LECLERC HOLDS ONTO AUSTRIA GP WIN

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc nursed a late race reliability issue to win a tense Austrian Grand Prix from Max Verstappen, while their teammates struck issues.

In the closing laps of the race Leclerc was suffering from a slightly sticking throttle which he was having to lift up with his right foot in the braking zones.

He was being caught by Verstappen in the closing laps but did enough to take his third win of the season, and first since Australia three months ago.

Leclerc overtook Verstappen early in the race, however the Red Bull was first to pit two times and meant that Leclerc was forced to overtake the Red Bull driver on multiple occasions.

Verstappen was also set to be overhauled by the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, however the Spaniard’s engine expired in spectacular fashion and forced him out of the race.

This allowed Verstappen to cruise home and finish second ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes.

Hamilton, who had battled from P8 to P4, to the final podium place.

His teammate George Russell was a distant fourth having started there.

The Mercedes driver collided with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez early on, he picked up damage and was handed a five second penalty for the incident.

In his first stop he took on a new front wing and this dropped him down the pack, he did well to recover to finish in fourth.

Perez sustained damage in the collision with Russelll and retired soon after.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounded out the top five having started sixth.

After scoring his first points in the British Grand Prix last weekend, Mick Schumacher backed it up finishing sixth for Haas and in doing so earnt the driver of the day vote.

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished seventh having served a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.

Kevin Magnussen came home in eighth ahead of Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

Fernando Alonso rounded out the top 10 from last on the grid for Alpine, having had to pit three times – a potentially unsafe release causing him to come in twice during the Virtual Safety Car caused by Sainz’s retirement.

Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas started from the pit lane and made it up to 11^th, overtaking Alex Albon late on.

Lance Stroll was next ahead of Zhou Guanyu, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel.

Sainz was the third retiree, following Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and Perez.

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