Valtteri Bottas Holds off Sebastian Vettel to Win Austrian F1 Grand Prix 2017

Mercedes man Valtteri Bottas held off Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel to win an absorbing Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring.

Bottas surged off the line and was in total control for long spells of race; Vettel kept the Finn honest, although he was unable to put any real pressure on the Mercedes until very late on.

Daniel Ricciardo clung on to third for Red Bull despite serious pressure from Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes, who recovered from eighth on the grid to finish fourth.

The result means Vettel extends his lead to 20 points from Hamilton at the top of the world championship standings.

Here's the race result in full courtesy of the F1 Twitter account:

Bottas got off to a blistering start from pole position, although a couple of other big hitters' sluggish efforts proved to be costly.

McLaren man Fernando Alonso collided with Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso, who in turn clattered into Red Bull's Max Verstappen. It was enough to retire the former and the latter; as noted by the F1 Madness Twitter feed, Verstappen is having a torrid run of fortune:

The youngster took to Twitter to provide more details about the retirement:

Further back in the field, Hamilton was making rapid progress. After starting in eighth, he negotiated his way through a chaotic start and up two places into sixth spot.

The Briton hunted down Romain Grosjean's Haas not long after and was up to fifth, with Raikkonen next up the road. Meanwhile, as noted by the Mercedes Twitter feed, Bottas' getaway was so sharp, he was being investigated for potentially jumping the start:

With sizeable gaps opening up between the top five drivers, the elite teams started to ponder tactical changes. And when Hamilton darted into the pits first, despite being on the more durable compound, it was a surprise move.

The Brit used that extra pace to make initial gains, although he was quickly on the radio to his engineers complaining about the balance of his car.

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Raikkonen stayed out to take the temporary lead of the race, with Ferrari looking to hold Bottas up for Vettel to move into a strong position. But the Mercedes man was quickly past his compatriot on the fresher tyres; as noted by F1 journalist James Allen, in the end the strategy didn't work:

It also meant Raikkonen fell back behind Hamilton when he did pit, although the Ferrari man had better tyres at his disposal now.

Managing their tyres was going to be key in the final stages, and with that in mind, it was no surprise to see a little lull in proceedings after the first round of pitstops. But as the laps ticked down, the drivers started to get aggressive, with Vettel chopping the gap to Bottas and Hamilton slowly reeling in Ricciardo.

As noted by Sky Sports F1, Hamilton's tyres were beginning to feel the effects of a punishing race:

It meant that while the Briton was closing in on third, he made it clear on the radio he felt as though his car was on the edge. Other drivers were suffering with similar issues, too.

JURE MAKOVEC/Getty Images

Subsequently, two thrilling battles developed at the front of the race in the final couple of laps. Hamilton swarmed over the back of the Red Bull ahead, yet was unable to make a decisive pass on Ricciardo before the chequered flag.

His team-mate also had his mirrors full of Vettel's Ferrari, with just six-tenths separating the pair at one stage. But as he did in Russia to secure his maiden race win, Bottas was totally composed under pressure and made it to the line in first place relatively unflustered.