Red Bull Motorsports
F1
Max Verstappen wins the Austrian Grand Prix after a stunning comeback drive
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing's Max Verstappen battles back from a slow start to take victory in stunning style at the Red Bull Ring and with it clinch the team's 60th grand prix win.
At the start of the Austrian Grand Prix, victory for Max Verstappen and Aston Martin Red Bull Racing must have seemed like an impossible task for driver and team. Pole-sitter Charles Leclerc made the best start for Ferrari, leading the field into the newly renamed Niki Lauda Curve, as Verstappen made a poor start from second on the grid as his car's anti-stall mechanism kicked in and prevented a quick getaway.
Verstappen managed to keep his head and survive the first corner, settling into seventh place before passing Lando Norris to take sixth on Lap 7.
With Leclerc leading the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, Verstappen recovered quickly from his slow start, bringing the thousands of his orange-clad fans to their feet by passing Kimi Räikkönen to take fifth on Lap 9 and setting about the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
On Lap 18, Red Bull Racing's Pierre Gasly locked horns with Räikkönen in a battle for seventh place that played out over multiple laps, with the pair engaging in some close-quarters racing.
Further up the field, Verstappen was showing strong pace on the medium-compound tyres, as a mix of strategy from the top five drivers was made more intriguing by the fact that on Lap 30 Hamilton was forced to change the front wing on his Mercedes.
By Lap 31, Verstappen had cycled into the lead of the race and pitted, emerging in fourth place, behind Vettel and ahead of Hamilton, as Leclerc continued as leader following the first round of pitstops. Verstappen turned in a series of fastest laps in the second half of the race as he went in pursuit of Vettel's third place.
On Lap 48, Verstappen was right on Vettel's rear wing and hustled the Ferrari for several laps before finally surging past on Lap 50 to take third and set off in pursuit of Bottas. Three laps later Verstappen was within range of the Mercedes driver.
Verstappen's Red Bull Racing machine was visibly quicker than Bottas's Mercedes and on Lap 56 he passed the Finn under braking for Turn 2 to take second, sending the crowd into raptures. He trailed race leader Leclerc by just five seconds.
With 10 laps remaining, Verstappen had reduced the gap to the leader down to 4.6 seconds and was gunning for the race win, taking chunks out of Leclerc's lead. By Lap 67 he was in DRS range and one lap later dived down the inside at Turn 2, but could not keep in front of the Ferrari.
On Lap 69, Verstappen took the lead, barging past Leclerc, the two drivers making contact at Turn 2 to massive cheers from the fans. Verstappen hung on for the remaining two laps to win from Leclerc, with Bottas coming home in third.
Max Verstappen – winner of the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix
© Red Bull Content Pool
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing clock-up 60 grand prix wins
It seems that Aston Martin Red Bull Racing have been waiting a while for that elusive 60th grand prix win and the race that gave the team that milestone was indeed a memorable one.
Twelve races on from their last win with Max Verstappen at the Mexican Grand Prix, the team have hit the big 60 and are now sixth in the list of all-time most successful constructors. They're now within 19 wins of the legendary F1 team Lotus.
Verstappen's win in Austria was also reason for Honda to celebrate. By winning at the Red Bull Ring, the Japanese manufacturer powered a car to a grand prix victory for the first time since 2006, an absence of 12 years, 10 months and 24 days.
It wasn't as easy as that, however. The stewards deliberated long after the race to determine whether Verstappen's race-winning manoeuvre was within the rules.
Emotional tributes to Austrian legend Niki Lauda at the Red Bull Ring
Niki Lauda tribute
© Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool
Fans, teams and drivers at the Red Bull Ring took the chance to remember three-time F1 world champion and Austrian hero Niki Lauda, who sadly passed away this year.
On Sunday morning, Turn 1 of the Red Bull Ring was named Niki Lauda Corner in his honour and during the ceremony his friend Dr Helmut Marko handed over a Red Bull Ring sculpture to Lauda's wife, Birgit, and his son, Lukas Lauda.
Prior to that, 60,000 red caps, Lauda's trademark, had been distributed to the grandstands, and it's safe to say that Lauda would've enjoyed the classic race that unfolded.
Jüri Vips claims breakthrough F3 win
Jüri Vips in Macau
© Davide Pastanella/Red Bull Content Pool
Hitech Grand Prix driver Jüri Vips claimed his maiden F3 win at the Red Bull Ring to break the Prema team's stranglehold on the season, becoming the first non-Prema driver to win in 2019.
The Estonian Red Bull Junior started third on the grid in Austria and managed to overcome a frantic start to come out on top following an early race scrap with Max Fretwell, Jehan Daruvala and Marcus Armstrong to establish a strong lead and take his first win, going one better from his previous best F3 result of second place at the Spanish Grand Prix.
