Max Verstappen takes win in Austrian Grand Prix as Mercedes has double retirement

Sebastian Vettel took the Drivers’ Championship lead back from Lewis Hamilton after a podium finish at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. Vettel finished third, behind teammate Kimi Raikkonen in second and race winner Max Verstappen of Red Bull.

Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen of the American-owned Haas team finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Both Force India drivers — Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon — as well as both Sauber drivers — Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson — finished in the points. Fernando Alonso of McLaren finished eighth, also in the points.

Valtteri Bottas, the pole sitter and teammate of Hamilton’s, suffered a gearbox issue and was the second driver to retire from the race after Nico Hulkenberg of Renault. It’s rough luck for both, but Bottas was fighting for the lead at that point, while Hulkenberg was looking at a finish near the edge of the points.

Hamilton had the lead at the point that Bottas went out, and a virtual safety car was deployed. Mercedes balked at pitting Hamilton from the lead, and they suffered from it because both Red Bull cars and both Ferraris double-stacked in the pits, and came out roughly 13 seconds behind Hamilton, on fresher tires.

This essentially killed Hamilton’s chances of a win, and he said as much over the team radio multiple times. Hamilton had to pit a bit later, and came out just ahead of Vettel, but was soon passed by the Ferrari. Hamilton complained of lacking power, while pretty much the entire grid was complaining about blistering on the tires due to the rising track temperature.

Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull looked like he was going to finish on the podium, but he started experiencing those tire blisters well before the rest of the pack, and he had to go through his second pit stop early, and wound up about 20 seconds behind the top four with 20 laps to go in the race. At that point, Hamilton had bad tire blisters, and Verstappen’s garage was telling him that the rest of the pack was “nursing something.”

Verstappen’s response was that he is good, and that his team shouldn’t worry.

A few laps later, Ricciardo suffered a gearbox issue and, unfortunately, was the next player to retire from the race. A couple laps later, Brendon Hartley of Toro Rosso also retired from the race with a mechanical issue.

With under 10 laps to go, Hamilton suffered a car issue and had to retire as well. After starting the race 1-2, both Mercedes cars had to retire. Stoffel Vandoorne became the final car to retire with one lap to go. Ericsson was allowed to pass Leclerc late to chase down Alonso, but the team let Leclerc back in front of him just before the end of the race when Alonso finished in eighth.

Below is the full finishing order for Sunday’s race.

Lap 71/71 - FINAL

Leclerc is into the points after Hamilton’s retirement, and he moves past teammate Ericsson to get into ninth. We’re looking at a double points finish for all of Haas, Force India and Sauber. With three laps to go, Verstappen has 2.6 seconds on Raikkonen, while Vettel is 1.6 seconds back of his teammate. Grosjean is a lap back in fourth, with Magnussen, Perez, Ocon, Alonso, Ericsson and Leclerc, as the Saubers swap again. It seems like Vandoorne also had to stop with a lap to go. With a gap under two seconds, Verstappen brings his car home for the race win, ahead of Raikkonen and Vettel! Oh, it looks like Sauber told Leclerc to let Ericsson by to attack Alonso, and when it was clear that Alonso was safe, they let Leclerc take the lead back right at the end, so he finishes ninth.

Lap 65/71

Grosjean just lapped, and he’s running fifth ahead of teammate Magnussen in sixth. Ferrari’s team radio tells Raikkonen that they have “no concerns” and that he can push on Verstappen. Leclerc is within DRS range of Alonso. Oh no! Mercedes instructs Hamilton to stop the car, and he’s out of the race! He stops on Lap 64, and is out of the race! He stops and there’s double-waved yellows, but no safety car.

Lap 60/71

It’s Hartley who is stopping now, with an apparent hydraulics or perhaps a gearbox issue. He stops with 15 laps to go, and becomes the fourth person to retire from the race. Hamilton is well behind Vettel, a full 21 seconds behind, but now up in fourth after Ricciardo’s retirement. Raikkonen is 4.3 seconds back of Verstappen, while Vettel is 2.4 seconds back of his teammate. They think their tires are going to be better than Verstappen’s, but the Red Bull just set a personal best.

