MAX VERSTAPPEN - FROM BAD START, TO SENSATIONAL WIN

Max Verstappen recovered from a poor start to take a brilliant Austrian Grand Prix, and to score Honda’s first F1 victory in 13 years, though the Dutch driver’s sixth career win was only officially confirmed following a stewards’ investigation into the overtaking move on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that earned Verstappen top spot on the podium.

Polesitter Leclerc had led from the start of the race, but with a handful of laps to go Verstappen used greater pace on hard tyres to close up to the Ferrari driver. He tried to pass on the inside into Turn 3 on lap 68 but the attempt was rebuffed by the clam Leclerc who held his line and power ahead of the Dutch driver on exit from the corner.

Undaunted, Verstappen tried again on the next lap, in the same place. This time there was contact and Leclerc was forced wide. As the Ferrari driver slowed, Verstappen raced away into the lead and at the end of the 71stlap crossed the line to take a brilliant win. Almost immediately race stewards reported that the incident was under investigation and there followed a nervous wait while the officials deliberated.

Some three hours later, Verstappen’s win was confirmed with the matter ruled to be a racing incident.

Verstappen’s sixth career win and the first for power unit partner Honda since the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2006 seemed unlikely when the Dutchman’s RB15 bogged down and he was immediately passed by a swarm of rivals.

Leclerc powered away into the lead ahead of the Mercedes cars of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, the Alfa Romeo of fast-starting Kimi Räikkönen, the McLaren of Lando Norris and the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.

Verstappen, though, dropped to P7 and looked to be out of contention. However, both Verstappen and Vettel passed Norris with relative ease and within a handful of laps they had also cleared Räikkönen.

After a dozen laps, Leclerc was a healthy three seconds ahead of Bottas, with Hamilton a further 2.7 seconds back in third. Vettel was now fourth, 4.5s behind Hamilton, while Verstappen was a similar distance behind Vettel.

Ahead of the first round of pit stops Leclerc had built an almost five-second advantage over Bottas, who triggered what would for most of the leafing pack would be a single pit stop. Bottas made a clean stop on lap 21 but there was no such luck for Vettel who stopped at the same time4.

The Ferrari driver’s crew were not ready with a set of hard tyres and the German was forced to sit stationary for six seconds as a front left wheel was located and fitted. Leclerc made his stop at the end of the following lap and he emerged in P3 behind new leader Hamilton and Verstappen.

Hamilton was now suffering with degradation to his opening set of medium tyres and as Verstappen closed the gap, the Mercedes driver pushed too hard and damaged his front wing. He pitted at the end of lap 30, not only for hard tyres but also for a new front wing. The stop saw Hamilton stand still in his pit box for 11 seconds and Red Bull responded by pitting Verstappen on lap 31. He emerged four seconds clear of Hamilton, in fourth place.

And it was then, with hard tyres on board, that the race began to come to the Dutchman. He swiftly close on third-placed Vettel and on lap 50, breezed past the German on entry to Turn 4 to take third place.

Verstappen now had Bottas in his sights and on lap 56 her took second place, dismissing Bottas effortlessly with a move down the inside into Turn 3 under DRS. With 10 laps to go Max was just 3.8 seconds behind the race leader and five laps later the Red Bull driver arrived on Ferrari’s gearbox.

The two 21-year-old racers then engaged in the epic battle that ended with Verstappen spraying champagne from the top step of the podium but also facing a stewards’ investigation. Vettel had also been on the move during the closing stages and he passed Hamilton to take a solid fourth place after starting from P9.

Hamilton was left with fifth place ahead of Norris and Pierre crossed the line in P7 to score his seventh points finish of the season to date. Eighth place was taken by Carlos Sainz who finished ahead of the Alfa Romeo cars of Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi.

2019 Austrian Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring 71 laps,; 306.452km., Weather: Sunny
CLASSIFICATION:
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME/GAP
1.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1h22:01.822
2.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+ 2.724
3.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	+ 18.960
4.	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	+ 19.610
5.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	+ 22.805
6.	Lando Norris	McLaren	+ 1 Lap
7.	Pierre Gasly	Red Bull	+ 1 Lap
8.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	McLaren	+ 1 Lap
9.	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 Lap
10.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	+ 1 Lap
11.	Sergio Perez	Racing Point	+ 1 Lap
12.	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	+ 1 Lap
13.	Nico Hulkenberg	Renault	+ 1 Lap
14.	Lance Stroll	Racing Point	+ 1 Lap
15.	Alex Albon	Toro Rosso	+ 1 Lap
16.	Romain Grosjean	Haas	+ 1 Lap
17.	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso	+ 1 Lap
18.	George Russell	Williams	+ 2 Laps
19.	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	+ 2 Laps
20.	Robert Kubica	Williams	+ 3 Laps
FASTEST LAP: MAX VERSTAPPEN - 1:07.475
NOT CLASSIFIED: 0
@MakFormula1 - Republic of Macedonia

***CLASSIFICATION AFTER 9/21 RACES***
DRIVERS:
1.	Lewis Hamilton	197
2.	Valtteri Bottas	166
3.	Max Verstappen	126
4.	Sebastian Vettel	123
5.	Charles Leclerc	105
6.	Pierre Gasly	43
7.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	30
8.	Lando Norris	22
9.	Kimi Raikkonen	21
10.	Daniel Ricciardo	16
11.	Nico Hulkenberg	16
12.	Kevin Magnussen	14
13.	Sergio Perez	13
14.	Daniil Kvyat	10
15.	Alex Albon	7
16.	Lance Stroll	6
17.	Romain Grosjean	2
18.	Antonio Giovinazzi	1
19.	George Russell	0
20.	Robert Kubica	0
CONSTRUCTORS:
1.	Mercedes AMG	363
2.	Ferrari	228
3.	Red Bull	169
4.	McLaren	52
5.	Renault	32
6.	Alfa Romeo	22
7.	Racing Point	19
8.	Toro Rosso	17
9.	Haas	16
10.	Williams	0