Valtteri Bottas won the Austrian Grand Prix. This is his second victory this season. Leading the championship, the German Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) finished second. The Finnish team mate Lewis Hamilton, fourth today, a perfect race. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) and Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) completed the podium.
The Finn Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) won Sunday’s second Grand Prix victory, both this season in Austria, on the Red Bull Ring Spielberg (south). He beat 658/1000th the only German Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) party behind the front line, and Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull), who gets his fifth consecutive podium, 6 sec 12/1000th behind.
Briton Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), 8th party following a penalty of five places on the grid for a gearbox change, finished fourth a fraction over one second behind Ricciardo. Vettel’s main rival for the world title, came close to taking the lead in the final two rounds, now has twenty points behind the German in the drivers’ standings.
A suspect departure
Bottas was a time troubled by a suspicion of a false start, but the race stewards ultimately felt that he had not sinned. Arriving at Williams in 2013, he joined Mercedes to replace the outgoing season champion world and recently retired Nico Rosberg. He then quickly won his first pole (Bahrain) and its first victory (in Russia).
This season, Vettel only did better than the five consecutive podiums Ricciardo, riding on the box in the first six races. Decidedly unlucky, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Fernando Alonso (McLaren-Honda) was forced to retire after a collision caused by the Russian Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) in the first corner. This is the fifth abandonment in eight races for the Dutch and fifth in seven races to the Spaniard, absent at the Monaco GP in late May.
Held responsible for hooking the commissioners, Kvyat was punished with a ride through the pit lane. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (Toro Rosso) also abandoned due to mechanical problems. French side, Romain Grosjean (Haas) finished 6th and Sebastian Ocon (Force India) 8th.
