FORMULA ONE RACERS TAKING CHARGE AT THE STYRIAN GRAND PRIX

After kicking off the first race in Austria on 5 July, the drivers prepared themselves for the second race in Austria, the Styrian Grand Prix, on Sunday 12 July.

Despite the rainy conditions on Saturday, and after his disappointing penalty during the Austian Grand Prix which caused him to lose out on a podium position at the end of the race, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton showed his off his racing talent as he claimed pole position to start the race on Sunday. It was an incredible qualifying run in the wet, with some claiming it was the best drive of his carreer.

On racing day, Hamilton swept away from the starting grid and managed to keep the lead all the way to the flag, followed by team mate Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Unfortunately the race did not start off as easy for some of the other drivers, as Ferrari’s difficulties during qualifying continued on the first lap of the race. As the drivers closed in to Turn 3, Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc, unfortunately made a poor descision in his SF1000 and lunged into team mate Sebastian Vettel, causing race-ending damage for both Ferrari drivers.

Leading the race, Hamilton managed to keep a gap of 5 seconds between second-placed Verstappen. While going into Lap 6, Bottas managed to pass Mclaren’s Carlos Sainz for P3, leading to Red Bull's Alex Albon repeating the move on the Spaniard two laps later.

Despite Verstappen’s stern defence, Mercedes’s Bottas took second position as Verstappen slipped behind the fast passing Mercedes driver. Coming onto Lap 35 Bottas managed to maintain his advantage of 8 seconds in P2 over Verstappen, who also maintained his advantage over his team mate, Albon who was placed in fourth position.

With the top four places settled, an interesting battle for fifth position took place in the last Lap of the race. After an intense fight between Renault driver Daniel Ricciardo and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll at Turn 3, Lando Norris of Mclaren seized the advantage and managed to barge past Ricciardo before he moved ahead of Stroll for P4 on turn 4, only to nab fifth position from Sergio Perez who struggled to keep his pace in the final turn 10.

Ending the race, Racing Point’s Perez narrowly held onto his sixth position, leading to Stroll ending in seventh and Ricciardo in eight position. Sainz and AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat closed up the Top 10.

Following the amazing results from Mercedes and their excellent pace, will the other teams manage to challenge the two Mercedes drivers in the upcoming Hungary Grand Prix?

Check out all the racing highlights from the Styrian GP right here.