Tag Archives: Red Bull Ring

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Styria (Austria II) — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton secures scintillating pole amidst torrential conditions at Red Bull Ring; Red Bull’s Verstappen P2 despite late spin, Sainz P3 for improving McLaren; Ferrari in trouble

For the first time in Formula 1 history two races will be run at the same circuit on back-to-back weekends, and the dubious honor goes to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. But it was the weather that lent real distinction to this second race weekend of the 2020 season and not the fig leaf of a new title, the Grand Prix of Styria, for what is in reality simply a second identical Austrian GP. With the travel and logistics concerns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic forcing this normally globe-hopping motorsport series to compress the schedule and repeat races at some European circuits on consecutive weekends, this Saturday’s “Styria” qualifying was nonetheless completely distinct from last weekend’s sunny “Austrian” affair and offered up a lot of excitement and surprising results to match.

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton bested this generation’s nominal Rainmeister, Red Bull’s Max Vertstappen, to seize the pole in torrential and thoroughly treacherous conditions at this valley track nestled among the Styrian Mountains. Verstappen and Hamilton had been trading provisional pole throughout Q3, during which the weather actually deteriorated again, after slightly lightening up for the delayed start of Q1 and into Q2. But when Vertsappen lost control and spun harmlessly late in his final try with time expired in the final session, it meant Hamilton had secured pole after an outstanding and supremely well controlled effort under these adverse circumstances. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

FORMULA 1 RETURNS — Bottas takes victory in long-delayed first race of 2020 season but Hamilton loses P2 due to penalty; Leclerc promoted to P2 and Norris to P3 in wild opening round

After a nearly four month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Forumla 1 season finally kicked off on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. After such a long layoff between seasons it was a somewhat predictably wild and ragged race, although Mercedes was once again the class of the field. With their new black livery, the Silver Arrows took pole and second fastest times during Saturday qualifying, with their usual number 2 man, Valtterri Bottas claiming pole position for Sunday’s race ahead of P2 teammate and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton. In a harbinger of things to come, Hamilton was demoted 3 spots for failing to slow properly for yellow flags during quali. That meant Hamilton, on a quest for his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship, had to start from back in P5 on the grid, while Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull team had lodged the last minute complaint against Lewis, was elevated to P2 alongside Bottas.

Image courtesy GrandPrix247.com

When the lights went out to start the race, though, Bottas blew the Red Bull off the line and shot away from the rest of the field, leaving the rest of the top 9 squabbling amongst themselves and the speedy Hamilton fighting his way back to the front. After avoiding contact going into Turn 1, the Champ quickly began dispatching his slower rivals, getting by McLaren’s Lando Norris for P4 on Lap 4 and subsequently past the competitive second Red Bull of Alexander Albon on Lap 9 for P3. It should have set up a fascinating tussle with Verstappen but on Lap 11 the Dutchman’s Red Bull went haywire with the electrical system repeatedly putting his machine into anti-stall mode. Unfortunately the malfunction proved terminal and Verstappen was out of the race just like that. Once again, as it has been so many times since 2014, mighty Mercedes saw their two drivers dominating yet another Grand Prix from the front.

Verstappen’s was the first of many retirements on a very hot summer’s day in Austria, with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo going out on Lap 18, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll calling it a day on Lap 21 and beleaguered Haas’ Kevin Magnussen suffering break failure on Lap 26, which brought out the day’s first Safety Car. It would not be the last. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Verstappen overcomes disastrous start to take thrilling victory in Austrian GP; Leclerc bumped to P2 after leading most of race for Ferrari; Bottas salvages P3 for flummoxed Mercedes

