Giles Richards’s race report:
Summing up
Anyway, a race that lacked the drama and spills and thrills of Baku was nonetheless skilfully won from pole by Bottas, whose lightning start pretty much defined his race, once it was checked out by the stewards and declared legal. He held off another stern challenge from Vettel, who extended his championship lead over Hamilton to 20 points. But Bottas is now only 35 points behind, and you wouldn’t rule him out on current form. Hamilton climbed four places from pole, but couldn’t quite manage the explosive performance needed to get on the podium. Anyway, that’s all from me for now. Stay on the site for Giles Richards’ report from the Red Bull Ring and other reaction. Thanks for reading and for your mid-race emails that I didn’t have time to respond to at the time. Bye.
How they finished
1 Bottas 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo 4 Hamilton 5 Raikkonen 6 Grosjean 7 Pérez 8 Ocon 9 Massa 10 Stroll.
That was a close and absorbing last lap, but it was another fine race by Bottas, who’s creeping up in the title race, but Vettel remains firmly out in front, having stretched his advantage over Hamilton, who did well in the end to come so close to a podium finish after starting from eighth. But he had to settle for fourth place behind Ricciardo, who finishes on the podium for the second race in a row.
Updated
Valtteri Bottas wins the Austrian Grand Prix!
Bottas struggles for grip on the turns but he holds him off and gets his positioning right to take the victory! Ricciardo similarly holds off Hamilton to take third!
Lap 70: Hamilton attacks Ricciardo at turn four but Ricciardo holds him off on the inside. Bottas just holds the lead as they go into the last lap.
Lap 69: Vettel closes to 0.8ecs behind Bottas with two to go, which is the gape between Ricciardo and Hamilton
Lap 68: Vettel has some difficulty lapping Perez, and stays second, as Hamilton moves to 0.8sec behind Ricciardo.
Lap 67: Further -ack movements include Jolyon Palmer squeezing up to 11th as he seeks his first points and Ocon moving up to eighth.
Lap 66: “I need everything now” says Hamilton, who sounds permanently unhappy, but he’s closing on Ricciardo, who’s car isn’t completely running smoothly either. He won’t catch the top two, as Bottas retains a two-second lead over Vettel.
Lap 65: The gap beteeen Vettel and Bottas dips below two seconds – the Finn’s lead is under threat here, but there’s only six laps remaining. Raikkonen appears to be losing ground in fifth.
Updated
Lap 64: Sorry for the delay in updates over the past couple of laps – some technical glitches here. Hamilton still closing on Ricciardio – it’s 1.8secs - despite complaints about tyre blistering, but the top three is as you were: 1 Bottas 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo
Lap 60: While we build-up to the race finale …
WATCH: Re-live the drama at the start of the #AustrianGP as KVY, ALO and VER collide 🇦🇹
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2017
VIDEO >> https://t.co/LKW0arUxW5 #F1 pic.twitter.com/PxYi8Ks8Al
Updated
Lap 59: Hamilton sets a new fastest lap and is now only 2.9 secs behind Ricciardo in third. Kvyat pits for a second time – his third in total given his drive-through penalty – and he’s stone last.
Lap 58: Hamilton and Ricciardo both set their fastest lap times on the 57th, but they’re a distance behind the top two. Bottas still leads from Vettel.
Lap 56: Raikkonen struggles on a bend for grip, which gives Hamilton a bit of respite in his bid to hold onto a top four place. Vettel is now 2.9secs behind Bottas.
Updated
Lap 55: This is another test of Bottas’s temperament – he’s shown he can handle pressure before, but it won’t be easy. As Vettel is told there may be rain before the end of the race, which Hamilton may like too but it’s probably too late.
Lap 54: Bottas’s lead is now 3.2seconds from Vettel – it’s closing all the time and this could be a tight finish, as Raikkonen in fifth sets the fastest lap of the race in 1: 07.6
Lap 53: Quick places recap: 1 Bottas 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo 4 Hamilton 5 Raikkonen 6 Grosjean 7 Perez 8 Ocon 9 Massa 10 Stroll. A good lap from Hamilton puts him within three and a half seconds of Ricciardo, though Raikkonen is closing on Hamilton too.
