Charles Leclerc held on to the lead of the Austrian Grand Prix to claim his first win since April, despite the Ferrari suffering a sticking throttle during the closing laps of the race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.
Max Verstappen chipped away at the ailing Ferrari's lead, but ran out of time to make a definitive attack before the chequered flag. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton joined them on the podium, with team mate George Russell in fourth.
Carlos Sainz had been looking set for second when his engine blew up on lap 55. Sergio Perez also failed to make the race distance after damaging his RB18 on the opening lap in a clash with Russell.
After a very wet start to the day for the F3 support race, the track was nice and dry for the start of the Austrian Grand Prix. More rain was still a faint possibility but for now it was back to pleasant, benign conditions with the air temperature at 20C and the track reaching 31C, cooler than yesterday. The starting order was the same as it had been on Saturday for the sprint race, with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc on the front row and Carlos Sainz lining up alongside George Russell behind them. What had changed was the presence of Sergio Perez, who now back up to fifth just ahead of Esteban Ocon.
Verstappen was left idling on the grid for a spell while those at the back completed their formation lap and slotted into position. When the lights went out, there were slow starts for both Ferraris allowing Verstappen to blast into the lead while Russell briefly claimed third place from Sainz until the Ferrari got up to speed and retook the spot in the opening corners. That left Russell vulnerable to an attack by Perez, and the Mercedes drifted slightly wide and inadvertently knocked the Red Bull spinning into the gravel at turn 4. Perez was able to get going again, and headed to the pits for an early service for a damaged sidepod as well as a tyre change to the hard compound. It dropped him to the back where he was soon lapped by Verstappen, given the short lap length at the Red Bull Ring.
Four laps in, Verstappen hadn't been able to drop Leclerc out of DRS range. Sainz had dropped two seconds behind the pair and was followed by Russell, Ocon, and Kevin Magnussen. The Dane was doing a good job fending off Lewis Hamilton, who had Mick Schumacher in the second Haas snapping at his heels. Hamilton then got sideways over the sausage kerb and that was the only invitation Schumacher needed to snatch eighth place for himself. At least Hamilton could take a moment to settle himself, the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo three seconds behind him.
Leclerc was applying pressure on the race leader and eyeing up any possible overtaking possibilities, but none allowed him to make the move. He made his most assertive bid at the start of lap 10 but couldn't quite pull off the move and Verstappen was able to rebuff him once more, although he warned the Red Bull pit wall that he couldn't hold up much longer under this sort of sustained attack. He was soon proven correct and Leclerc finally accomplished a beautiful move on a startled Verstappen down the inside of turn 4 on lap 12.
At this point Red Bull called Verstappen in for his first pit stop, which proved to be a less than perfect service that saw him come back out in eighth place. Russell has already made a stop, and served a five second penalty for causing the first lap collision with Perez which meant he was now right at the back in 19th. Others also started to pit, including Ocon, Magnussen and Schumacher, which meant that at the end of lap 18 it was Leclerc leading from Sainz followed by Hamilton. The Mercedes was incorrectly shown a blue flag by an over-enthusiastic marshal as Verstappen closed up on him in fourth. He was ahead of the yet-to-stop Lance Stroll, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, the latter two having started from the back after suffering problems in the sprint and trying to find succour from a long first stint.
Blue flags or no, Verstappen soon overpowered Hamilton in the run down to turn 4 and then set a new fastest lap as he set about chasing after the Ferraris, who were still ahead by nearly 20s - almost enough to make their own stops and still retain their leading positions. For now they remained out on track, and realisation dawned at Red Bull that the Ferraris might possibly both be going for a one-stopper while Verstappen himself would almost certainly have to stop a second time.
Those who had stopped and taken fresh tyres were now flying, and Zhou was the lamb to the slaughter on lap 26. He was swamped by a pack of cars headed by Magnussen and Norris that saw him tumble from eighth to P15 in the space of 20 seconds in a frantic, madcap scramble after which the Alfa Romeo made a bee-line for pit lane to take on new tyres for himself.
