Austria – Race: Valtteri Bottas triumphs in Spielberg

The race started on a dry track but with heavy clouds above the Austrian track. Only 19 drivers lined up on the grid as Pascal Wehrlein, who had set the slowest time in qualifying, changed his engine and therefore started from the pits.

The start was eventful: Valtteri Bottas made a perfect start, taking off just as the lights went out. The stewards took a very long time to decide if the start was anticipated or not, as the decision was made by the 27th lap! Behind, Sebastian Vettel managed to hold onto his second place, but Daniel Ricciardo managed to slip between the two Ferraris by overtaking Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn also lost an additional place after the third corner to Romain Grosjean.

But behind it was much more complicated as Daniil Kvyat missed his braking, involving Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen, who made a very poor start. Neither driver would be able to go beyond the first lap. It’s yet another underperformance for drivers who continue to string together retirements in recent races.

The Russian driver, for his part, was penalized with a drive-through penalty.

Lewis Hamilton began his comeback by overtaking Sergio Perez, then Romain Grosjean, who thus maintains his strong sixth place. But it was the Williams team that made the best progress, climbing from the back of the grid to reach 9th and 10th.

By the 10th lap, the top 10 was Bottas, Vettel, Ricciardo, Räikkönen, Hamilton, Grosjean, Perez, Ocon, Massa, and Stroll. The wave of pit stops started five laps later by Nico Hülkenberg. The German, who didn’t have a very good start, chose to switch to the soft tires, the hardest available this weekend. Indeed, all the drivers are complaining about the degradation of their tires.

By the 31st lap, Kevin Magnussen was still in pursuit behind Lance Stroll’s Williams when his gearbox failed upon exiting turn 3, forcing him to retire once again.

The following lap, it’s Lewis Hamilton who tries an offensive strategy by being the first to return to the pits even though he had the hardest tires. He is even more aggressive as he switches to the ultra-softs in an attempt to undercut Kimi Räikkönen.

Daniel Ricciardo doesn’t waste time following suit to switch to super softs. He is able to get back ahead of the Mercedes driver, who is clocking fast lap times. Sebastian Vettel has also aligned with the strategy of his closest rivals to defend his position. Valtteri Bottas waited much longer to pit, as he only changes his tires on lap 41, while Kimi Räikkönen waited three more laps.

On lap 46, Carlos Sainz is called to his pit to retire. The home race for Red Bull and Toro Rosso ends in disaster, except for Daniel Ricciardo who is still in position to reach the podium. In the final laps, Lewis Hamilton pushed hard to catch up to the Red Bull driver. He closed in right up to the tailpipes of the Australian.

Similarly, Sebastian Vettel made a great comeback to put pressure on the race leader until the final lap, but the Finn did not crack and managed to keep his position until the end.

Behind the leading quartet, Kimi Räikkönen finished with a comfortable margin ahead of Romain Grosjean. Sergio Perez once again finished ahead of his teammate, Esteban Ocon, who managed to resist the comeback of Felipe Massa. Lance Stroll thus scores points in a third consecutive race.

In the championship, Sebastian Vettel still makes a great move as he increases his lead to 20 points over Lewis Hamilton, while Mercedes further extends its lead in the Constructors’ championship.