Valterri Bottas wins Austrian Grand Prix as Sebastian Vettel extends championship lead

Valterri Bottas claimed his second Formula One race win by prevailing at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver held off late pressure from Sebastian Vettel to take victory having earlier escaped punishment for an alleged jump start.

The Fin was accused of an illegal start by Vettel but a stewards investigation ruled in favour of the Silver Arrows man. Vettel finished a close second ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, whose Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen crashed out on the first corner at the team's home race

Lewis Hamilton rose to fourth after starting eighth on the grid following a penalty for an engine alteration. The Briton lacked pace for long periods but pushed for a podium place late on before being held off by Ricciardo.

"I had a bit of deja-vu in the end from Russia, Vettel was catching up but the problem was I had a massive blister," said Bottas after edging to victory ahead of Vettel.

"At the beginning I could control the race but it was trickier towards the end. I'm really happy, it's only the second win in my career. I think that was the start of my life."

Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo both appealed to the FIA stewards over a possible jump start by Bottas at the start. Though he was found to have done no wrong, Vettel continued his protestations after the race a fortnight on from crashing into Hamilton in Azerbaijan and avoiding a substantial penalty.

"I was pretty sure he jumped it," the four-time world champion stated. "Ask Daniel about it. How would you feel if you were just shy of half a second behind the winner? It was very close. I was very happy in the second stint of the race. As soon as we put on the super-soft tyre the car came alive. I think I needed one more lap because Bottas was really struggling to get up the hill."