Max Verstappen picked up his second win in a row and his fourth race of the season with a comfortable victory at the Styrian Grand Prix in Austria.
The Dutchman never came under pressure at the front of the field as Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second place, with Valtteri Bottas claiming the final spot on the podium.
There was contact in the first corner as Charles Leclerc went into the back of Pierre Gasly, leaving the AlphaTauri with a puncture and Leclerc with a broken front wing.
The incident caused the rear of the pack to bunch up, with Antonio Giovinazzi getting spun around and Nicholas Latifi picking up a puncture.
Sergio Perez briefly got ahead of Lando Norris, but the McLaren driver fought back to reclaim third, while his teammate made a strong start, gaining four places on the opening lap before an apparent power glitch dropped Daniel Ricciardo back down the order.
The Mexican soon closed the gap again before powering ahead of Norris though, while Bottas also moved ahead of the Briton, before looking to put pressure on the Red Bull driver.
Starting from 10th, George Russell gained a couple of places early on to run eighth until the pitstop, but the Williams’ driver’s hopes of a points finish were dealt a blow as he needed a long pitstop for pneumatic issues, dropping him towards the back of the field, before the team was forced to retire the car a few laps later.
There was also a slow stop for Perez, allowing Bottas to jump up to third. With 16 laps to go, Perez came back in for a second new set of tyres to give him a chance for a late run at fastest lap, and to try to get back in front of the Finn.
After Perez did set the fastest lap, Mercedes brought Hamilton in for a second stop to try to regain the bonus point, which the reigning champion managed on the final lap of the race, while Bottas had enough left in his tyres to hold off the charge from Perez.
Provisional classification:
1 Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
2. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
5. Lando Norris (McLaren)
6. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
7. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
8. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
9. Fernando Alonso (Alpine)
10. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
11. Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo)
12. Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin)
13. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren)
14. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
15. Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo)
16. Mick Schumacher (Haas)
17. Nicholas Latifi (Williams)
18. Nikita Mazepin (Haas)
DNF:
George Russell (Williams)
Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri)
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