'is this the tipping point and he is going to be the number two?,' the Austrian told reporters. "I kept repeating how I see him, he is mentally very strong and we have seen that today. "They are both under pressure because they keep pushing each other so much and you saw that in qualifying yesterday. He was faultless and at great speed during the race. It is going to go down to the wire." Qualifying had ended with both Mercedes drivers making mistakes and skidding off as they tried to nail the pole. But Rosberg won in Austria last year when the race returned after an 11-year absence and made the most of that experience. "I don't know if there's a trend on this track or anything," he said. "Today was just a great day. A good start and then good pace also in the race, and that's what I'm most happy about. "I think this year I found what I needed to find last year...just doing a little bit better in the races and that's really working out for me." (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Martyn Herman)