Lap 56/71

Hamilton has severe blistering on the left rear tire, and some on the right rear, too. He complains to his team again, and he’s going to pit on Lap 53, for the supersoft tires. He should be rejoining behind Ricciardo — and he does. Ricciardo quickly gives up the position though, and it seems as though he has a car issue. Ah, he’s out, just after the first turn he stops and the yellow flags are out. He retires from the race with what appears to be a gearbox issue! Hamilton sets a purple shortly after.

Lap 51/71

Ricciardo sets a purple lap on Lap 47. Hamilton remains under a second behind the Ferrari cars. Grosjean is 20 seconds back of Ricciardo, who is 20 seconds back of Hamilton. Hamilton, though, complains of some tire troubles with plenty of race still left to go, so he backs off somewhat and falls out of the DRS range from Vettel. Magnussen gets past Ocon finally, on Lap 49. Verstappen’s team tells him that “everyone is nursing here,” and Verstappen replies that he’s good.

Lap 46/71

Hamilton is complaining on the radio, and his team takes responsibility for “throwing away” a win, but they encourage him to keep pushing. Magnussen is under a second behind Ocon, but he’s not making a move, and is instead conserving his tires, at least at Lap 41. Hamilton slowly makes time back up on Vettel, and is soon within a second of the Ferrari. Verstappen has a 6.4-second lead over Raikkonen. Hamilton tells his team that he’s “going to stay on” Vettel.

Lap 40/71

Alonso makes it past Stroll, as Leclerc did a few laps earlier. Verstappen continues building his gap as Vettel gets within a second of Hamilton, who is within a second of Raikkonen. Raikkonen tries to get past Ricciardo, but he can’t make the move stick. But coming out of the turn, Ricciardo is very slow and Raikkonen is past him into second. Ricciardo comes over the team radio saying his tires are real bad. And he’s going to come into the pits. They fit the supersoft tire. Vettel makes a move on Hamilton! He pushes Hamilton wide, and it’s Verstappen, Raikkonen and Vettel for the top three!

Lap 36/71

Raikkonen says that Ricciardo has a big blister on the left rear tire, and his team tells him to push. And you can see the issues with the tire, too. Raikkonen is in DRS range and he’s looking to get past. Perez makes a move past Sainz to take ninth place. Sainz goes into the pits with tire issues of his own, and will rejoin near the back of the pack after a slow stop due to problems getting the right front tire to cooperate.

Lap 31/71

Hamilton is moving up to Raikkonen quickly, and just took half a second out of the top three on Lap 29. Hamilton comes over the team radio and is, as expected, pretty salty about the mistake from his team. Hamilton has carved a 2.5-second gap to Vettel behind him. Then it’s Grosjean in sixth, a full 22 seconds behind Vettel.

Lap 27/71

Hamilton comes into the pits on Lap 26. Verstappen, Ricciardo and Raikkonen go through, but Hamilton comes out ahead of Vettel, and that’s important for the Drivers’ Championship. Verstappen takes the lead in the race! Hamilton was calling for a pitstop, it seemed, with some tire issues. The Sky broadcast says that Mercedes were worried about pitting Hamilton from the lead and the other cars potentially running long.

Lap 24/71

Hamilton’s gap to Vettel in fifth is 22.5 seconds, right on the edge of the pit stop window. Currently, the Top 10 is Hamilton, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Vettel, Magnussen, Perez, Grosjean, Ocon and Sainz.

Lap 22/71

Hamilton set purples as the Red Bull and Ferrari cars pit. Strange that Hamilton didn’t pit. It’s unclear why. Ricciardo makes ac lean pass on Raikkonen, who locks up his tires again. Ricciardo up into third place, three seconds behind his teammate. Race control confirms no further action involving Verstappen and Raikkonen from when their tires touched briefly earlier.

Lap 17/71

The virtual safety car prompts a slew of pit stops. Red Bull double-stacked and did it incredibly well, as usual, while the Ferrari cars did the same thing, just a bit slower. Vettel rejoined behind Magnussen, but quickly retook the position. Hamilton didn’t manage to get into the pits under the safety car. Hamilton’s lead after the pits and safety car is 13.2 seconds, over Verstappen in second, so this will be interesting!

