Max Verstappen takes the win at the Austrian GP ahead of Raikkonen and Vettel. It was a dramatic race for Mercedes as Bottas and Hamilton managed to grab first two spots on the race grid but sadly a double DNF due to technical issues with both their cars. Valtteri Bottas retired after the car suffered a gearbox issue while Lewis Hamilton’s car suffered fuel pressure loss owing to a late retirement.
Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton pulled along the inside of Bottas on Turn 1. Raikkonen tried to attack Hamilton taking the outside line into Turn 3 but locked up wheels and ran wide into the corner and rejoined only to be overtaken by Bottas and then by Verstappen. Through lap 14 out Bottas’s car suffered from a gearbox issue coming out of a turn making the Poleman retire from the race.
Kimi Raikkonen kept running out of luck as he locked up in almost every turn most probably due to the soft compound tire option resulting in numerous overtakes. Few laps down he was overtaken by Ricciardo who tucked into Kimi’s slipstream with the DRS engaged before jumping ahead and attacking the corner. Hamilton drops down to fourth place behind Raikkonen. Raikkonen then progressed to second place followed by Vettel who managed to find his way past Hamilton towards Turn 3 on lap 39.
Towards the last leg, the race registered almost three DNF’s. Ricciardo suffered a technical problem on lap 54, followed by Brandon Hartley’s Torro Rosso having suspected gearbox problems out of lap 56. Mercedes’s only hope, Lewis Hamilton also pulls to the side on lap 64 due to loss of power.
The Red Bull Racing team was led to victory by Max Verstappen who defended the position to Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who finished in second, rounding off the podium was Sebastien Vettel in third.