European Grand Prix: Rosberg cruises to victory, Force India comes in 3rd

Nico Rosberg cruised to victory in the first Formula One race held in Azerbaijan and Force India’s Mexican Sergio Perez took the third place.

Nico Rosberg cruised to victory in the first Formula One race held in Azerbaijan on Sunday and increased his championship lead over Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton to 24 points.

Mercedes Formula One driver Nico Rosberg of Germany celebrates winning the race. (Reuters Photo)

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took second place, 16.6 seconds behind, with Force India’s Mexican Sergio Perez in third place after overtaking Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari on the last lap.

While the German enjoyed an uneventful drive in the late afternoon sunshine, his Mercedes team-mate and defending champion Lewis Hamilton came home a frustrated fifth after a race dogged by technical problems on the tricky new Baku street circuit as Azerbaijan hosted its maiden Formula One race.

Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team's German driver Nico Rosberg (left) and Red Bull Racing's Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo steer their cars during the European Formula One Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit . (AFP Photo)

After two successive wins had lifted him back into contention for a fourth title, Hamilton slipped back to 24 points behind Rosberg whose return to form brought him a 19th career victory.

Four-time champion Vettel took full advantage of an off-form day for Red Bull and drove steadily to finish ahead of Sergio Perez of Force India who passed Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari on the final lap.

Valtteri Bottas finished sixth for Williams ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and his Red Bull team-mate, Dutch teenager Max Verstappen with Nico Hulkenberg ninth for Force India and Felipe Massa 10th in the second Williams.

Rosberg now has 141 points in the title race and Hamilton 117.