Max Verstappen bests Charles Leclerc as F1's young guns take over in Austria

Austrian GP

Verstappen bests Leclerc, survives stewards enquiry, as F1's young guns take over in Austria

Amazing race in Spielberg!

Matthew Scott

Sunday 30 June 2019 20:04

Max Verstappen delivered the drive of the 2019 season to date to beat Charles Leclerc to victory at the Austrian Grand Prix, holding onto victory after an agonising wait to see how stewards would judge his race-winning move on the Ferrari driver.

F1's youngest front row in history ended the race in the opposite order than it began, although Leclerc and Verstappen took wildly differing routes to the line.

While the Ferrari man controlled his race with all the composure of a veteran, Verstappen had to stretch every last sinew after dropping six places off the line.

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A winner here last year, Verstappen was a man possessed, overtaking anyone who dared get in his way and catching Leclerc in the closing stages.

He finally made the move stick with two laps to go, but pushed the Monegasque off-track, prompting an immediate stewards' investigation.

More than three and a half hours after the chequered flag fell, the stewards finally delivered their verdict, deeming the pass a racing incident and restoring some faith in the adjudication of F1 after recent lowlights in Canada and France.

Verstappen secured Honda's first in F1 since 2006 in a week that the Dutchman had been linked with a departure from the team amid a difficult start to the year.

One report claimed that Verstappen could negotiate an exit at the end of the year if he did not win a race before the summer break, but that is now a moot point.

Valtteri Bottas took third for Mercedes, whose run of successive victories fell one short of McLaren's all-time F1 record of 11, with Lewis Hamilton finishing in fifth behind Sebastian Vettel after a damaged front wing hampered his race.

McLaren secured yet another superb result as Lando Norris finished sixth and Carlos Sainz was eighth, having started at the back of the grid.

Splitting them was Pierre Gasly, enduring another frustrating race with his own Red Bull future in serious doubt. Underlining the Frenchman's difficulty was Verstappen lapping him on his way to the win.

Alfa Romeo secured a double points finish as Kimi Raikkonen led Antonio GIovinazzi home to round off the top 10, the Italian gaining his first F1 point in the process.