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a nightmare start to the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday but, showing that he is one of the best talents of this generation of drivers, managed to fight back brilliantly to snatch victory from the leading Ferrari of Charles Leclerc late in this 71 lap contest. With the two most promising young Formula 1 competitors starting side-by-side on the front row on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, Verstappen’s car went into anti-stall mode when the lights went out to begin the contest. The Dutchman found himself swamped by the two Mercedes Silver Arrows behind him, as well as the McLaren of Lando Norris, and promptly dropped from P2 back to P7 before even one lap’s distance had been completed. Meanwhile pole-sitter Leclerc raced away from his nearest pursuer, pulling a nearly 2 seconds gap to Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by the start of Lap 3. Finally, it looked like the breaks would go Ferrari’s way after with Leclerc’s dominant start from start and the starcrossed Sebastian Vettel had even vaulted up to P6 after failing to turn a lap in Q3 on Saturday due to mechanical gremlins forced the German to start P9 on race day.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But Verstappan and the Red Bull team kept their heads in the game and didn’t panic after their bad start. They ran the Dutch wunderkind longer than any of the other top contenders on his opening stint, going all the way to Lap 32 before switching off the Medium Pirellis in favor of the long lasting Hard compound. That gave Verstappen tires that were 9 laps fresher than Leclerc’s, who came in to swap off of his opening set of the less durable Softs for the Hards on Lap 23. The Red Bull’s tires were even one lap fresher still than those of the other Ferrari of Vettel, who had tried to cross up Bottas by pitting on the same lap, 22, to slow the Mercedes crew down. But that somewhat backfired when the Scuderia didn’t have the tires laid out properly, costing Vettel at least 3 valuable extra seconds in the pits while the crew scrambled to get things right. By Lap 48 Vertsappen was harassing Vettel and by Lap 50 the Red Bull man passed the second Ferrari easily for P3. Next on Vertsppen’s hit list was Bottas and despite complaining of a brief power loss he was able to fix this issue via resetting controls on the steering will and then blew by the overmatched Finn for P2 on Lap 56.

That left it down to the leading Leclerc and the pursuing Vertsppen for the ultimate prize of this riveting Grand Prix. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Leclerc snatches pole in Spielberg for Ferrari but Vettel misses out on Q3 with mechanical; Hamilton demoted 3-spots for Q1 infraction after running second fastest

It was an intriguing qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on Saturday as Ferrari found superior pace on this short, high speed circuit and actually managed to put Mercedes on the back foot. Confirming the trends in practice, young Charles Leclerc pushed his Prancing Horse to the pole position for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, besting Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap in his Silver Arrow by a rather hefty .26 seconds. Worse still for Hamilton and team Mercedes the season’s points leader was demoted three places via a penalty for blocking Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in Q1. So that will give Hamilton that much more to do come race day when he starts from P5 on the grid instead of on the front row.

But, as has so often been the case this year, the news for Ferrari was not all good despite their pace advantage over the Mercs. Their senior driver, Sebastian Vettel, continued his recent run of bad luck when an air pressure line to his engine failed, denying the German the chance to run in Q3 and relegating him to a P10 start. It was exactly the sort of thing the star-crossed German did not need on a day when he should have been contending for pole against his upstart teammate, as well as sticking it to Mercedes. Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas also continued to sputter, or perhaps find his true level after a deceptively strong start to 2019, when he was out-qualified by Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen, P3 to P4. Hamilton’s penalty also elevates both drivers and that means the Dutchman, who enjoyed boisterous support from his orange-clad countrymen in the stands here, will start on the font row alongside Leclerc. Watching those two young guns duke it out as they race away from the starting line could be worth the price of admission by itself, especially as the Ferrari will run its opening stint on Soft Pirrellis while the Red Bull will be on the Mediums.

Kevin Magnussen gave scuffling Haas a bit of hope by posting the fifth fastest time but he will drop five positions on the grid due to a gearbox change penalty. Lando Norris was the only McClaren to make it into Q3 and laid down the sixth fastest lap. The two Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeos acquitted themselves very well, with Raikkonen slotting in at P7 and Antonio Giovinazzi in P8. And Verstappen’s teammate Pierre Gasly was once again miles behind him with only the ninth fastest time, which must be disappointing for the Red Bull team as well as ominous for Gasly’s future in that notoriously impatient squad.

