Valtteri Bottas has won the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix to claim only his second ever win in Formula 1, just holding off Sebastian Vettel towards the end of the race. Daniel Ricciardo claimed the final podium spot, after just holding off Lewis Hamilton.
At the start, Valtteri Bottas got away off the line beautifully, and lead going in to the first corner. In fact, there was the thought that he jumped the start (i.e. started before the lights went out), and it was noted, but no further action was warranted, and I think that it was the right decision, he did not jump the start - it could hardly have been a better getaway by the Finn.
Meanwhile, at the start as well, Max Verstappen had a clutch failure and got a poor start, and Daniil Kvyat had a lock up heading into turn 1, making contact with Fernando Alonso, who in turn could not avoid contact with Verstappen - Kvyat was handed a drive through penalty for his part in the collision.
During the first stint of the race the order was: Bottas, Vettel, Ricciardo, Raikkonen and Hamilton who managed to move up into 5th from 8th on the grid. On lap 30 of the race, Kevin Magnussen retired with what was seemingly a hydraulic failure. Just a couple of laps later, Hamilton was the first of the front runners to pit - Hamilton pitted onto the ultrasofts from supersofts. Daniel Ricciardo pitted then a couple of laps later, with Vettel pitting on the next lap.
The two Finns of Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen stayed out a little bit longer, with Bottas pitting on lap 40. He re-emerged behind Raikkonen, who still didn't pit. Bottas did manage to overtake Raikkonen on lap 44, who then pitted on the same lap.
Meanwhile on lap 45, Carlos Sainz retired with an issue on his car. On lap 46, Stoffel Vandoorne was given a drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags (i.e. failing to let a car through after being lapped). After all the stops the order was: Bottas, Vettel, Ricciardo, Hamilton and Raikkonen. Raikkonen was initially closing in on Hamilton with his fresher tyres, but at turn 1 on lap 57 ran wide and lost a considerable amount of time, and eventually began to drop away. Meanwhile, Hamilton eventually began to close in on Ricciardo, and was setting fastest lap times (he ended up setting the fastest lap of the race - a 1:07.411 on lap 67.. which is a lap record for the Red Bull Ring).
Also, upfront, Sebastian Vettel began to close in on Bottas, and by lap 68 was just 1.1 seconds behind. Vettel lost some time lapping Perez, but still closed in on Bottas again, and eventually finished 0.6 seconds behind the Finn who won the race. Hamilton made an attempt at turn 4 to overtake Ricciardo, but the Aussie held firm to maintain third place, his 5th consecutive podium finish. Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth, with Romain Grosjean finishing an impressive 6th place for the Haas team, with the two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon following in 7th and 8th place respectively, who were followed by the two Williams drivers of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll respectively to complete the points in 9th and 10th. The rest of the finishers from 11th downwards were: Jolyon Palmer, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nico Hulkenberg, Pascal Wehrlein, Marcus Ericsson and Daniil Kvyat.
Classification (race):
Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari
Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer
Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari
Romain Grosjean - Haas-Ferrari
Sergio Perez - Force India-Mercedes
Esteban Ocon - Force India-Mercedes
Felipe Massa - Williams-Mercedes
Lance Stroll - Williams-Mercedes
Jolyon Palmer - Renault
Stoffel Vandoorne - McLaren-Honda
Nico Hulkenberg - Renault
Pascal Wehrlein - Sauber-Ferrari
Marcus Ericsson - Sauber-Ferrari
Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso
Retired: Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso, Max Verstappen
World Championship classification:
Sebastian Vettel - 171 points
Lewis Hamilton - 151 points
Valtteri Bottas - 136 points
Daniel Ricciardo - 107 points
Kimi Raikkonen - 83 points
Sergio Perez - 50 points
Max Verstappen - 45 points
Esteban Ocon - 39 points
Carlos Sainz - 29 points
Felipe Massa - 22 points
Lance Stroll - 18 points
Nico Hulkenberg - 18 points
Romain Grosjean - 18 points
Kevin Magnussen - 11 points
Pascal Wehrlein - 5 points
Daniil Kvyat - 4 points
Fernando Alonso - 2 points
Jolyon Palmer - 0 points
Marcus Ericsson - 0 points
Stoffel Vandoorne - 0 points
Antonio Giovinazzi - 0 points
Constructors' Championship classification:
Mercedes - 287 points
Ferrari - 254 points
Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer - 152 points
Force India-Mercedes - 89 points
Williams-Mercedes - 40 points
Toro Rosso - 33 points
Haas-Ferrari - 29 points
Renault - 18 points
Sauber-Ferrari - 5 points
McLaren-Honda - 2 points