Mercedes’ dominance was challenged by Red Bull but Max Verstappen, who was running second behind Bottas, was forced out with an electrical failure early on. Towards the end of the race, Alex Albon took fresh soft tyres during a safety car period and was passing Lewis Hamilton for second when they made contact, and Albon was spun around.

Ahead of the race Hamilton was moved back on the starting grid from second to fifth, for not lifting off under yellow flags in qualifying when Bottas went off ahead of him.

Bottas led from the start, McLaren’s Lando Norris briefly grabbing second before Verstappen retook the place by Turn 3. Hamilton tried to pass Albon at Turn 4, but was rebuffed. Albon passed Norris for third when DRS was enabled on Lap 3, and Hamilton followed suit a lap later at Turn 1. Hamilton then used DRS to power past Albon for third on the run to Turn 4 on Lap 9.

Verstappen was 3s behind Bottas when his car slowed with an electrical problem at the start of Lap 12. He toured back to the pits, where Red Bull tried to fix it with no avail.

The safety car was deployed on Lap 26 when Haas’s Kevin Magnussen suffered a big spin due to a brake failure, just as Esteban Ocon’s Renault was overtaking him at Turn 3. That sent all the leaders into the pits for their tyre stops, during which Sergio Perez (who took the medium tyre instead of the hard) almost hit Norris, who suffered a slow change on his left-rear wheel.

At the restart, Carlos Sainz attacked Charles Leclerc for sixth but was clipped by Sebastian Vettel as he tried to take advantage, causing the Ferrari driver to spin. Perez soon blasted past Norris for fourth on Lap 33.

Both Mercedes drivers were warned about sensor issues, and told to stay off the kerbs, due to gearbox concerns. Bottas was told he was in “worse shape than the other car”.

Romain Grosjean (brake issues) and George Russell both retired with 20 laps to go, the latter causing a second safety car due to being forced to pull off the track. The restart lasted a matter of seconds, as Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo lost its right-front wheel at the penultimate corner, requiring a third safety car – but not before Albon had grabbed third from Perez.

It left a 10-lap sprint to the finish, with the Mercedes pair ahead of the fresh-tyred Albon, who attacked Hamilton but they collided at Turn 4 and Albon was punted into a spin through the gravel. Hamilton was given a 5s penalty for causing the collision.

Bottas scampered clear to win by half a second over Hamilton. But Hamilton’s penalty meant Leclerc finished second ahead of Norris, with Hamilton falling to fourth. Norris also scored the extra point for fastest lap.

F1 Austrian Grand Prix race results:

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Points
1	Valtteri Bottas		71		25
2	Charles Leclerc		71	2.700	18
3	Lando Norris		71	5.491	16
4	Lewis Hamilton		71	5.689	12
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.		71	8.903	10
6	Sergio Perez		71	15.092	8
7	Pierre Gasly		71	16.682	6
8	Esteban Ocon		71	17.456	4
9	Antonio Giovinazzi		71	21.146	2
10	Sebastian Vettel		71	24.545	1
11	Nicholas Latifi		71	31.650
12	Daniil Kvyat		69
13	Alex Albon		67
	Kimi Raikkonen		53
	George Russell		49
	Romain Grosjean		49
	Kevin Magnussen		24
	Lance Stroll		20
	Daniel Ricciardo		17
	Max Verstappen		11
View full results

F1 Austrian Grand Prix race fastest laps:

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	Lando Norris		71	1'07.475		230.378
2	Valtteri Bottas		68	1'07.657	0.182	229.758
3	Lewis Hamilton		67	1'07.712	0.055	229.572
4	Charles Leclerc		64	1'07.901	0.189	228.933
5	Carlos Sainz Jr.		63	1'07.974	0.073	228.687
6	Sergio Perez		63	1'08.305	0.331	227.579
7	Alex Albon		50	1'08.432	0.127	227.156
8	Sebastian Vettel		71	1'08.623	0.191	226.524
9	Antonio Giovinazzi		70	1'08.796	0.173	225.954
10	Esteban Ocon		70	1'08.932	0.136	225.509
11	Pierre Gasly		64	1'09.025	0.093	225.205
12	Kimi Raikkonen		48	1'09.031	0.006	225.185
13	Daniil Kvyat		50	1'09.135	0.104	224.847
14	George Russell		49	1'09.317	0.182	224.256
15	Max Verstappen		5	1'09.351	0.034	224.146
16	Nicholas Latifi		63	1'09.662	0.311	223.146
17	Romain Grosjean		46	1'10.228	0.566	221.347
18	Lance Stroll		4	1'10.326	0.098	221.039
19	Daniel Ricciardo		8	1'10.610	0.284	220.150
20	Kevin Magnussen		23	1'10.720	0.110	219.807
View full results