Lap 52: Hamilton’s woes will be music to Vettel’s ears in terms of the title race but can he reel in Bottas? He’s closing slowly, and has 19 laps to cut that lead, which is currently around 3.8secs.
Updated
Lap 51: Vettel cuts the gap to 3.8secs on Bottas, as Hamilton complains that “I’m struggling out here” – a pit stop would be risky, but Mercedes may need to do something; there’s blistering on his front left tyres too.
Lap 50: Vettel steps on the gas, reducing the gap to below four seconds – it’s now 3.9secs – and it puts more daylight between Vettel and Ricciardo in third. Hamilton is still ahead of Raikkonen; they’re in fourth and fifth respectively.
Lap 48: Massa pits, and can’t quite manage to emerge ahead of Ocon but has to make do with ninth place now. Bottas still leads.
Lap 47: Felipe Massa has had an excellent race, he’s up to sixth now, though he hasn’t pitted yet, but given where he started this is a fine performance. Bottas still leads by 4.45secs from Vettel.
Updated
Lap 46: Sainz retires, sighing “what a glorious race”, as Bottas continues to lead and look comfortable again. Hamilton is back in fifth, and it still just doesn’t look to be happening for him today.
Updated
Lap 45: So Bottas is back in front from Vettel, with Ricciardo third, Hamilton fourth and Raikkonen fifth. Vandoorne has been hit with a drive-through penalty for ignoring blue flags, which probably scuppers his chances of any points. Car problems for Red Bull’s Sainz – it looks as if he’s going to retire.
Lap 44: Bottas closes on Raikkonen, and takes him on into turn four, and passes him. He’s back in front and on those fresh tyres he made that look really easy. Raikkonen pits straight away.
Lap 43: Raikoinnen, yet to pit, is 1.25 secs ahead from Bottas, who is 2.8 secs ahead of Vettel, with Ricciardo fourth and Hamilton fifth.
Lap 42: Bottas pits, and the changeover is a little ponderous, which hands Raikkonen the lead. Vettel is now a bit closer to Bottas in third place. So Raikkonen might tactically stay out even longer to help Vettel, as he’s told on the radio that Hamilton has “bad balance” and isn’t threatening yet.
Lap 40: Some Hamilton unhappiness with the condition of his right rear tyre, which looks a little blistered. He remains fifth, with Ricciardo in front of him in fourth. Raikkonen is still yet to pit in second place.
Updated
Lap 38: Bottas appears to have been held up by the lapped Perez a little as he tried to take him on on the turn, but he retains his comfortable lead. On a similar theme, Vandoorne is under investigation over an incident with Raikkonen
Lap 36: How they stand recap: 1 Bottas 2 Raikkonen 3 Vettel 4 Ricciardo 5 Hamilton 6 Grosjean 7 Ocon 8 Massa, 9 Perez 10 Sainz
Lap 35: Vettel pits, swiftly, moving onto super-softs – a smooth changeround, that. He drops to third behind Raikkonen in second, but the Finn is yet to pit. Bottas still leads, as he has the whole way. Hamilton is fifth. Further back, Vandoorne passes Eriksson to move into 14th. Palmer pits and switches to ultra-softs
Updated
Lap 34: Ricciardo also takes his pit stop, which drops him back to fourth for now, but he needed to do that with Hamilton closing
Lap 33: Raikkonen has just put in his best lap, and is told to stay out for the foreseeable – “do the opposite of Hamilton” being his race mantra.
Lap 31: Bottas is eight seconds ahead now from Vettel, as Hamilton decides to come in first, taking 2.4secs, as he switches to the ultras. And he doesn’t lose any places, such is his lead over Grosjean in sixth
Updated
Lap 30: Magnussen has been called in, and this looks like the end of his race. Bottas still leads from Vettel.
Lap 29: Further back, Stroll and Massa have driven very well in 10th and ninth respectively, having come through well at the start. Car trouble for Magnussen, probably with the gear box – that “pop” sounded unhealthy.
Lap 28: Verstappen is talking about the accident that ended his race early on. “I’m very disappointed especially for the fans, who were the best crowd I’ve seen so far, and I couldn’t even complete a turn for them.” He looks glum, as well he might. If it weren’t for bad luck he’d have no luck at all.
