AUSTRIAN GP: BOTTAS WINS RACE

Bottas wins the first Grand Prix of the season. The podium is completed by Leclerc and … Norris! Hamilton, second, fell to fourth place due to his penalty. We’re overjoyed at McLaren!

Norris: “Oh, I don’t know, I’m speechless. There were a few points where I thought I fudged it – I was fifth, Carlos was closing in on me, but I didn’t give up, got past Perez and I’m on the podium! I’m so proud of the team, coming back from where we were a couple of years ago. Proud to be part of it all.”

Leclerc: “I did not expect it! A huge surprise, but a good one – I think we did everything perfect today to finish second. We had a bit of luck with Lewis’ penalty and some crashes, but that was the goal – to take every opportunity. There’s still a lot of work to do, we are still very far away.”

Bottas: “There was definitely quite a bit of pressure – one safety car was okay, but I was like ‘another, come on’. Lewis was quick today but I was able to control it. I couldn’t use all the kerbs and at some points I was slightly worried – but we both managed to finish.”

Valtteri Bottas has won the Austrian Grand Prix, which saw just 11 drivers take the chequered flag at the end of the race. 

Lewis Hamilton crossed the line second place, however a time penalty for a collision with Alexander Albon dropped him to fourth, promoting Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris to second and third respectively.

For much of the race, Mercedes had to manage gearbox sensor issues despite pulling a gap to the rest of the field in the early stages.

Max Verstappen was the first driver to retire with mechanical issues while running in second place, promoting Hamilton into second place after the Briton made up time following his grid penalty.

With Albon running in third, the Mercedes duo pulled out a gap but were soon told to stay off the kerbs, with the pit wall reporting critical problems on both cars.

Following Verstappen’s retirement, Lance Stroll, Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen all retired from the race with separate car issues.

Magnussen fault appeared to come from his brakes, and with his car stopped on the run-off area at Turn 3, race control opted to deploy a safety car to recover the car.

The field took the safety car opportunity to dive into the pits and change tyres, with Sergio Perez switching onto the medium compound. 

Ferrari’s weekend got worse as Sebastian Vettel made contact with Carlos Sainz on lap 31, sending the German into a spin and demoting him to the rear of the field. On his fresh medium tyres, Perez passed Norris for P4, but couldn’t bridge the gap to Albon in third.

Second and third safety car

A second safety car was called after George Russell and Romain Grosjean retired within moments of each other with car problems. Due to Russell’s parking position, race control called the safety car.

Both Mercedes drivers and Sergio Perez opted to stay out, while Alexander Albon dived into the pits for a fresh set of soft tyres, putting himself in contention for the race lead.

On the safety car restart, Albon managed to pass Perez at Turn 3 right as a third safety car was called following a stoppage for Kimi Raikkonen’s, whose front right wheel detached from his career on the restart.

GRID PENALTY FOR HAMILTON AFTER IGNORING YELLOW FLAGS

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AUSTRIAN GP: BOTTAS WINS RACE AUSTRIAN GP: BOTTAS WINS RACE