After Carlos Sainz withdrew, Ferrari's Charles Leclerc beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen to win the Austrian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton on the podium for Mercedes.
When Sprint champion and championship leader Verstappen pitted on lap 12, Leclerc took the lead. Leclerc pitted late on lap 27 and regained the lead by overtaking on lap 37. With Sainz challenging Verstappen's P2, the Dutch pitted again on Lap 2.
Leclerc made a second pit stop on lap 51 and regained the lead on lap 53. Sainz followed closely behind Verstappen's tail as the Spaniard suddenly slowed down – the flames of his Ferrari tail marked the end of his race. That lifted Hamilton, who went from P8 to P4, to the final podium position.
Although Leclerc reported that his throttle pedal got stuck in a panic late in the race, which made downshift difficult and left Verstappen close in 2.3 seconds, he won for the first time since Round 3 in Melbourne.
George Russell is fourth from there and the Mercedes driver lost time in his first pit stop – he was also sent off for 5 seconds for his early collision with Red Bull's Sergio Perez. Alpine's Esteban Ocon finished in the top five with a sixth-place finish, with Perez retiring shortly after russell's collision.
Mik Schumacher was a fan of the day, overtaking McLaren's Lando Norris (P7 was fined 5 seconds for exceeding the track limit) and Haas's teammate Kevin Magnussen in P8. Daniel Ricciardo won double points for McLaren in 9th place, with both team drivers enjoying a new rhythm of mid-hard strategy.
Fernando Alonso, who was in the bottom ten of Alpine's qualifying rounds, had to pit stop three times – a potentially unsafe release that led to two pit stops during the virtual safety car caused by Sainz's retirement.
Starting in the pit lane, Alfa Romeo's Valtteri Bottas moved up to 11th at the expense of Alex Albon and the Williams driver started from 15th to take 12th.
Lance Stroll was close behind, with Aston Martin in 13th and Alfa Romeo's Zhou Guanyu at 14th. Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda competed for AlphaTauri, finishing 15th and 16th respectively. However, after a collision with Gasly, Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel was injured in 17th place, and the Frenchman was punished for this.
Sainz was the third to retire and Williams' Nicolas Latifi and Perez also withdrew from the race, but Ferrari have won two straight, putting some pressure on championship leader Verstappen ahead of the French Grand Prix.
With 19 drivers lined up on the track, Valtteri Bottas started from the pit lane, pole driver and Sprint champion Max Verstappen ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz – Fernando Alonso finished last into the track with a new power unit.
Clouds hovered over the track, the sun poked its head out, and the formation circle began to proceed smoothly – all but Zhou Guanyu, Kakuda Yuki, Sebastian Vettel and Alonso, all of whom used medium-sized tires.
Verstappen crossed the front of Leclerc at the start, with Sainz deflecting out at Turn 1 but then recovering to stay ahead of George Russell – Sergio Perez tried to bypass the outside of Turn 4, ran out of space and was hit on gravel.
As Lewis Hamilton walked too far from turn 1 on lap 4, Mick Schumacher rushed to the P7 and watched his Haas teammates ahead. At the front, Leclerc is in Verstappen's DRS range, Sainz is 2.5 seconds behind, Russell is struggling to keep up after contact with Perez, and the Briton will be penalized for 5 seconds – Mercedes leads a train of cars up to Lando Norris in P9.
Leclerc's Ferrari, who was full of threats in Verstappen's rearview mirror and still trailing Red Bull – both overtook Perez at this point – on lap 10, Leclerc tried again when he took action and almost took the lead inside turn 3, switching to the outside of turn 4, but Verstappen saved P1.
"I can't hold out for so long," Verstappen said as he began to feel the heat. On lap 12, Leclerc followed, braking at the end of Turn 4 and taking the lead on the inside.
Russell was fined 5 seconds in the pit on lap 12 to release Esteban Aucon to P4.
Verstappen tried to fight back on lap 13, locked in to turn 4, and quickly complied with the pit stop message, making a grueling pit stop at the end of the lap. Stopping wasn't ideal, with the defending champion leaving the pit in P8. Norris is next to the pit lane.
A little behind, Hamilton is now keeping up, leading Schumacher in P5 on the inside of Turn 7 on lap 15 and taking the next spot from Magnussen shortly thereafter. The Dane pitted in, but Schumacher didn't, and Verstappen's Red Bull was in his mirror.
Verstappen's next target is Hamilton's Mercedes – if he's going to challenge Ferrari, he needs to pass a key overtake. The seven-time champion initially beat his 2021 title rival but had to give way on lap 18 to turn 4. The question now is whether Verstappen wasted too much time in the process of capturing the P3.
With leclerc and Sainz continuing to overture lap 20, Verstappen picked up pace and closed the gap.
Alonso reached 8th place on lap 20, but overtook him with newer tyres when team-mate Ocon pitted from 4th place on lap 15. Au Kang wrestled and overtook Zhou Guanyu on Turn 4 on lap 23. However, Alonso failed to overtake Zhou Guanyu in 8th place and was trapped a few laps behind him. This allowed Magnussen to close the gap in the new tyres and send them into the inside of Turn 1 and spark a five-car battle for the position to make It to Turn 3.
