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Valtteri Bottas wins Austrian GP, ahead of Vettel & Ricciardo

Valtteri Bottas has registered his career's second Formula 1 victory by winning the 2017 Austrian GP. Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel has managed to extend his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 20 points by finishing second. Red Bull driver, Daniel Ricciardo got his fifth podium finish in a row, after he fended off some last lap attacks by Lewis Hamilton and thus managed to finish third.

The Austrian Grand Prix started with Bottas on pole and Vettel on his side. Hamilton was stuck on 8th position on the grid after suffering a 5-place penalty due to a gearbox change. Bottas got one of the best starts ever with a reaction time of just 0.201 seconds. His start was so accurate that the stewards put him into investigation to refer to the data and see whether he had jumped the lights. Ferrari-driver Sebastian Vettel also complained about Bottas jumping the lights, though the Finn was later given a clean chit.

The race's only incident took place on the first lap itself. Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat misjudged his braking point into Turn 1, locked his wheels and made contact with Fernando Alonso's McLaren. This shunted the Spaniard's car into the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was trying to take the outside line. This caused heavy damage to the McLaren as well as the Red Bull, with the latter already suffering from some clutch-related issues from the start. As a result, Alonso and Verstappen were forced to retire, while Kvyat received a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.

Thereafter, the race didn't see much action. Bottas managed to deliver some fast laps and expanded his lead over Vettel during the first half of the race. After the race leaders switched from their Ultrasoft tyres to Supersofts, Vettel got some speed advantage over Bottas that helped the Ferrari driver to close down the gap. During the last few laps, Bottas was suffering from some serious blistering on his Mercedes' tyres, which helped Vettel to close down the gap. However, the Finn didn't lose his position, crossing the chequered flag just 0.658 seconds ahead of the German.

Meanwhile, Hamilton climbed up the ladder from eighth on the grid to fourth at the finish. The Brit started the race on Supersoft tyres, hoping to go deep into the first stint and gain some positions, while the race leaders' Ultrasoft tyres faded. However, till the time Hamilton passed the Force India cars of Ocon and Perez and Haas' Grosjean, his tyres were reaching the end of their lives. Despite repeated attempts, Hamilton couldn't manage to overtake Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari due to the fading tyres and finally came into the pits on Lap 31 for a set of Ultrasofts. During the final laps, he tried to take the third podium place by overtaking Ricciardo, but the Red Bull driver held on to his position, forcing Hamilton to settle for the fourth spot.

Hamilton was followed to the finish line by Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, Haas' Romain Grosjean, the two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon and the Williams of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll.

The Formula 1 paddock now moves to the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 16 July, 2017. The current World Driver Championship standings are:

1. Sebastian Vettel - 171 points

2. Lewis Hamilton - 151 points

3. Valtteri Bottas - 136 points

 
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