For the second straight year, Max Verstappen is the winner of the Austrian Grand Prix. Or is he?
Verstappen, passed Charles Leclerc with three laps remaining in Sunday’s race at Red Bull Ring and cruised to his first victory of the season and sixth of his Formula One career.
But, F1 later deemed this pass controversial and put it under stewards review. Verstappen, passed the Ferrari driver on Lap 69 of 71 in Turn 3 but the pass according to F1 needs further review.
Excuse me?!
The pass was clean and wasn’t blatant. It was R-A-C-I-N-G. Now, for a second time in three races, we may have seen the driver that crossed the finish line first not win in F1. That’s why this series is a joke and going no where but down fast.
The Sebastian Vettel move towards the end of the Canadian Grand Prix was criticized as F1 handed him a 5-second penalty which cost him the win despite beating Lewis Hamilton to the finish.
Could we see another finish like this two races later?
This move shouldn’t even be reviewed. It was a pass for the win. What more could you want? F1 isn’t racing but a high speed parade and if they discipline Verstappen to this move, then there’s no reason to watch any further.
As it stands, this is Honda’s first F1 win since 2006. Verstappen’s future with Red Bull Racing was reportedly up in the air past this season as part of the rumored language in his contract is that Red Bull needs to have at least a win before summer break. Verstappen, as of now, has that win.
This was his third top two finish in his last three tries at Red Bull’s hometrack and ninth top five in-a-row to start the 2019 season off with. But, the win didn’t come easy. Verstappen dropped from his second starting spot to seventh early on but with a little bit of luck and some good speed in his No. 33 Aston Martin Red Bull Racing Honda, he was able to climb back up.
Leclerc, finished 2.724-seconds behind Verstappen in his No. 16 Ferrari as the pole sitter now has four podiums this season. He was fourth, first and first respectively in practice this weekend but fails to win for the first time of his career.
Valtteri Bottas finished third, the same spot he started in his No. 77 Mercedes. It was his third podium in six career tries in Austria including his second third place result of the season.
Sebastian Vettel came home fourth in his No. 5 Ferrari for his first finish outside of the podium in Austria since 2016. It was also the third time in the last five races that he failed to finish on the podium too.
With Lewis Hamilton finishing fifth, it ends his four race win streak. It was also his worst finish of the season as he had a top two run in all eight races run prior to this weekend.
Austrian Grand Prix Results
- 33 Verstappen
- 16 Leclerc
- 77 Bottas
- 5 Vettel
- 44 Hamilton
- 4 Norris R -1
- 10 Gasly -1
- 55 Sainz Jr. -1
- 7 Raikkonen -1
- 99 Giovinazzi R -1
- 11 Perez -1
- 3 Ricciardo -1
- 27 Hulkenberg -1
- 18 Stroll -1
- 23 Albon R -1
- 8 Grosjean -1
- 26 Kvyat -1
- 63 Russell R -2
- 20 Magnussen -2
- 88 Kubica -3
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