Max Verstappen stood victorious at Red Bull Ring for the first time this season after a controversial steward decision.
The Austrian Grand Prix was first victory of the season for Red Bull. The team had been struggling with their power plant so far after their new arrangements with Honda.
Verstappen had been unhappy before this victory with the progress made by Honda and had demanded more performance output to compete against Ferrari and Mercedes.
The stewards took three hours after the race to announce results. They investigated an over-take by Verstappen where he pushed Leclerc to take the lead with two laps remaining.
Verstappen and Leclerc banged wheels on 69th lap at the Red Bull ring.
The Dutchman made his ground to take the lead but he hit the Ferrari driver which lead to investigations. He was three seconds ahead of Leclerc.
Both drivers were called-in for their take on the incident by the stewards.
Four stewards looked into incident. Due to criticality of the event – which eventually led to victory of Verstappen – they took required time before declaring their decision.
They reasoned, “In the totality of the circumstances, we did not consider that either driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident. We consider that this is a racing incident.”
Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal, pointed out that if the initial results are over-turned F1 would be guilty of “stealing” the victory from them and their driver.
Verstappen added after the race, “It’s hard racing. If those things are not allowed in racing then what’s the point in being in Formula 1?”
Leclerc, who lost the crown, said, “I’m angry.
“Feeling it from the inside, it was an unfair move, but I need to watch it to understand the full situation. On the first try he left me with a car’s width and on the second move he didn’t.”
Mercedes spell of the season was broken by its contender at Austria. However, team still managed to reach podium.
Valterri Bottas was able to make it to third position, while Hamilton was able to make it to fifth position. Ferrari’s Vettel was able to make it on fourth position.
