SPIELBERG: Valtteri Bottas made a great start from pole position to win a cliffhanger Austrian Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday just ahead of championship leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

The Finn, in his first season with Mercedes after replacing 2016 champion Nico Rosberg, came home a mere 0.658 seconds clear of Vettel who increased his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship to 20 points after nine races.

Hamilton, Bottas’ team-mate, started in eighth place after a grid penalty triggered by an unscheduled gearbox change and did his utmost to grab a podium finish but had to settle for fourth behind Australian Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull.

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. He was catching up. I had a massive blister in the rear left [tyre]. I was losing more and more stability of the rear. I was happy the race ended on that lap.”

Vettel was frustrated at missing out on a 46th career win by so little.

“I was told he was in trouble, I was pushing. The car came alive and I had really good pace,” Vettel said. “I think I needed one more lap because he was really struggling up the hill. I really wanted to win, so not entirely happy.”

For Ricciardo, on his team’s ‘home’ Red Bull Ring circuit, it was a fifth consecutive podium finish and the 22nd of his career.

The Australian smiled: “It was a fun race with some decisive moments at the start and then defending Lewis in the last laps. It got pretty close!”

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 champion, came home fifth in the second Ferrari ahead of Romain Grosjean of Haas, the two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon.

The Williams pairing of Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll completed the points places after starting 17th and 18th.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2017