Lap 14/71

Hulkenberg becomes the first driver out as his engine quits on him just out of Turn 8, and he’s the first to retire from the race. Vettel is 1.9 seconds down of Ricciardo, who has fallen 1.2 seconds back of Raikkonen. And a lap later, in the run-up to Turn 4, it’s a Mercedes off the track! And it’s Bottas! He is out of this race with what he says is a gearbox issue! He pulls off the track and we get yellows in sector 2. And now a virtual safety car.

Lap 11/71

Raikkonen complains about debris on the track just after Turn 3. Another purple for Hamilton on Lap 8. He’s got a 2.5-second lead on Bottas, who has a 3-second lead on Verstappen as of Lap 9. Ricciardo is right on Raikkonen’s rear, under a second and within DRS range. Vettel is a few seconds back of that battle. Raikkonen complains that a Red Bull contacted him, and replay confirms it.

Lap 7/71

Vettel makes it past Grosjean to get up into sixth. Grosjean will try to hold onto that seventh position as best he can after a rough season. Vettel had a grid penalty for impeding Sainz in practice, so he was always going to pass the Haas cars. Replay shows Vandoorne collided with a Torro Rosso. So it’s Hamilton, who sets purples on Lap 6, Bottas, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Vettel, Grosjean, Magnussen, Hulkenberg and Ocon.

Lap 3/71

Raikkonen has a great start and he squeezes Bottas out at the start, allowing Hamilton to take the lead. Bottas falls down to third as Verstappen comes around the outside, and Raikkonen gives up the position after going wide around the second turn. Bottas comes back hard and retakes second place into Turn 3. Raikkonen also gets back past Verstappen, but Verstappem comes right back and retakes it! Vettel moves up to seventh, passing Magnussen as Grosjean tries to make a move on Ricciardo, but can’t make it stick! Charles Leclerc has gone wid, drawing double yellows around the final turns. Stoffel Vandoorne lost some pieces of his front wing, and he falls to last place after having to pit!

Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes has pole position for the Formula One 2018 Austrian Grand Prix from the Red Bull Ring on Sunday. He’ll have his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, keeping him company on the front row when the race gets underway at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN2.

Live online streaming of the race can be had via WatchESPN, the ESPN App or F1 TV Pro.

The second row is occupied by Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari and Max Verstappen of Ferrari. The top seven drivers on the grid all posted best times in the 1:03 range, so less than a second covers all but three of the points positions for Sunday’s action.

Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, second in the Drivers Championship after losing his one-point lead the last time out, has a three-place grid penalty for impeding Carlos Sainz Jr. during qualifying, and will start sixth on the grid.

“Obviously I wasn’t meaning to block or ruin his lap,” Vettel said of Sainz. “I was looking in the mirror, I was finishing my lap. I checked my mirrors, I couldn’t see anything.

“The problem is the mirrors,” Vettel continued, “We don’t see straight back. It’s the same for all of us. It’s to do with where the mirrors are and they are more or less in the same place for all of us.”

The big surprise is the American-owned Haas of Romain Grosjean making it to fifth fastest in qualifying. His teammate, Kevin Magnussen, will also start inside the top 10 at eight. Grosjean trying to fight off both of Vettel and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in seventh at the start of the race should be entertaining to see.

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly commented on the surprising pace of the Haas cars to media after the qualifying sesion.

“Haas was just ... I’m shocked, actually, because from one weekend to another ... we know they can be so fast but that fast is quite impressive,” Gasly said.

Charles Leclerc of Sauber, who made it into the third qualifying session in France and has been rumored as the next Ferrari driver in 2019, unfortunately had a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change and will start 18th on the grid. He finished the French Grand Prix in the points, at 10th overall.

Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg of Renault round out the top 10 on the grid.

Below is all you need to know to watch the race on Sunday.

Date: Sunday, July 1

Location: Red Bull Ring, Spielberg

Time: 9 a.m. ET

TV: ESPN2

Online Streaming: WatchESPN, ESPN App, F1 TV Pro