Top 10 qualifying times for the Austrian:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:04.138	1:03.378	1:03.003	19
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:03.818	1:03.803	1:03.262	27
3	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:03.807	1:03.835	1:03.439	18
4	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:04.084	1:03.863	1:03.537	25
5	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:04.778	1:04.466	1:04.072	20
6	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN RENAULT	1:04.361	1:04.211	1:04.099	19
7	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:04.615	1:04.056	1:04.166	23
8	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	1:04.450	1:04.194	1:04.179	22
9	10	Pierre Gasly	RED BULL RACING HONDA	1:04.412	1:03.988	1:04.199	18
10	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:04.340	1:03.667		9

Complete qualifying results — and adjusted grid — available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari’s race pace is as good as what they showed today in quali!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Verstappen seizes opportunity in chaotic Austrian GP to win at Red Bull Ring; Ferrari capitalize on stunning Mercedes double DNF as Raikkonen and Vettel take P2 & P3

Under punishingly hot conditions at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg Austria on Sunday, Red Bull’s own Max Verstappen capitalized on a chaotic race and parlayed a dynamite start into an unexpected victory in front of a sea of orange-clad fans. With the perfect vantage point of his P4 position on the grid, the Dutch wunderkind watched as Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen attacked both front row Mercedes by forcing his Prancing Horse between the Silver Arrows of pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas and P2 starter Lewis Hamilton. For a brief moment it looked as if that bold and ballsy effort might work but Bottas was able to recover and force Raikonnen off the circuit as Hamilton sped away into the distance. That left Raikonnen at the mercy of Max, as Verstappen was able to capitalize on the veteran Finn’s loss of momentum and pass him for P3 before the eventful first lap was even half over.

It looked as if Hamilton’s and Mercedes preferred script for the win was playing out perfectly but the track conditions made extra demands of the equipment on this very hot day. In a harbinger of things to come, first the factory Renault of Nico Hulkenberg suffered a prolonged and smokey engine failure on Lap 12. It proved to be the first of many retirements in this race, none more astonishing then when Bottas suffered complete hydraulic failure just two laps later and was forced to pull his car off into a partial escape road. It was a stunning turn of events for the pole-sitter and yet another perplexing bit of very bad luck for Bottas in what is turning into something of a snakebite season for him. Even worse for Mercedes they were once again caught flat-footed when a Virtual Safety Car was deployed to slow the field so Bottas’ car could be retrieved. The top contenders — Verstappen, his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo and the two Ferrari men Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel — all dove for the pits for fresh rubber, dispensing with their pit stops on this potential one-stopper while the race was essentially neutralized. In an inexplicably defensive decision Mercedes kept Hamilton out circulating on track at reduced speed. This made it much more likely that the English championship points leader would be forced to pit under less advantageous green flag conditions down the road. I any event his rivals had all made up valuable track position on him with their stops during the VSC.

So when Hamilton was called in for his tire change on Lap 25 he had only a 13-second cushion. And with a roughly 20-second pit delta even the typically efficient Mercedes pit work couldn’t keep Hamilton in the lead. In fact, he came out in P4 when all was said and done, behind the new leader Verstappen, Ricciardo in P2 and Raikkonen in P3. With Bottas out Mercedes were trying to cover being ganged up on by the two car teams of Red Bull and Ferrari if they split their strategies. But that didn’t materialize and it proved to be the wrong call, which the Mercedes brain trust admitted to a highly frustrated Hamilton.

In front of the lone Mercedes, Raikkonen hunted down Riccardo, whose rear tires were blistering badly, passing him for P2 on lap 38. Blistered rears were an issue that would begin to afflict the entire field as the race wore on at this high speed and very short circuit. Ricciardo was forced to pit for fresh rubber on Lap 39, seemingly gifting back P3 to Hamilton. But Vettel forced his way by Hamilton for that position on the very same lap, as the Merc appeared to already be losing its rears in the heat. By Lap 53 Hamilton had to pit again, once more conceding valuable track position. Hamilton came out in P5 behind a seemingly rejuvenated Ricciardo. But just as it seemed the affable Aussie was going to take off and try to force his way onto the podium he suffered a sudden engine failure at the start of Lap 54. As a disconsolate Ricciardo climbed out of his stricken Red Bull the team had to be looking at Verstappen’s telemetry and wondering whether their bad luck at their home track was fated to continue.

