BRILLIANT MAX VERSTAPPEN CLAIMS F1 WIN OVER CHARLES LECLERC
Sunday's Formula 1 Grand Prix in Austria was a scorcher as Max Verstappen took his Red Bull Honda to victory after dropping from pole to ninth place on the first lap.
It was a tough day for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc as he led much of the race, succumbing to a brilliant more from Max Verstappen with just two laps remaining. This win makes it two in a row for Verstappen at his home track, the Red Bull Ring, and the first win for Honda since 2006.
The final laps of the Austrian Grand Prix was a scrappy and exciting affair, with Verstappen and Leclerc touching wheels in turn 3 as the former overtook the latter. Race stewards deliberated over the incident but decided to take no further action.
This win also brings to an end the dominant Lewis Hamilton who, for the first time this season didn't finish in the top two, claiming fifth after a frustrating race.
After the race, Verstappen said, “Wow! After that start, I thought the race was over, but we just kept pushing hard. I was quite quick so the pace was actually not too bad, but I had quite a bad flat spot on my first tyre, and then after the pit stop, we were flying.
“Of course, extremely happy for the whole team and also for Honda – we just started working together this year but to win here is incredible.”
Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes took the bottom of the podium with Sebastian Vettel, after taking Hamilton late in the race after a two-stop strategy, finished fourth.
Another fantastic drive on the day saw Lando Norris finish sixth for McLaren, ahead of Pierre Gasly in his Red Bull. Carlos Sainz also had a terrific day, taking the eighth spot after starting at the back of the grid. The two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi claimed the last two point-scoring positions, which gave Italian his first ever F1 point.
Check out the race highlights here.
The official standing look like this:
1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 71 1:22:01.822
2 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +2.724s
3 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 71 +18.960s
4 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 71 +19.610s
5 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +22.805s
6 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 70 +1 lap
7 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 70 +1 lap
8 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 70 +1 lap
9 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 70 +1 lap
10 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 70 +1 lap
11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 70 +1 lap
12 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 70 +1 lap
13 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 70 +1 lap
14 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 70 +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 70 +1 lap
16 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 70 +1 lap
17 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 70 +1 lap
18 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES 69 +2 laps
19 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 69 +2 laps
20 Robert Kubica WILLIAMS MERCEDES 68 +3 laps
The next race is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 12-14 with Vettel looking to replicate the win from last season. Stay tuned, it should be a cracker.