Lap 27: Hamilton is agonisingly just short of being able to take on Raikkonen at the turns, and he’ll need to up his pace at some point. Bottas laps Wehrlein in 15th and continues to lead comfortably.
Lap 26: Hamilton moves a bit closer to Raikkonen again, looking to take advantage of the Ferrari driver’s tyre problems, but he’s still fifth in his super-softs.
Lap 25: Bottas reprieved for his start. ‘No further action’ warranted, we are told. Bottas is consistently returning laps of 1.09, with a 1.08 on the last lap, so you’d expect him to keep going for a fair while yet. No sign of serious rain yet, for all the pre-race warnings.
Lap 24: So here’s how they stand, a third of the way through then: 1 Bottas 2 Vettel 3 Ricciardo 4 Raikkonen 5 Hamilton 6 Grosjean 7 Perez 8 Ocon 9 Massa 10 Stroll
Lap 23: Hamilton drops back a little from Raikkonen, though he may be waiting for when Raikkonen pits, which may be sooner rather than later, and then seek to gain then.
Lap 21: Hamilton struggled for grip on the hairpin bend there, giving Raikkonen a bit of respite though he’ll need a tyre change soon you’d think. As Bottas stretches his lead to 6.2secs.
Lap 20: Hamilton, cruising, is less than a second behind Raikkonen now and Ricciardo, in third, is advised to be on the alert for the Briton too. Bottas still leads comfortably.
Lap 19: Bottas leads by 5.8secs with Vettel in second. The world championship leader retains an 11-second advantage over Hamilton back in fifth.
Lap 17: Raikkonen reports a blister on his left-hand front tyre, and he’s only a couple of seconds ahead of Hamilton in fifth. Hulkenburg’s pit was for a switch to a soft tyre, which has served his team-mate Jolyon Palmer well who’s moved up from 16th on the grid to 12th
Lap 15: To recap then, Bottas leads by 4.8secs from Vettel. Ricciardo is third, Raikkonen fourth and Hamilton fifth. Grosjean and Perez are behind him. Hulkenburg has stopped for an early(ish) tyre change.
Updated
Lap 14: Hamilton is asked for rear tyre feedback, and warns that it’s “already over-steering”. “Not great,” he adds.
Lap 13: Some car problems for Raikkonen being reported on the radio but he’s still in fourth. Vettel puts in a decent 1:09.01 lap to close slightly on Bottas but it’s still around five seconds.
vtappen’s accident will be something of an atmosphere-dampener for the huge Dutch contingent in the crowd. The many Finns present have more to cheer, with their man Bottas still out in front, and Raikkonen in fourth.
Updated
Lap 11: They’re fairly strung out at the front, seven seconds separating the front three, and Hamilton is 11 seconds behind Vettel. But Bottas is getting himself involved in the title fight and will fancy it if he can stay out front here.
Updated
Lap 10: Kvyat has copped a drive-through penalty, another one, for causing a collision. While Bottas is now four and a half seconds clear of Vettel.
Lap 9: Bottas still leads from Vettel, and the general mood among the commentators is that he’ll get away with that start. Ricciardo is third, with Raikkonen and Hamilton behind.
Lap 8: Hamilton roars past Grosjean on the straight to move into fifth – he’s driving well so far – while there are some suggestions of tyre worries for Ricciardo
Lap 7: Bottas set a fastest lap on lap six by the way. Meanwhile, Hamilton is steadying himself for an attack on Grosjean but can’t quite get within his reach just yet.
Lap 6: Bottas is more than two seconds clear of Vettel at the moment, as Hamilton squeezes past Sergio Perez on the inside at turn three to move into sixth.
Lap 5: I say Bottas started excellently, but the stewards are looking at him for a jump start. For now, he’s first, from Vettel, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Grosjean. Hamilton is still back in seventh.
Lap 3: Right, so where are we? It’s currently Bottas, who roared out of the traps and started excellently, ahead of Vettel in second.
Verstappen and Alonso out!
Lap 2: Verstappen is stuttering along at the back of the field, his engine sounding most unhealthy, and he’s called in. Having started poorlty, he appears to have been hit by Alonso, who’s also out. Vettel in second completes the fastest lap so far, Hamilton drops to seventh.