A lap later, Perez was back on pit lane - but this time it was to retire, the damage from his first lap incident finally proving terminal. At the same moment, Ferrari called in Leclerc for his first scheduled service of the afternoon, briefly handing the lead to Sainz before he pitted in turn on lap 28. Hamilton responded next time by. It was not a great service by the Mercedes pit crew and he came out behind Esteban Ocon, but Hamilton soon proved up to the task of snatching the place back from the Alpine. Once things settled down, the start of lap 32 saw Verstappen back in the lead from Leclerc and Sainz while Hamilton was ahead of Ocon, Magnussen, Schumacher, Norris, Russell and Ricciardo. Alex Albon was in touching distance of points in P11 ahead of Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas, the Finn having started from pit lane after overnight back wing changes to the Alfa Romeo in contravention of parc ferme rules.
The Ferrari continued to show greater pace than the Red Bull, and on lap 33 Leclerc pressed the attack into turn 3 and snatched the lead from Verstappen, who seemed to have no answer for his rival's raw speed today. Sainz on the other hand had still not caught up with the pair and still had work to do if he was to challenge for second place. Red Bull defused the situation by pitting Verstappen a second time on lap 37, coming back out 20 seconds behind Leclerc and Sainz but comfortably head of Hamilton who himself had ten seconds in hand over Ocon. Behind the Alpine, Schumacher had shown himself clearly faster than his team mate and was duly rewarded with not only taking sixth place from Magnussen but also quickly breaking out of DRS range to thwart any threat of a counterattack.
A large number of drivers had been picking up warnings about track limits, and now Norris, Gasly and Zhou all received their third warnings which came with a bonus prize of a five second penalty. Gasly then got into a tussle with Sebastian Vettel which sent the Aston Martin into the gravel at turn 4, for which Gasly received another five second penalty for causing a collision on top of his first for track limits. The stewards decided to turn a blind eye to the way Vettel rolled back onto the track to get going again, even though it cost Leclerc two seconds as he picked his way past the scene.
By now Russell - who had pitted early - had made his second stop and dropped down again to 14th. Others were also coming in for a second time with the one-stop gambit proving a step too far to pull off. It was all playing into Russell's hands, the Mercedes swiftly picking off Zhou at turn 3 and jumping Norris in pit lane thanks to the McLaren's penalty, then seeing off Stroll at turn 3 and successfully managing to overcome a fightback from the Aston. Stroll then promptly lost out to the two Haas cars, dropping the Canadian to tenth.
If Ferrari had been intending to go the distance without a second stop, that strategy was abandoned on lap 49 when Leclerc pitted from the lead dropping him behind Verstappen. Sainz was in next time by, putting Verstappen at the front. Hamilton also made his second stop, reverting to mediums and despite a slow service he maintained fourth ahead of Alonso, Ocon, Russell, Schumacher, Magnussen and Norris. Lapped traffic ahead helped Verstappen get DRS for a moment, but the Ferrari pace once again proved overpowering and on lap 54 Leclerc swooped around the outside of turn 3 to seize the lead as Verstappen complained that the Red Bull's traction out of that corner was "a joke".
Sainz had just set a few fastest lap of the race as he closed in on Verstappen, when disaster struck with his engine expiring in dramatic fashion. Smoke and then flames licked out of the back of the F1-75 as he stopped in turn 4 on lap 55. Sainz stayed in situ for as long as possible to ensure the brakes were engaged and the car didn't roll back across the track, but once the marshals arrived he wasted no time in making himself scarce. The incident was handled under a Virtual Safety Car but Leclerc and Verstappen didn't pass up the opportunity for a 'free' final pit stop and switch back to the medium compound.
When the race resumed, Leclerc maintained a four second gap over Verstappen followed by Hamilton, Ocon, Russell, Schumacher, Magnussen, Norris and Ricciardo with Albon tentatively holding on to the final point in tenth but with Valtteri Bottas closing fast intent on taking it away. As Verstappen put everything he had into catching Leclerc who was reporting a sticking throttle on the Ferrari, Russell made relatively easy work of passing Ocon in turn 3 to claim fourth place behind Hamilton, and with six laps to go Bottas did indeed catch and pass Albon for P10.
Leclerc managed to work his way around the defective throttle and survive to the finish although it was no easy feat - "I was scared, I was really scared!" he said over the team radio as he successfully claimed his first race win since April. Verstappen had to settle for second ahead of the two Mercedes drivers, Hamilton and Russell. In his 100th Grand Prix start, Ocon got his best result of the season so far in fifth ahead of Schumacher, Norris, Magnussen and Ricciardo while Bottas couldn't hold on to tenth after all in the face of a late surge by Alonso.
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