BOTTAS TAKES TWO
V
altteri Bottas won a cliffhanger Austrian
Grand Prix for Mercedes with Ferrari’s
Sebastian Vettel finishing a mere 0.6
of a second behind to increase his lead over
Lewis Hamilton to 20 points after nine races.
Hamilton, Bottas’s team mate, started
in eighth place after a grid penalty triggered
by an unscheduled gearbox change and
finished fourth. Vettel now has 171 points to
Hamilton’s 151. Bottas is third overall on 136.
“I had a bit of deja-vu in the end from
Russia,” said Bottas, referring to his first
Formula One win at Sochi in April when
Vettel again almost reeled him in at the finish
and also crossed the line 0.6 behind.
“At the beginning I could control the race
but it was trickier towards the end.”
Daniel Ricciardo finished third for Red
Bull, at a circuit owned by the energy drink
brand, for his fifth successive podium finish
with Hamilton pushing him hard to the
chequered flag.
The victory from pole position was the
second of the season and of his career for
Bottas. Apart from the closing laps, with
Vettel reeling in the Mercedes in a nail-biting
finish and Bottas looking anxiously in his
mirrors as he wrestled with blistered tyres,
the Finn’s biggest scare came at the start.
Bottas reacted with split-second
precision, his getaway so blindingly quick
that Vettel alongside immediately questioned
whether the Mercedes had jumped the lights.
Stewards investigated the incident and took
no further action. It was legal.
“I think that was the start of my life. I was
really on it,” he said.