F1 Austrian Grand Prix race results: Verstappen wins from Bottas

Verstappen led from the start, as team-mate Sergio Perez went off while trying to pass McLaren’s Lando Norris for second at Turn 4 soon after a safety car restart. Norris received a five-second time penalty for the incident.

Hamilton took 20 laps to pass Norris for second, by which time Verstappen was 10s ahead. Hamilton then picked up car damage that affected his pace, and was passed by team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Norris, dropping back to fourth.

2021 Austrian Grand Prix race results

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Points
1	Max Verstappen		71	-			26
2	Valtteri Bottas		71	17.973	17.973	17.973	18
3	Lando Norris		71	20.019	20.019	2.046	15
4	Lewis Hamilton		71	46.452	46.452	26.433	12
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.		71	57.144	57.144	10.692	10
6	Sergio Perez		71	57.915	57.915	0.771	8
7	Daniel Ricciardo		71	1'00.395	1'00.395	2.480	6
8	Charles Leclerc		71	1'01.195	1'01.195	0.800	4
9	Pierre Gasly		71	1'01.844	1'01.844	0.649	2
10	Fernando Alonso		70	1 lap			1
11	George Russell		70	1 lap
12	Yuki Tsunoda		70	1 lap
13	Lance Stroll		70	1 lap
14	Antonio Giovinazzi		70	1 lap
15	Nicholas Latifi		70	1 lap
16	Kimi Raikkonen		70	1 lap
17	Sebastian Vettel		69
18	Mick Schumacher		69	2 laps
19	Nikita Mazepin		69	2 laps
	Esteban Ocon		0
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How the Austrian Grand Prix unfolded

From pole position, Verstappen led Norris, Perez, Hamilton and Bottas. Further back, Esteban Ocon was sandwiched by Mick Schumacher and Antonio Giovinazzi at Turn 3, damaging his right-front suspension and bringing out the safety car to recover his stranded Alpine.

At the restart, Perez attacked Norris at Turn 1. Perez ran wide on the exit and failed to get ahead, but he tried again on the outside at Turn 4 where Lando stood firm in his defence and Sergio ran wide into the gravel, sending him tumbling to 10^th.

Behind them, the Mercedes duo briefly swapped places but Hamilton reestablished his position, now up to third.

Hamilton caught Norris, attacking from Lap 10 as Verstappen pulled five seconds clear. It took Hamilton 10 laps to find a way past, just as Norris received a five-second time penalty from the stewards for his earlier incident with Perez.

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was the first of the top 10 to stop, sacrificing his seventh position to jettison his soft tyres – a move followed by sixth-placed team-mate Pierre Gasly a lap later.

Ferrari’s Leclerc pulled a great, clean pass on Perez at Turn 4 on Lap 15, while Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) passed the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel for fifth three laps later.

Norris and Bottas pitted together on Lap 31, Bottas moving ahead as Norris had to serve his five-second time penalty. Hamilton pitted a lap later, with Verstappen responding on the following tour and he rejoined over 13s ahead in the lead.

Hamilton picked up damage on his left-rear corner, which allowed Bottas to close. Initially he was told not to pass Hamilton, but with Norris closing on him, Bottas was told he was free to race his team-mate. He then received a team order, allowing him to pass Hamilton uncontested on Lap 52.

Norris passed Hamilton for third at Turn 6 on Lap 54, prompting Hamilton to make a second pitstop.

The real battle as the race entered its second half was Gasly versus Ricciardo, Perez and Leclerc. At Turn 4, Leclerc attacked Perez around the outside and he hit him twice, sending the Ferrari into the gravel. That resulted in a five-second time penalty for Perez.

A few laps later, after Gasly pitted for the second time on Lap 46, and then Perez and Leclerc clashed once more at Turn 6, with Leclerc again visiting the gravel. Perez picked up another five-second time penalty but did find a way past Ricciardo, to allow him to gain time with his 10s of penalties.

Verstappen won by over 17s, after making an extra pitstop to ensure the point for fastest lap, over Bottas and Norris. Hamilton finished fourth, ahead of the penalized Perez. Ferrari allowed Sainz to pass Leclerc to attack Ricciardo.

Sainz grabbed sixth from Ricciardo at the final lap at Turn 6, which became fifth (by 0.8s) when Perez’s penalties were applied, with Leclerc and Gasly finishing eighth and ninth behind Ricciardo.

Williams’s George Russell and Fernando Alonso fought out a great duel for the final point, with Alonso grabbing it with five laps to go. 

Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) and Vettel came together exiting Turn 6 on the last lap, both crashing out through the gravel.

2021 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix fastest laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	62	1'06.200			234.815
2	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	70	1'07.762	1.562	1.562	229.402
3	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	55	1'08.126	1.926	0.364	228.177
4	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	54	1'08.146	1.946	0.020	228.110
5	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	55	1'08.192	1.992	0.046	227.956
6	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	52	1'08.374	2.174	0.182	227.349
7	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	70	1'08.405	2.205	0.031	227.246
8	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	51	1'08.420	2.220	0.015	227.196
9	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	54	1'08.455	2.255	0.035	227.080
10	Lando Norris	McLaren	62	1'08.471	2.271	0.016	227.027
11	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	62	1'08.520	2.320	0.049	226.865
12	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	54	1'08.659	2.459	0.139	226.405
13	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	55	1'08.698	2.498	0.039	226.277
14	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	56	1'08.820	2.620	0.122	225.876
15	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	69	1'08.874	2.674	0.054	225.699
16	George Russell	Williams	56	1'08.900	2.700	0.026	225.613
17	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	55	1'09.042	2.842	0.142	225.149
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas	56	1'09.394	3.194	0.352	224.007
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	49	1'09.757	3.557	0.363	222.842
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2021 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix tyre history

Cla	Driver	Chassis	1		2		3
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	M	35	H	28	H	11
2	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	M	33	H	41
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	M	33	H	41
4	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	M	34	H	22	H	18
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	H	48	M	26
6	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	M	35	H	39
7	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren	M	29	H	42
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	M	37	H	37
9	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	S	16	H	32	H	26
10	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	M	32	H	38
11	George Russell	Williams	M	33	H	40
12	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	S	15	H	39	H	19
13	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	S	17	H	32	H	24
14	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	M	1	H	28	H	41
15	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	M	33	H	37
16	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo	H	37	M	33
17	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin	S	20	H	32	H	20
18	Mick Schumacher	Haas	M	34	H	35
19	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	M	27	H	18	H	24
	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	M	0
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