A dominant Lewis Hamilton secured his first win of the season and the 85th of his career with a perfectly-judged victory from pole in Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas, who won the curtain-raising race last week, finished 13.7 seconds adrift in second to deliver first Mercedes one-two in Austria since 2015 with Max Verstappen in third.
Bottas leads the championship ahead of Hamilton with Lando Norris third.
The paddock seemed to be split again pre-race as some drivers were absent as Hamilton led the protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement by taking a knee.
Good feeling
“It’s great to be back up here and thanks to the team,” said Hamilton. “This feels like it has been a long time coming after a difficult weekend last time.”
Bottas said he had enjoyed his battle with Verstappen. “Starting fourth, this was damage limitation for me,” he said. “I tried, but we are just a bit too slow,” admitted Verstappen.
Verstappen was slowed by slight car damage in the final stages, ahead of teammate Alex Albon, who defended stoutly to finish fourth.
Norris came home a remarkable fifth for McLaren after passing both of Racing Point’s pink Mercedes cars during a thrilling final lap, Sergio Perez taking sixth after starting from 17th on the grid, and Lance Stroll seventh.
Leclerc apologises
Both Ferraris were eliminated after crashing together at Turn Three on the opening lap, Charles Leclerc apologising to four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who is in his last season with the team, for his ill-judged dive down the inside that resulted in a disaster for the Italian team.