Valtteri Bottas recorded his second Formula 1 victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, resisting a charge from Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel late on. As team-mate Lewis Hamilton recovered to fourth. Bottas made a lightning start from pole position.
Vettel held second throughout to extend his championship advantage, though main rival Hamilton limited the damage by fighting back from eighth to fourth. Daniel Ricciardo’s strong race-day run continued. He claimed his fifth straight podium, the Red Bull driver doing just enough to keep Hamilton off the rostrum.
Sunday’s result means that Vettel now leads Hamilton by 20 points in the Drivers’ standings. Mercedes edged further away from Ferrari in the Constructors’ battle. As the lights went out, Bottas launched out of his grid slot to comfortably enter Turn 1 ahead of his rivals.
Bottas’ start was investigated by the stewards, following radio messages from several rivals,
but he was ultimately cleared, with a reaction time of just 0.201s noted. Behind, drama ensued, as Daniil Kvyat locked up both front brakes and hit Fernando Alonso, sending the McLaren into a slow-starting Max Verstappen.
Verstappen came close to stalling off the line and found himself at the tail-end of the top 10. As the field approached the first corner, where he sustained terminal damage. Verstappen, in front of thousands of home fans, pulled off the track a few corners later, with Alonso also retiring his car. While Kvyat picked up a drive-through penalty.
Bottas stretched out his initial Ultra Soft stint, eventualy pitting on lap 41/71, while Hamilton worked his way up to fifth on an alternative strategy, having started on Super Softs. Valtteri retained his lead over Vettel after the sole pit-stops and soon cleared Räikkönen. He pitted four laps later, and dropped behind Hamilton.
Bottas led Vettel by around five seconds at this stage. But the latter gradually cut the gap with a succession of fastest laps and personal best times. Vettel at one stage got within half a second of Bottas, giving him use of DRS. But the Finn held on to record only his second Formula 1, and aid Hamilton’s cause.
Hamilton, despite picking up tyre blisters, caught Ricciardo in the closing stages and attempt a move at Turn 4. But Ricciardo held firm. Ricciardo thus held on to third and extended his podium run. He gave Red Bull something to celebrate at its home race.
Räikkönen ultimately finished a lonely fifth, while Haas’ Romain Grosjean was the last driver to finish on the lead lap. Force India drivers Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon took seventh and eighth, as Williams’ Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll recovered from Q1 exits to complete the points.
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION (LAP 71/71): BOT dominates race to clinch second win of #F1 career ? #AustrianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/Y2WMejx5Fa
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2017
