Hamilton Cruises to Victory, Ferraris Collide

(Lewis Hamilton Celebrating after his win
Pic Courtesy: Google)

The Styrian Grand Prix was not as dramatic as the Austrian Grand Prix last week. Lewis Hamilton controlled the race from the beginning to secure his first win of the season and 85th of his career. He delivered a perfectly-judged win from pole position as Mercedes secured a one-two finish at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday. The defending champion made amends from a disappointing outing in the season-opener on the same track last week. 

(Max Verstappen in his Red Bull
Pic Courtesy: Google)

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen maintained his second place for a majority of the race. He tried all he could to fend off Valteri Bottas, but minor front wing damage proved too destabilizing as Bottas in the quicker car completed the pass.

(Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel's Clash
Pic Courtesy: Google)

The midfield battle was more exciting compared to the top three. It was close and sometimes breathtaking racing from the evenly matched teams in the middle. A bad weekend so far for Ferrari starting 10th and 14th in the grid became worse when both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel made contact in the first lap. Vettel with a rear wing barely hanging on triggered a safety car as he made it back to the pits to retire, with Leclerc following him on lap 3 with floor damage from the incident. 

(Lando Norris in his Mclaren
Pic Courtesy: Google)

It was another late show from Mclaren. Lando Norris for the second week running dazzled in the last couple of laps to snatch fifth place. His McLaren team-mate Carlos Sainz also got in on the act for the late show. With nothing to lose, the Spaniard pitted for a set of tyres late in the race and managed to see off Hamilton and Max Verstappen to claim an extra point with the fastest lap having finished ninth.

Amongst all this Alex Albon finished fourth after a dismal start to his season. Blisteringly quick Sergio Perez who was cruising along to overtake Albon had significant damage to his endplate late in the race. On the very last corner, Norris just had to drive around Perez’s wounded car. Stroll and Ricciardo and the Mexican had a photo finish with Perez edging out his team-mate while Ricciardo settled for 8th. 

Estaban Ocon had the only mechanical retirement of the race as compared to last week. Both Haas finished 12th and 13th splitting the Alfa Romeo’s at 11th and 14th position. Daniil Kvyat finished 10th to claim a point but his team-mate Pierre Gasly could only manage a 15th place finish. Williams, with their best qualifying in years with George Russell in P11, finished as the last two runners.