But Hamilton’s good fortune at the expense of Ricciardo’s DNF was short lived. In an unbelievable turn of events Hamilton’s engine also let go10 laps later while running solidly in P4. While it was always going to be a race of damage limitation after the ill-fated decision not to stop under the VSC, Mercedes now had to swallow the bitterest pill of seeing both their cars scoring precisely zero points. It ended a 33-race points scoring streak for the factory team and proved to be calamitous when the race results were tallied. Verstappen finished off a race he controlled beautifully from the front for the majority of the contest with an authoritative victory. And Ferrari saw their men Raikkonen and Vettel take P2 and P3 respectively, a massive result fir the fabled team from Maranello. With their arch-rivals scoring nothing, it catapulted Ferrari into the lead of the all-important Constructors’ Championship by 10 points. Vettel also regained the points lead in the Drivers’ competition. And while that was only a 1 point margin in what has been a see-saw battle between four-time champions all season long one almost felt that the gut punch that Mercedes received in Austria could be more significant to the overall direction of these two powerhouse teams’ and their long term fortunes.

The disasters experienced by so many of the top contenders proved a veritable boon for the mid-field running teams. Haas saw the biggest benefit from others’ misery as Romain Grosjean finally put together a composed drive and came across the line in a stunning P4. His teammate Kevin Magnussen finished right behind him in P5 making it a banner day for the young American team. Force India also flourished due to the bad luck of their nearest rivals, especially pointless Renault, after looking utterly lost in qualifying. Esteban Ocon took P6 and Sergio Perez was P7 despite starting near the rear, a mega-valuable points haul for a team that had been struggling and appears to be up for sale. Fernando Alonso, who started from the pit lane, managed to salvage a remarkable P8 for McLaren, while Sauber had a rare double points day with rookie phenom Charles Leclerc taking P9 and Marcus Ericsson coming home in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Austrian GP:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	71	1:21:56.024	25
2	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FERRARI	71	+1.504s	18
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	71	+3.181s	15
4	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	70	+1 lap	12
5	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	70	+1 lap	10
6	31	Esteban Ocon	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	8
7	11	Sergio Perez	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	6
8	14	Fernando Alonso	MCLAREN RENAULT	70	+1 lap	4
9	16	Charles Leclerc	SAUBER FERRARI	70	+1 lap	2
10	9	Marcus Ericsson	SAUBER FERRARI	70	+1 lap	1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away as F1 completes its unprecedented “triple header” — the historic British Grand Prix from Silverstone. Can Mercedes recover from this weekend’s fiasco or have Ferrari now got their number? Hope to see you then to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Mercedes lock out front row in Austria as Bottas takes pole, Hamilton P2; Vettel salvages P3 for Ferrari but is demoted for blocking

Mercedes Number 2 Valtteri Bottas looked more like numero uno in Saturday qualifying at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. At a short and fast track that he seems to love, Bottas launched his Silver Arrow into pole position, outperforming his championship-leading teammate Lewis Hamilton, who still was able to complete a Mercedes front row lockout with a solid lap good enough for P2 as time ran out in Q3. This was Bottas’ second consecutive pole at the Red Bull Ring in Speilberg and Valtteri also won last year’s Grand Prix. In a hard luck season where a couple of breaks here and there might have seen then Finn much closer to his teammate in the points Bottas will be looking for the top step once again on Sunday even if it comes at Hamilton’s expense.

Ferrari could not match the pace of the upgraded Mercs, with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen setting only the third and fourth fastest times in Q3. If the Scuderia were disappointed by that deficit to their German arch-rivals it was deepened to when Vettel received a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Renault’s Carlos Sainz in Q2. That meant Hamilton’s main championship rival will now start sixth on race day instead beside his teammate Raikkonen and directly behind the two Silver Arrows. Look for Vettel to recover quickly, however, in an attempt to hound and harass Hamilton all race long.

