F1: Verstrappen Edges Leclerc To Win Dramatic Austrian GP; First Win For Honda

In a thrilling finish to the 2019 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen took a spectacular win as he passed Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in a battle during the closing stages. The young drivers put up a brilliant show at the Red Bull Ring, which is also Verstappen's home country and track, and saw Honda take its first-ever victory since the team's return to F1. Verstappen's race winning pass resulted in a minor contact between the two drivers and pushed the Ferrari into the run off. The incident has led to a post-race investigation from the stewards.

The race started with Leclerc on pole followed by Verstappen in the first row. The second row comprised Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas with Haas F1's Kevin Magnussen. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton had secured the second fastest time in qualifying but received a four-place grid penalty that pushed him down to fifth, for blocking Kimi Raikkonen in Q1. The 2019 Austrian GP started with Leclerc in a dominant position and he did have a strong start, while Verstappen fell to P8 on the opening lap.

Verstappen passed Leclerc on Lap 69 to win the race with a gap of 2.724s

Leclerc was fending off attacks from Bottas in the first half of the race and managed to keep the Mercedes at a distance. Meanwhile, Verstappen was climbing up the order making it up to fifth by Lap 3. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel too was moving up the order along with Verstappen, having starting ninth due to an engine issue in qualifying. By Lap 4, Vettel was running behind Verstappen in sixth place.  

The first set of pitstops started with Bottas on Lap 21 who decided to swap his hard tyres. It was expected that the harder set will allow the Mercedes to hold out longer, but the team had a different strategy in place. Leclerc pitted a lap later which put Hamilton into the lead briefly. Vettel lost a big amount of time due to a radio problem with Ferrari's mechanics that meant they were not aware that Vettel was pitting.

Both Hamilton and Verstappen extended their opening stints for the longest time with the Mercedes pitting on Lap 30. Hamilton, however, had damaged his front wing, which needed a wing change and saw the driver lose precious time, as he rejoined 8 seconds behind Vettel.

Temperature management affected the pace for both Mercedes drivers with Bottas finishing at P3 and Hamilton at P5

By the halfway mark, Leclerc had a lead of over 12.9 seconds at the front, with Verstappen 12.9s behind the race leader. Over the next 17 laps, the Red Bull driver steadily chipped off the gap. By Lap 50 of 71, Verstappen was running behind Vettel and managed to make the most out of the latter's position, who was struggling on Turn 3 at the top-of-the-hill. Verstappen used DRS to his advantage and managed to pass Vettel on the outside into Turn 4.

Verstappen decided to pit again for soft tyres after passing Vettel and rejoined behind Hamilton. The Red Bull driver was quick to pass Hamilton and then Bottas and was 6s off Leclerc by Lap 56. For the first time in the season, both the Mercedes drivers lacked the pace which was dropped due to temperature management, allowing Max to take on the junior Ferrari driver without any trouble.

With just five laps left in the grand prix, Verstappen was on Leclerc's tail and made his first attack on the outside of Turn 3 and 4. He made a scond attempt on the next lap to pass the Ferrari but Leclerc fended off the attack to retain the lead. Verstappen's final and successful attack came in a lap later as the driver moved to the edge of the track and forced the Ferrari to run wide, as both the cars made contact. While Leclerc took to the run-off, Verstappen complained that the Ferrari turned in on him, warranting an investigation.

Charles Leclerc held the lead for most of the race fending off attacks from Bottas in the initial stage

Verstappen was then told on the radio to escape, and the driver did exactly that crossing the finish line in first place with a gap of 2.724s. Bottas was a distant third, almost 19s behind the top drivers, while Vettel had to settle for fourth after passing Hamilton in the final stages. Coming in sixth was Land Norris in his McLaren, making up for his disappointing race last weekend. Norris managed to fend off competition from Red Bull's Pierre Gasly who finished seventh, his best result so far.

Coming in eighth was Carlos Sainz Jr. of McLaren climbing from 15th on the grid, while Alfa Romeo drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi took the final points at P9 and P10 respectively. This was also Giovinazzi's first-ever point in F1. Coming in 11th was Racing Point's Sergio Perez followed by Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg of Renault. Racing Point's Lance Stroll finished 14th, ahead of Torro Rosso's Alex Albon. Haas driver Romain Grosjean finished 15th, followed by Torro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat, Williams' George Russell and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen. Williams' Robert Kubica was the final driver to finish the race.