Bottas holds off Vettel at Austrian GP

After Sochi (Russia), Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) won his second victory in F1 at the end of the Austrian GP contested on the Red Bull Ring at Spielberg where conditions remained dry. The Finn remained out of reach of Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) in the first part of the race even if he was placed under investigation, the stewards suspecting an early start before agreeing with the Mercedes driver.

Valtteri Bottas finally won by resisting the return of Sebastian Vettel while the tires were badly damaged. Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) completed the podium, signing its 5th consecutive top three after its victory in Baku (Azerbaijan), after also having to resist attacks from Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) which evolved on a different strategy.

Lewis Hamilton, only 8th on the grid at the Red Bull Ring after his penalty, chose to start on super soft tires to finish the event on ultra soft compounds. The three-time world champion is now 20 points behind Championship leader Sebastian Vettel and is only 15 points ahead of his teammate Valtteri Bottas.

Romain Grosjean (Haas) achieved his best result of the year with a 6th place where he was ahead of the Force India of Sergio Pérez and Esteban Ocon the Williams by Felipe Massa and Lance stroll complete the top ten after making a superb takeoff from the back of the grid.

Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) finished in 12th place between the Renault by Jolyon Palmer and Nico Hulkenberg. His teammate Fernando Alonso abandoned from the start following a collision caused by Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) who also put Max Verstappen (Red Bull) on the floor.

Discover the analysis of the Austrian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2122 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.