Charles Leclerc wins the penalty-ridden Austrian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc has won the penalty-ridden Austrian Grand Prix, ahead of Max Verstappen. The Ferrari driver held on to a three-second lead, following a virtual safety car, which was called as Carlos Sainz's engine failed and set his car alight. Lewis Hamilton claimed the final podium position with George Russell following behind, after receiving a five-second penalty on the opening lap.

Esteban Ocon drove a steady race and held on to the final top-five position, with Haas and McLaren sharing the next four places. Mick Schumacher was next across the line in sixth, with Lando Norris, Kevin Magnussen and Daniel Ricciardo finishing in seventh, eighth and ninth respectively. Fernando Alonso claimed the final points position.

The expected battle between Leclerc and Verstappen was witnessed throughout, with the two changing leads, but it was the final pit stop from Ferrari that gave the Monegasque driver enough traction to exit turn 3 at immense speed and move into the lead on Lap 53.

An opening lap incident ruined Perez’s race, as Russell collided with the Mexican at turn 4, and sent him spiralling into the gravel, in a crash that was almost identical to a Red Bull-Mercedes incident in 2020. Perez tried to continue in the race but soon pitted and retired, becoming the first retiree of the race.

Leclerc was able to close the lead to Verstappen quickly after pitting and regained the lead on Lap 32, as Schumacher overtook his team-mate, Magnussen, simultaneously.

An issue plaguing all the drivers throughout the whole weekend were seen in full force today, as track limit penalties were continuously handed out across the grid, with multiple drivers receiving five-second penalties.

Pierre Gasly and Sebastian Vettel copied the incident with Russell and Perez on Lap 41, with the latter spinning into the gravel, dropping down to 17th, but the German was able to continue and didn’t need to pit. The AlphaTauri driver was quickly handed a five-second penalty, much like Russell.

Nicholas Latifi became the second retiree of the race on Lap 52, as the Canadian struggled to find any pace and found himself towards the end of the grid throughout the laps driven.

On Lap 58, the unthinkable happened for Sainz, as the Spaniard had an engine failure, which soon saw the car in flames and rolling down back towards the track. He was okay and was seen quickly out of the car, but a Virtual Safety Car was soon called upon and allowed Leclerc and Verstappen to have a cheap pit stop.

Perez and Russell drama at the start

Verstappen’s excellent starts seen all weekend continued today as he led up to turn 3, but it was Russell that got the best start of them all. The Brit overtook Sainz at turn 1 but lost his place as the Spaniard regained entry onto the track, which allowed Perez to get involved in an early battle. This continued into turn 4, where the Mexican attempted an overtake on the outside, but collided with Russell and spun into the gravel, dropping all the way to the bottom of the grid. It was an almost identical incident as witnessed in 2020 between Alex Albon and Hamilton. After being investigated, Russell was handed a five-second penalty on Lap 10.

Schumacher and Hamilton’s battle yesterday was one of the best we’ve seen this season, but on Lap 5, it was the young German who bettered the Mercedes driver, overtaking him on the run-up to turn 3. This was much to the seven-time World Champions' annoyance as he soon told his team that ‘their straight-line speed is so fast.’

Verstappen and Leclerc’s battle soon heated up as the Monegasque slowly crept towards an overtake and had DRS behind for a number of laps. However, on Lap 12, Leclerc dived down the inside of Verstappen at turn 4 and moved into the lead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton managed to find himself up in fourth place on Lap 15, as he overtook both Schumacher and Magnussen within one lap, but had not pitted for hard tyres by that point.

Hard tyres were obvious favourites in the pits

Perez had to pit early, due to damage sustained from the crash and switched to the hard tyres. Just a few laps after, Bottas, who started from the pit lane, pitted in order to have a cleaner run behind the rest of the pack. Russell pitted on Lap 12 in order to serve his penalty, switching to the hard tyres and his front wing, which sustained damage from the first lap incident.

Verstappen was next in the pit lane, after being overtaken, and he dropped down to eighth place, as he switched to the hard tyres. Norris soon followed suit, on the following lap, sticking to the preferred hard tyres.

Leclerc pitted on Lap 28, with Sainz being called in on the following lap, and both lost a place, with Verstappen and Hamilton moving up to first and third. The Brit then pitted for the first time and moved back up to fourth, overtaking Ocon on the next lap, despite a slow 4.1-second stop. Verstappen didn’t like his set of hard tyres so pitted on Lap 37 for a new set, to try and hold his spot on the podium.

Russell pitted for a second time on Lap 42 in order to try and have a fresher set towards the end of the race, but in doing so, the Brit dropped from ninth to 14th. Magnussen followed suit but dropped further down the grid, and came out behind the Brit.

Norris was handed a track limits penalty, so came in on the 45th lap to serve it and switch to a fresher set of tyres, which was the familiar scene for many of the drivers and teams.

Verstappen was closing in on the Ferrari duo and soon moved up to second as Leclerc pitted for the second time and with a 2.5-second stop, it gave the Monegasque driver a chance to pull the gap back. Sainz then pitted the following lap and it was a repeat stop for the Italian team.

Hamilton soon took his second stop and became the only driver in the top 14 to switch to mediums, which showed Mercedes’ intent to hold their fourth place in the Grand Prix. Until the two leaders took their third stops and switched to medium tyres under the VSC.