Valtteri Bottas has beat Sebastian Vettel to victory at the Austrian Formula 1 Grand Prix, bringing himself closer to the 2017 title battle.
The Finn got off to a great start to the race, bolting from his grid position with such precision it was questioned by the stewards as to whether he made a jump start. He quickly made a gap to Vettel chasing him in the opening laps, to nearly 10 seconds at one stage.
Vettel dived into the pits five laps before Bottas. The two battled lap after lap, trading fastest laps whileVettel edged ever closer to the back of Bottas’ Mercedes.
In the closing stages of the race, Vettel was catching Bottas at a much faster pace and began to apply pressure as the laps ticked off. As the gap was shrinking, both cars looked to be struggling with tyre wear as blisters became a common sight.
Bottas’ cool defence means a second win of the season to close within 15 points of his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and 35 behind Vettel.
Hamilton made a solid start from eighth on the grid to bring his Mercedes home in fourth place, just being pipped to the podium by Austraila’s Daniel Ricciardo, The Briton was unhappy with the balance of his W08 throughout the race, but made the best of his situation.
Red Bull will be happy with Ricciardo’s podium but will be unhappy with their junior driver Daniil Kvyat. The Russian out-braked himself into Turn 1 and collided into McLaren’s Fernando Alonso who then hit Max Verstappen, putting them both out of the race.
Romain Grosjean brought home his Haas to a sixth place finish which will help them in their battle against Renault, Toro Rosso and Williams for fifth place in the constructors’ battle. Magnussen had a gearbox failure while chasing Lance Stroll for the final point.
Both Force India’s managed to have a clean race bringing both cars home ahead of William. This widens the gap between to Grove based team and solidify their fourth place in the constructors’ table.
Jolyon Palmer came close once again to a points finish but was unable to beat Lance Stroll to the final points paying position, team-mate Nico Hulkenberg finished a lowly 13th for Renault.
Toro Rosso’s race was spoilt by Kvyat’s move in Turn 1 but was made worse after Carlos Sainz had to retire the car half way through the race.
