Max Verstappen has taken a well-fought victory at the 71 laps 2019 Austrian Grand Prix for Red Bull around their home race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg marking the first win for Honda power since their first and only victory in 2006 at the Hungarian Grand Prix with Jenson Button.
As the lights went out, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who started from pole got a very good start and drove phenomenally well to create a good gap from the rest of the pack. However, Max Verstappen had a dreadful start from second place as he struggled to get off the line. Verstappen dropped down the order all the way to eighth place.
The initial laps remained eventful at the front with Lando Norris in the McLaren gaining positions all the way up to third place. Norris held his own driving wheel-to-wheel against Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, but the lack of power from the Renault powertrain forced him to concede his position as he dropped down the order with Hamilton and other drivers eventually getting past him.
While the last Grand Prix in France delivered a lacklustre race, the race in Austria kept delivering lap after lap with close racing. In the final stages of the race is when the race heated up even further. At the front, Verstappen and Red Bull’s strategy was on point to fight for the win and with three laps to go, Verstappen made his way past the rest of the grid and was all over the back of Leclerc’s gearbox trying to find a way past the Ferrari. Eventually, Verstappen muscled his way past Leclerc at Turn 3, but contact between the two drivers forced Leclerc off the track. Leclerc cried foul, however, the stewards deemed the move legal and Leclerc had to settle for second.
With Valtteri Bottas taking the final place on the podium, the fight for fourth place was still alive with Vettel closing in on the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. As both the Mercedes cars struggled with overheating issues, Vettel on a two-stop strategy made his way past Hamilton to finish fourth on the second last lap.
With Hamilton finishing fifth for Mercedes, Lando Norris finished a commendable P6 for McLaren with Pierre Gasly in seventh, Carlos Sainz in eighth and the two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi completing the top ten.
