After a chaotic race in Azerbaijan marked the first race win of 2017 for Red Bull Racing and Daniel Ricciardo, the team headed to Spielberg this weekend for its home race – the Austrian Grand Prix. After Lewis Hamilton topped FP1 and FP2, it was shaping up to be a strong weekend for the Brit, however, after he was handed a five-place grid penalty, the battle for pole became wide open. It was Sebastian Vettel who was fastest before qualifying, however, Valtteri Bottas was the man who came out on top in the all important session, claiming the second pole position of his career.
Valtteri Bottas secures second career win at Austrian Grand Prix
When the lights went out, Bottas had the perfect start from pole and led into the first corner while carnage ensued behind him when Daniil Kvyat locked up into turn 1, crashing into the back of Fernando Alonso who in turn ran into Max Verstappen, taking the McLaren and the Red Bull out of the race while Kvyat continued.
Amidst all of the carnage, Daniel Ricciardo overtook Kimi Raikkonen into turn 1 to move into third place while Romain Grosjean, who started in sixth place, also overtook the Ferrari to move into fourth. It was also a good start for the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll who were running inside the top ten by the end of lap 1.
Grosjean quickly slipped back into fifth place when Raikkonen reclaimed fourth, trying to recover from a poor start. Lewis Hamilton also started to slice his way though the field, passing Sergio Perez to move into sixth and then Grosjean to move into fifth place.
For the accident in turn 1, Daniil Kvyat was under investigation for causing a collision while Bottas was also under investigation for a reported jump start. A few laps later, the stewards decided the outcome and Kvyat was slapped with a drive through penalty while Bottas escaped punishment.
Kevin Magnussen became the third retirement of the race on lap 30 when he was racing in 11th place, batting Lance Stroll for tenth and a possible points finish. This promoted Jolyon Palmer to 11th, just outside of the points.
Struggling with tyre wear after starting on the supersoft tyre, Lewis Hamilton pitted on lap 31 to rejoin where he pitted from, this time in clean air which allowed him to lap faster to close up to Kimi Raikkonen as opposed to being stuck behind the Ferrari’s turbulent air. Hamilton stopping on lap 31 promoted the rest of the field to stop, and Daniel Ricciardo pitted from third on lap 33 and was followed in by Sebastian Vettel one lap later, moving Raikkonen up into second place.
After setting fastest lap after fastest lap, Bottas built up a big enough gap to allow him to rejoin the race with the net lead behind Kimi Raikkonen who became the race leader having not yet pit. This left Bottas stuck in the middle of a Ferrari sandwich as it looked like the Scuderia would again use Raikkonen as a strategy device to allow Vettel to close up. With his tyres being too worn however, Raikkonen was unable to do this and Bottas regained the lead from his fellow countryman in turn 4.
Carlos Sainz Jr then became the latest retirement of the race, bringing about the end of a disappointing weekend for Toro Rosso.
With Mercedes’ and Ferrari’s strategy, a race was shaping up for the end and the order of the top three finishers was far from decided. After setting multiple fastest laps, Hamilton closed in on Daniel Ricciardo and began to hunt him down to bring about an end to the Australian’s four race streak of finishing on the podium. Sebastian Vettel also closed in on Bottas, with less than a second separating first and second place.
In the closing laps, Hamilton launched an attack on Ricciardo into turn 4 but still remained in fourth while Vettel furiously used DRS to try and close in on and pass Bottas. Despite being under massive amounts of pressure, Bottas crossed the line on lap 71 to claim the second victory of his career while Vettel crossed the line in second, only 0.6 seconds away from the win. Daniel Ricciardo also held onto third place, just over one second ahead of Hamilton who came home in fourth.
Kimi Raikkonen came home in fifth place and Romain Grosjean crossed the line in sixth as the best of the rest, claiming a large haul of points for Haas F1. The Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon crossed the line in seventh and eighth while Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll crossed the line to secure a Williams 9-10.
With regard to driver of the day, there are a number of notable candidates including Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton, and Romain Grosjean. Valtteri Bottas however, deserves this honour due to the dominating performance that he put in around the Red Bull Ring to claim his second win of 2017 and push forward his name in the fight for the Drivers’Championship.
Results from the Austrian Grand Prix:
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 25 points
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferarri, 18 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 15 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 12 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 10 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 8 points
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 6 points
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 4 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 2 points
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 1 point
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
- Stoffel Vandorrne, McLaren, 0 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 0 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 0 points
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, Ret
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, Ret
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Ret
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Ret
Drivers Standings after the Austrian Grand Prix:
- Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 171 points
- Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 151 points
- Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 136 points
- Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing, 107 points
- Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 83 points
- Sergio Perez, Force India, 50 points
- Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 45 points
- Esteban Ocon, Force India, 39 points
- Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 29 points
- Felipe Massa, Williams, 22 points
- Lance Stroll, Williams, 18 points
- Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 18 points
- Romain Grosjean, Haas F1, 18 points
- Kevin Magnussen, Haas F1, 11 points
- Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber, 5 points
- Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 4 points
- Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 2 points
- Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 0 points
- Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 0 points
- Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren, 0 points
- Antonio Giovinazzi, Sauber, 0 points
- Jenson Button, McLaren, 0 points
Constructors Standings after the Austrian Grand Prix:
- Mercedes, 287 points
- Ferrari, 254 points
- Red Bull Racing, 152 points
- Force India, 89 points
- Williams, 40 points
- Toro Rosso, 33 points
- Haas F1, 29 points
- Renault, 18 points
- Sauber, 5 points
- McLaren, 2 points
Main Photo