In front of a veritable sea of orange-clad Dutch fans Max Verstappen was the best of the Red Bulls at their home track and qualified P5, while his Aussie teammate Daniel Ricciardo struggled mightily to wring speed from his chassis and could do no better than P7. They were split but a mighty performance by Haas’ Romain Grosjean, who had the sixth-fastest lap. It was a much needed boost for the Frenchman’s confidence after a number of sea-inflicted errors have led to a ragged season for him so far. Haas will definitely be looking for him to race cleanly and mistake-free when the lights go out and to bring the car home unscathed and well in the points. Grosjean’s teammate was also quick and qualified P8. That made Haas the “best of the rest” so far this weekend, as they were well ahead of the factory Renaults. Sainz qualified P9 and Nico Hulkenberg will was only tenth fastest.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:04.175	1:03.756	1:03.130	18
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:04.080	1:03.577	1:03.149	21
3	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	1:04.347	1:03.544	1:03.464	18
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FERRARI	1:04.234	1:03.975	1:03.660	21
5	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	1:04.273	1:04.001	1:03.840	18
6	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:04.242	1:04.059	1:03.892	17
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	1:04.723	1:04.403	1:03.996	22
8	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:04.460	1:04.291	1:04.051	20
9	55	Carlos Sainz	RENAULT	1:04.948	1:04.561	1:04.725	19
10	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RENAULT	1:04.864	1:04.676	1:05.019	20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 starting at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Bottas make it two in a row at the Red Bull ring or has Hamilton got something up his sleeve to seize victory? Hope to see you then to find out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Bottas’ stunning start from pole seals victory at Red Bull Ring, hard charging Vettel P2; Ricciardo fends off Hamilton to keep podium streak alive

Mercedes number two driver Valtteri Bottas got a magical start from pole when the lights went out on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring pulling out a race dominating lead that he would never relinquish even in the face of fierce pressure from the hard-charging Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Despite doubts over wherher the Finn had jumped the start all replays seemed to show that that the first-year factory Mercedes driver simply timed his getaway perfectly. The race stewards also agreed that whatever movement Bottas exhibited pre-start was within allowable limits. Vettel’s emphatic disagreement to the contrary Bottas went on unsanctioned and pulled out an unsurmountable lead running out front to his second career F1 victory and second of the season, holding off the German Ferrari ace’s best efforts in the dying laps of the race. With all the contenders suffering from severe tire deg on long runs during a strict one-stop strategy Bottas did very well to fend off the determined four-time World Champion hunting him down.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Once again Red Bull had a tale of two drivers. Their veteran Aussie Daniel Ricciardo scooted up the order from P5 after first lap chaos and showed his competitive fire by holding off all comers for his 5th consecutive podium with a very strong P3. Those he kept behind included Mercedes championship contender Lewis Hamilton, who was relegated to starting 8th on the grid after a 5-spot grid penalty for a gearbox change. Hamilton battled all race long, pushing his tires to their absolute limit to pull himself up to a respectable P4. But it was mainly about damage control this weekend for the Mercedes ace, who saw not only Vettel gain ground on him in the title chase but also his stoic teammate Bottas move closer, as well. Hamilton now trails Vettel by 20 points and Bottas closed to within 15 points. It should be interesting to see how a more competitive situation effects the two Mercedes drivers’ now cordial relationship. Still, Bottas did keep Vettel from the win and Hamilton made the best of a bad situation so all was not a total disaster for the English triple champion.

The same could not be said for Ricciardo’s Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. After his blazing ascent to the big team last season everything has gone pear shaped for the Dutch wunderkind in 2017. Sunday continued that woeful trend. Verstappen suffered clutch problems on the formation lap and then bogged down at the start when his car kicked into anti-stall mode. That sent him hurtling down through the field where he was tagged in a shunt caused by Toro Roso’s Daniil Kvyat running into the back of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren. Just like that, Verstappen’s car suffered terminal damage before he even got to Turn 1 leaving a host of his orange-clad fans hugely disappointed. That also made it five DNFs out of eight races, a disastrous campaign for young Verstappen. Despite claims to the contrary one wonders if his days with Red Bull are numbered. And yet Ricciardo’s superlative run seems to point some of the blame for this season of failure back at Verstappen. Perhaps he is simply too hard on his equipment. Would changing teams really change that?

Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen had a somewhat desultory effort is Spielberg. Despite qualifying fourth he ceded that position on the opening lap to Ricciardo and then after running a long first stint on Ultrasoft tires he was undercut by Hamilton on his Lap 44 pit stop for P4. The Finn was never really a factor for the podium again, struggling with undisclosed technical issues that cost him torque coming out of low speed corners. Raikkonen finished a distant P5 in the end, hardly changing the mind of Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne who called Raikkonen a “bit of a laggard” before the race. Kimi’s status with Ferrari is the big domino waiting to fall — if he stays with the Scuderia most drivers will have to stay where they are. But if he is not rehired for 2018 we could see a lot of movement in the silly season.

Romain Grosjean had a great day for American team Haas F1 driving smoothly and confidently to keep the Force India of Sergio Perez behind him and finish P6. Perez and his teammate Esteban Ocon finished P7 and P8 respectively, another terrific points haul for little Force India, who must have been relieved that the two teammates were back on their best behavior and brought both cars home safely. And Williams had a very good recovery from a disastrous qualifying effort that saw Felipe Massa start from eighteenth on the grid and Lance Stroll nineteenth. The Williams duo showed much better race pace and were able to fight their way into the points thanks in part to attrition but also generally solid piloting by the drivers. In the end the veteran Massa took P9 and the rookie Stroll came home P10, about as good a result as the team could have hoped for this weekend.

Things were not so sunny for McLaren and Toro Rosso. After Kvyat failed to break in time on Lap 1 and clouted Fernando Alosno from behind both cars were terminally damaged in addition to Verstappen’s Red Bull. Alonso’s McLaren stablemate Stoffel Vandoorne could do no better than P12, while Kvyat’s Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz also had to retire his car on Lap 45. The race’s only other retirement came from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen whose unlucky weekend culminated when his hydraulics failed on Lap 29.

Top 10 finishers at the Austrian GP:

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	71	1:21:48.523	25
2	5	Sebastian Vettel	FERRARI	71	+0.658s	18
3	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	71	+6.012s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	71	+7.430s	12
5	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FERRARI	71	+20.370s	10
6	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	71	+73.160s	8
7	11	Sergio Perez	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	6
8	31	Esteban Ocon	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	4
9	19	Felipe Massa	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	2
10	18	Lance Stroll	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	1

Complete race results amiable via Formula1.com.

The next contest is but a weeks away — the British GP from venerable Silverstone. Can Hamilton get his championship quest untracked or will Vettel retain the upper hand? And what about Bottas — is he a serious contender in his own right? Hope to see you then to find out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Bottas claims pole in Austria ahead of Vettel; Raikonnen to start P3 due to Hamilton penalty

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas claimed pole at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on Saturday, outpacing Ferrai’s Sebastian Vettel by .04 seconds in a truncated Q3. When Romain Grosjean’s Haas came to a halt in Sector 2 and brought out the yellow flag with time running out in that third qualifying session no other drivers had the opportunity to better Bottas’ fast time. That included his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who slotted in third fastest but was levied a 5-spot grid penalty for a pre-quali gearbox change and will therefore be pushed back to P8 on the grid. That is a blow to Hamilton’s aspirations of overhauling Vettel in the Dirvers’ standings, something he desperately wants to do after Vettel’s out-of-control antics two weeks ago in Azerbaijan. But the Englishman will be the only driver in the top 10 starting on the harder Supersoft Pirelli tires come race day so he and the team should have some strategic cards to play to help push his Silver Arrow back up to the sharp end of the field.

Vettel’s Ferrari stablemate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest and moves up to P3 on the grid after Hamilton’s penalty. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo also gained a spot and will now start P4, as did his teammate Max Verstappen who will now start from P5. Grosjean was boosted to P6 on the grid despite his car conking out late in Q3.But with Grosjean’s teammate Kevin Magnussen suffering a suspension failure during Q1 Team Haas may have some reliability concerns that could come back to bite them in the race at this rigorous, high-curbed circuit.

Rounding out the Top 10, Sergio Perez was Hamilton’s last beneficiary and is bumped up to P7 while his increasingly estranged teammate Esteban Ocon starts P9. Carlos Sainz will start from 10th on the grid for Toro Rosso. Neither McLaren, Williams or Renault could get a car into Q3 so look for a mad scramble from the midfield as those drivers desperately try to make up ground and get into the points paying positions.