Updated
Lap 1: Riccardio slips in down the inside, past Raikkonen, and Hamilton skips up two places into sixth.
Lights out. They're off!
Bottas leads off the first turn, and Verstappen skids off!
They’re off on the formation lap. Hamilton is starting on super-soft tyres, against the ultra-softs of everyone else in the top 10.
The general consensus is that we’re looking at a one-stop race, though those first three turns are going to ask questions on the opening lap. Anyway, anthem time…
There’s talk of 60%-80% chance of rain this afternoon, according to the weather boffins. In other bits of news, F1 official have tweeted that Pascal Wehrlin starts today’s race from the pit lane following a turbo charger change, and Kimi Raikkonen has been called “a bit of a laggard” by his Ferrari chairman, Sergio Marchionne, who thinks the Finn needs to do more for the team as contract negotiations for next year step up. “I think Kimi has got to show a higher level of commitment to the process,” Marchionne roared. “There are days when I think he’s a bit of a laggard, but we’ll see. I am going to talk to him today, we’ll see what happens.”
Updated
Gimmicky national dress stereotyping news:
Daniel and Max stepping out in Lederhosens for the #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/tDkUFnI94J
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 9, 2017
Which invites the question: what sort of appropriate host-nation clobber should the Red Bull drivers parade in at the British GP next week?
There are huge swathes of Dutch orange in the crowd, around 12,000, at the Red Bull Ring – a big turnout from the Max Verstappen ultras; don’t usually see that level of mass colour-wearing at F1 arenas.
Updated
Toto Wolff pops in front of the cameras for a chat. He’s asked about Bottas’s place in the Mercedes pecking order, given that he’s on pole and on form. “Lewis is far ahead [in the standings],” he reples, “but Valtteri has every chance to win the race and even for Lewis it’s beneficial if Valtteri takes points from Sebastian, we will have to see how it pans out.” As for Hamilton, he’s “a very sensitive person, these things affect him – the head rest problems [in Baku], the gearbox, the incident with Sebastian , it affects him. The most important things for him is to make his way through the cars, past Grosjean and Pérez – but it’s going to be very tough.”
Updated
The Vettel-Hamilton incident two weeks ago is the prime topic of discussion on Sky’s early coverage. Here’s what the estimable Richard Williams had to say about it this week:
Preamble
Afternoon everyone. So, can a season that has already recorded an above-average twists-and-turns tally add a few more today? It feels as if the Vettel-Hamilton stramash in Baku has brought the campaign to the boil, even if both have struck a more emollient tone towards each other in recent days. Hamilton has fewer reasons to be cheerful though, hampered as he is this time by that five-place grid penalty for his forced gearbox change.
It might seem easy to forget, amid all the post-Azerbaijan hullabaloo, that neither Vettel nor Hamilton came close to winning the actual race in Baku, which was eventful enough in its own right, with debris on track, a race suspension, and storming performances from the winner, Daniel Ricciardo, and Valtteri Bottas in second, both of whom came from well back with drives of great judgment and skill. Which serves as a reminder of the quality barring Hamilton’s path as the Briton starts from eighth. The likes of Kimi Raikkonen, Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen in front of him will be no pushovers – all have had their moments this season.
And what a season Bottas is having in his debut campaign with Mercedes. He’ll take some shifting from pole, though when he topped qualifying in Bahrain, he was overhauled by Vettel and came in third. He has been on the podium in Austria before though, taking third three years ago.
The world championship battle, however, still looks pretty much centred on Vettel v Hamilton, though Jean Todt, prising open a stable door once occupied by a now-bolted horse, has insisted Vettel will face “very severe” consequences should he commit any more red-mist inspired offences such as the one against Hamilton in Baku. And it’s been quite the fortnight for contrasting disciplinary actions in sport – the South Africa cricketer Kagiso Rabada does a swear (nurse! The smelling salts!) and gets banned for a match, the cyclist Peter Sagan gets kicked out of the Tour de France for elbowing Mark Cavendish out of the race while the FIA decided to add no punishment to Vettel beyond the 10-second penalty imposed during the race itself for the Baku incident.
Anyway, that’s for everyone on the internet to argue about forever. We’ve a race to focus on. Lights out 1pm.
