Hamilton’s quest was quashed by two penalties; and eight drivers retired on the day.
SPIELBERG, Austria—July 5th—Formula 1 racing had to wait a long while to return, but if the first race is any indication of how the season will go, it will be a good one for Valtteri Bottas. The Mercedes #2 driver led from start to finish to win the Austrian Grand Prix, winning by 2.7 seconds over Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris picked up his first career podium with a third-place finish.
In winning, Bottas had to outdo Mercedes’ #1 driver and defining world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
Valtteri Bottas: There were so many chances for Lewis to come through if made a small mistake. I managed to keep it together and control the race from my side, and it is a good start to the season.
His winning cause was helped when Hamilton was penalized at the start after falling to slow for yellow flags during Saturday’s qualifying.
Bottas had a three-second lead over Hamilton going into the 10th lap and, by Lap 20, he had increased the gap to 6.6 seconds. But three safety car periods gave Hamilton opportunities. The Finn responded with good restarts, and despite Hamilton getting close (to just under a second), Hamilton received another five-second penalty for striking Red Bull’s Alex Albon on Lap 61. That mishap spun the Thai around when it looked like Albon had a chance to overtake Hamilton coming out of Turn Four. It was deja vu. The very same incident between these two happened last year in Brazil.
Leclerc and Norris took advantage of Hamilton’s mistake by moving up the grid and claiming podium spots.
Hamilton’s race penalty relegated him to fourth while Sergio Perez (who also received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane), finished in sixth.
Overall, it was a rough day on the circuit. Eight drivers retired from the race, including Max Verstappen, who won here last season. He was done after experiencing a power issue on Lap 14. A cooling issue ended Daniel Ricciardo’s day on Lap 18. Racing Point’s Lance Stroll had a sensor failure four laps later, and George Russell exited his Williams with transmission failure on Lap 51. Kimi Raikkonen also went out (Lap 56) when he lost his front right tire, and Dani Kvyat shredded his rear left tire down the main straight with a couple of laps left in the race.
The American Haas F1 Team was not exempt from issues either. Kevin Magnussen suffered a brake failure on Lap 26, and Romain Grosjean experienced the same problem on Lap 50.
On the bright side, Carlos Sainz gave McLaren a double-points finish by ending up in fifth, while Pierre Gasly took seventh in his Alpha Tauri.
Esteban Ocon celebrated his return to F1 after a two-year lapse by finishing eighth in his Renault. Ninth went to Antonio Giovinazzi in the Alfa Romeo. Following a spin earlier in the race, Sebastian Vettel recovered to take tenth in his Ferrari.
The teams will stay put for another week, preparing for the first Styrian Grand Prix, which will be held in Spielberg next weekend.
