F1 - Leclerc won in Spielberg

Verstappen finished second in his team's home race and also ran the fastest lap of the race, while the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, the British driver of Mercedes, was able to stand on the bottom step of the podium.

Ferrari was close to a double victory, but the engine of Carlos Sainz Jr., who was fighting for second place, caught fire with 13 laps to go, forcing the Spaniard to abandon the race.

At the home race of the Red Bull stable, the organizers stood out for themselves, entertaining the audience an hour before the start of the race with various colorful programs, such as an aerial and parachuting show. Most of the spectators came to cheer for Verstappen, the Red Bull grandstand built in front of the middle part of the track, for example, was "swimming" in orange throughout the weekend, but the drivers of the still leading driver in the overall also "dressed" some of the other stands of the packed facility in the Dutch national color. .

After the start of the 71-lap race, the order of the first three did not change, Verstappen remained in the lead, behind him Leclerc turned to second, and Sainz kept the third position.

Leclerc persistently chased Verstappen, and the Dutchman could not carve out a significant advantage, and in the 10th lap he already had to defend against his visibly faster and continuously attacking Monaco. Leclerc then decided to do the maneuver in the 12th lap, very decisively passing the helpless Verstappen during the braking distance of turn three, who Red Bull sent to the pits for a tire change in the next lap.

Leclerc, who led the race, was 26th, and his teammate Sainz stopped for fresh tires on lap 27, thus the lead returned to Verstappen, followed by Leclerc with a 6.2 second gap. The Monaco driver started to overcome his deficit with great momentum, and within a few laps he again caught up with Verstappen, who had no chance to effectively defend against him.

The Dutchman complained on the team radio about his car's unpredictable behavior and pitted again on lap 37. Leclerc pitted from the front on lap 49 for new tires and, as before, he was followed a lap later by Sainz.

Ferrari developed a great strategy for the race, which worked, Verstappen was soon forced to hand over first place to Leclerc. However, the double success did not come together for the Italians, as Sainz's Ferrari engine caught fire on the 58th lap, and the third position fell to seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). The 24-year-old Leclerc triumphed in the F1 competition for the third time this year and the fifth time in his career.

George Russell, who drove the other Mercedes, finished fourth, and Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who completed the 100th F1 race of his career, was fifth.

According to official data, 303,000 spectators visited the F1 weekend in Spielberg.

The World Cup season continues in two weeks in France.

(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti/Photo: pixabay, youtube, twitter)