Verstappen wins in Austria, prevented Leclerc to take maiden F1 victory

Max Verstappen wins the Austrian Grand Prix, giving the victory to Red Bull Racing at the Red Bull Ring. He did it for the second year in a row, scoring his sixth Formula 1 Grand Prix victory in a career.

The Dutchman stole the victory from Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who started from pole and almost converted it into his maiden F1 victory. But, Verstappen was faster in the closing laps and he overtook Leclerc two times. In the first occasion, Leclerc returned to the lead but on Lap 69 (of 71) there was a controversial contact between two cars and Verstappen stayed in front.

Controversial clash of Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) completed the podium. Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) was fourth, demoting championship leader Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) to P5 in the late phase of the race. The second Red Bull driver Pierre Gasly finished the race in the seventh place.

McLaren drivers Lando Norris (P6) and Carlos Sainz (P8) were the best of the rest. Carlos Sainz made impressive progress from P19 on the starting grid. Alfa Romeo Racing also has drivers in the Top 10, with Kimi Raikkonen in the ninth place and Antonio Giovinazzi behind him.

Max Verstappen’s #33 Red Bull RB15-Honda

Max Verstappen’s victory stopped the domination of Mercedes. The German team scored ten consecutive victories, two in 2018 and eight in 2019. The last non-Mercedes driver who won the race was Verstappen at 2018 Mexican Grand Prix. Today’s victory promoted Verstappen to P3 in the championship, behind two Mercedes drivers and three points ahead of Vettel.