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Bottas holds off Vettel for superb Austrian Grand Prix win

Valtteri Bottas drove a masterly race to secure his second victory of the season in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, finishing just 0.6s ahead of Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was third after fending off Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages.

spielberg bottas 2

It was a dramatic beginning to the race. As Bottas made a getaway so good the stewards investigated a potential jump start. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat braked too late into Turn 1 and ran into the fast-starting Fernando Alonso, who collided with Verstappen. They both had sufficient damage that they were forced to retire from the race.

spielberg crash 1

From there on, in many ways it was a rear-loaded race, with most of the action at the end. Bottas led easily from pole and dominated the first half, until the final laps when Vettel closed the gap with one lap left just six-tenths of a second apart. Similar scenario happened with Hamilton, who closed on third placed Ricciardo but without ever truly presenting a challenge.

Kimi Raikkonen took a distant fifth in the second Ferrari, with Romain Grosjean an excellent sixth for Haas. The Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were seventh and eighth, while Williams staged an impressive recovery with Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll – who started 17th and 18th respectively – completing the top ten.

standings spielberg

See full standings

Vettel now has a 20-point lead heading into the British Grand Prix weekend, with 171 points to Hamilton’s 151, the closing Bottas on 136 and 107 for Ricciardo.

Enjoy the highlights of the race:

Luka Hribar

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