Charles Leclerc has won the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull ring after a race-long battle for first with Max Verstappen.
This marked his first win since the Australian Grand Prix, and the first time the Monegasque took victory when not starting on pole after a nail-biting final few laps for the Ferrari pit wall.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s Red Bull came home in second with Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes taking the final step on the podium.
Over the team radio after coming home victorious, Leclerc said:Â “Oh my god I was scared, I was really scared.”
Speaking after the race, the 24-year-old said: “It was a really good race. The pace was there. In the beginning we had some good fights with Max and the end was incredibly difficult. I had this issue with the throttle. It would get stuck at 20 or 30 percent throttle in the low speeds, so it was very tricky. We managed to make it stick until the end and I am so happy.
“Weirdly [the throttle issue] was more or less the same time [as Sainz’s retirement], so I had it in my mind. I knew it was not a problem with the engine because it was the pedal that was feeling weird. Luckily it went until the end of the race.
“I definitely needed that one. The last five races have been incredibly difficult for myself and for the team. To finally show that we have the pace in the car and we can do it is incredible. We need to push until the end.”
Max Verstappen then said he was pleased to finish second given the tyre degradation he endured in the middle of the race: “It was a tricky day, it seemed like we were struggling a bit with the tyres and that continued on every single compound.
“Too much degradation to really attack Charles especially but nevertheless second place is a good result on a difficult day.
“It is great to see so many fans coming here to Austria.
“Unfortunately I couldn’t give them a win today but second place is still a good result.”
Finally, Hamilton added: Thank you so much and what an incredible crowd we have had hear this weekend,” said Hamilton.
“Definitely wasn’t expecting that, yesterday was a difficult day and we have had a bit of a rough weekend.
“As a team we got 3rd and 4th which is great points and we move forward from here.
“Firstly, I do want to say a really big thank you to the men and women in the garage who worked so hard to rebuild the car.
“I had a brand new car on Saturday morning and unfortunately it is something I don’t do too often.
“We made some improvements this weekend so we just have to keep chipping away at it.”
