2022 Austrian GP - Leclerc bounces back with victory over Verstappen
SPIELBERG – Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc returns to his winning ways after the Monegasque holds off the attack from the current championship leader, Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Throughout the 71 lap race at Red Bull Ring, both Verstappen and Leclerc fought each other for the lead, just like they did in 2019 when Verstappen won the battle from Leclerc. But this time it was Leclerc's turn to beat the Dutchman in the epic Austrian duel.
After the last 5 race weekends where everything went wrong, it feels so good to be back on top.
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) July 10, 2022
Feel sorry for Carlos as it should have been a 1-2.
Let’s keep pushing ❤️ pic.twitter.com/6GmF8rrw40
Enjoyed it out there today! 🤩
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 10, 2022
It was quite a challenging day for us on track 😬 knowing that, P2 is still a good result here on a difficult day, so we’ll take it @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/kDBXdM4fCp
Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. who had a fantastic first F1 win at Silverstone, suffered a blown engine. The Spaniard was gutted in the end after enjoyed of being involved into Verstappen-Leclerc duel in the early stages of the race.
🇦🇹 It's difficult to find the right words...A 1-2 was pretty straightforward but we had to retire. Good amount of points lost for both championships but I'm feeling better and better in the car. Congrats to Charles for the win! We'll keep pushing
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) July 10, 2022
👉https://t.co/1Bxg9qy9As pic.twitter.com/rA447fEqvf
Lewis Hamilton completed the podium in third after the Mercedes driver once again struggled during the race. It became the Briton's third podium of the season, as Hamilton stated post-race that Mercedes will get more massively significant changes for the 2nd half of the season.
Prior to Sunday's main race, Verstappen won the sprint race on Saturday with Leclerc in 2nd and Hamilton on 8th.
Sources: