Austrian GP 2019: Verstappen snatches victory away from Leclerc

Actually, everything was set for a victory for the Reds on this race weekend, but as so often happens, things turn out differently than you think. Charles Leclerc was on pole, next to him Max Verstappen on Red Bull, behind him the Silver Arrows, who were not competitive enough in Austria. But at the start Verstappen makes a mistake, Leclerc pulls away, the Silver Arrows whiz past Verstappen and Vettel can also move up from 9th to 6th place in a flash. Leclerc pulls away from the pack at the front and puts a clear gap between himself and the Silver Arrows, but the race has 71 laps and they are long. Above all, there's still a tire change to come and who knows what that will bring. The Grand Prix is also exciting for McLaren and Alfa Romeo, who can keep up pretty well with the big teams. The race will be decided after the tire change. Verstappen probably has the best car and can storm off and catch up. Vettel loses time unnecessarily in the pits, the crew was probably surprised.

Catch-up, collision, the stewards decide
With 10 laps to go, Verstappen had closed to within 3.5 seconds of the leader Leclerc, and an exciting catch-up and chase began. At the same time, a second chase was underway, with Vettel again taking the red grooves and trying to catch third-placed Bottas. Verstappen was clearly faster than Leclerc on Ferrari, after several attempts Verstappen forced his way past the Ferrari, with a clear side collision. Leclerc said Verstappen had not given him any space, which would have been unfair. For most, this was a clear racing maneuver. As a result, it was not clear at the end who had won. The incident is still under investigation. If there was a penalty against Verstappen, he would probably have to give up the win to Leclerc. Vettel, for his part, had started a great chase to catch up with Mercedes and had come within striking distance, but unfortunately too late, Mercedes was able to save itself across the finish line, otherwise the German would have moved up to third place, the tire change probably should have been 2-3 laps earlier. Either way, the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix was probably the most exciting Formula 1 Grand Prix of the year, because real racing maneuvers and chases provided real racing feeling and pure excitement, in addition, the dominance of Mercedes was clearly broken, which gives hope for an exciting world championship.