In that five-car race, Norris also enjoyed his tyre advantage (stopped on lap 14 due to difficulties), jumping to 9th place after Magnussen – Zhou Guanyu started pitting at lap 25 – while Alonso then lost 10th to Schumacher, who was already on lap 16. Schumacher snatched the P8 from Norris – Norris felt aggrieved because he didn't get enough room to make Turn 4 in this move.
Verstappen overwhelmed, Leclerc pitted third on lap 27, with a gap of 7 seconds between him and Red Bull, while Sainz maintained a 10-second lead before coming in fourth place behind Hamilton on the next lap. Sainz's stop gave Verstappen back the lead.
Hamilton will make a grueling pit stop in a 4.1-second stop – to mask an undercut from O'Conn – and appear side-by-side with the French on lap 29 in the battle for the P4. AuCom had a narrow lead but lost to the Briton into Turn 3.
Leclerc was advancing, closing the gap with Verstappen to 1.5 seconds on lap 31, and two laps later he drsed the Dutchman, cutting inside and easily regaining the lead at Turn 3. The defending champion radioed the car as "unpredictable" as he stared at Monaco's 1.5-second disadvantage – designed to protect a 4-second advantage over Sainz.
Meanwhile, Schumacher continued his strong pace performance, overtaking Magnussen on lap 34 (Magnussen deflected at Turn 7) to 6th place. The Dane will lose again to Norris on lap 42 before pitting again. Norris, on the other hand, was penalized for five seconds for violating track restrictions.
On lap 37, Verstappen skydive with Sainz in the rearview mirror as the Red Bull riders approached from the P2 stop and away from Hamilton. The Dutchman was soon told to "catch up with Hamilton's lap time", with the seven-time champion trailing just over 6 seconds – leclerc enjoying the same advantage as his team-mate Sainz.
Leclerc made his second pit stop on lap 51, one lap behind teammate Sainz, putting Verstappen back in the lead – just two seconds ahead of the first Ferrari, while Sainz was just seven seconds behind in the P3.
Leclerc attacked the Dutchman and took the lead on lap 53 as he enjoyed a brilliant exit from Turn 4, leading Verstappen to say: "Traction is a joke. ”
Sainz was right on Verstappen's tail, but on lap 57, the Ferrari driver slowed down and left the track. Soon, debris and flames began to pour out of the engine compartment and through Scuderia's fan-shaped side compartment—but Sainz managed to climb out safely.
He sat on the grassy shore, his expression conveying the same frustration and suspicion. This triggered the virtual safety car, Leclerc and Verstappen pit stops for a tire change, and Hamilton is now in third place, with them on lap 52 for a free pit stop. Alonso was the other receiver, pitted just after vsC finished lap 60.
As the Green Flag race resumed, Leclerc led the team away, but he complained that his gas pedal felt "strange" and fans around the world were worried. When Leclerc explained that the throttle was stuck, the throttle problem began to become clear and Verstappen began to close the gap as the leader struggled on low-speed sections.
But Leclerc persevered and won the first race since the Australian Grand Prix – albeit just 1.5 seconds away. Hamilton took the podium, which was a welcome result as his car was torn apart after qualifying.
Russell started from fourth and finished there, his slow pit stop and five seconds of penalty time preventing him from reaching the podium. He blocked Alpine's Ocon, who finished in the top five and was the last driver in the lead – adding a net addition to Perez's retirement.
Schumacher left Norris, who was fined 5 seconds for track limitations, while Magnussen trailed sixth and won the honor of Driver of the Day – he scored a second consecutive point – Haas doubled the points and Magnussen finished eighth. It was also a double-point score for mcLaren, Norris and Ricciardo's similar mid-hard strategies, ranking seventh and ninth respectively.
Alonso, who started late but was 10th in Alps, pitted during the VSC, but on the next lap, just towards the end of the VSC, he had to pit again for another costly stop – by an unsafe release investigation.
Bottas missed out on the top 10 and finished 11th in the pit lane before approaching Alonso, who blocked Alben by 4.6 seconds and Williams riders sped forward on the straights to block Lance Stroor, who was 13th.
Zhou Guanyu experienced a difficult day, starting with a different difficulty than most people, and finished 14th. He blocked Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri and his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who were ranked 16th and 17th respectively.
Sebastian Vettel complained that his car was damaged early, understeer made his job more difficult and his problems became more complicated on lap 40 as he slipped while trying to bypass Gasley around Turn 4. The German ended up rising to 17th and final place.
Leclerc's victory may have provided enough cheer for Sainz's retirement, but after Verstappen took pole position and won the Sprint, Red Bull felt they had lost a chance – Perez's retirement from lap 24 cost them more. Nicholas Latifi also didn't reach the finish line, and his Williams team pitted on lap 47.
At the Home of the Bulls, the Prancing Horse occupies supremacy
"It was a very good game," winner Leclerc said. "The speed is there, in the beginning we played well with Max and at the end it was very difficult. I had this problem with the throttle and it would get stuck at 20% or 30% throttle at low speeds so it was very tricky but we managed to get it to the end and I was very, very happy.
"I absolutely need that. I mean, the last five races have been very difficult for myself and the team, and it turned out that we've mastered the speed of the car and we can do that, it's unbelievable, so we need to hold out until the end. ”