F1: Bottas wins in Austria after breathless finish

Formula One returned in style as Valtteri Bottas won the opening race of the season after an explosive finish to an astonishing race.

Bottas had led from the start with defending champion Lewis Hamilton forced to start the race in fifth. Hamilton quickly assumed second place until a crazy final 10 laps saw Hamilton handed a five-second penalty for his role in Alexander Albon spinning out, as the Red Bull attacked him for second.

That opened the door for Charles Leclerc, who showed great composure to pounce late on, and Lando Norris secured his first ever podium place with a blistering final lap — the fastest of the day — to finish ahead of Hamilton.

Podium

1st: Bottas
2nd: Leclerc
3rd: Norris

Fastest lap — Norris 1:07.475 (lap 71)

Best team — Mercedes, 37 points

Drive of the day — Lando Norris. His first ever podium and the fastest lap. A day to remember for the 20-year-old McLaren-Renault driver.

Quote of the day — "I'm speechless. There were a few points when I thought I'd fudged it up." Lando Norris.

Biggest controversy — Hamilton's five second penalty. The reigning champ had an up-and-down weekend, from finishing second in qualifying to being later punished for a misdemanour that saw him start in fifth. He thought he'd at least secured second place, but a questionable move on Albon late on saw a podium place slip away.

As it happened:

Lap 71/71 — BOTTAS WINS THE AUSTRIAN GP! A truly manic end to the race, but Bottas takes the chequered flag ahead of Leclerc. Norris steals third and Hamilton finishes fourth, paying the price for his role in the collision with Albon. And breathe!

Lap 67/71: Hamilton given five second penalty for Albon incident but he remains in second. Perez also given a five second penalty for speeding in the pitlane, pushing him down to fifth behind Norris.

Lap 66/71: Lerclerc passes Perez! He cruises past the Racing Point driver and Lerclerc now looks set to end the race on the podium with the two Mercedes, which will represent a good end to a testing weekend for Ferrari.

Lap 65/71: That incident has put Lerclerc up to fourth, and the young Ferrari driver will make a late dash for an unlikely podium finish. His Ferrari teammate Vettel remains out of the points in 11th, however. Just ahead of Albon, who is now just looking to salvage something from the race.

Lap 61/71: Albon spins! The safety car makes way and almost immediately the Red Bull clips Hamilton's front left wheel as he tries to pass the Mercedes. Despair in the Red Bull garage, and the incident is now under investigation. Albon is now down in 13th, AKA last place.

Lap 55/71: The safety car is out again. Raikkonen loses a wheel on turn 9 and showers Vettel in sparks, with the German right behind him. Vettel climbs to 11th as a result and just a place outside the points. Meanwhile, Albon appeared to have passed Perez before the safety car was deployed. Seems to have all the ingredients for a steward's inquiry. 

Lap 52/71: The safety car is out after Russell pulls onto the grass verge, which isn't good news for Mercedes. Also, Albon has smartly grabbed some fresh softs for the final laps, which could put the two Mercedes under pressure. He has conceded a place to Perez, but will surely be back in a podium place soon. Should be an interesting conclusion to this race.

Lap 48/71: Bottas is told his car is in "worse shape" than Hamilton's. This refers to Bottas' gearbox sensor, which is encountering a few problems.

Lap 41/71: Bottas vs Hamilton is developing into quite the battle at the front. Bottas responds to Hamilton's fastest lap with a fastest lap of his own, but the Briton is stalking his Mercedes teammate around the track.

Lap 34/71: Hamilton's car is getting bigger and bigger in Bottas' rearview mirror. The Briton has eaten away at his teammate's lead since the safety car was deployed. 

Lap 26/71: Bottas has switched to the hard tyres after the safety car came out following Magnussen's crash. In fact, all of the front runners have switched to the hard tyre, but Perez goes against the grain and moves to the mediums. Lets see how that works out for the man in fifth.

Lap 21/71: Hamilton puts together a 1 min, 09. A new fastest lap, in other words. Elsewhere, Riciardo has retired and Magnussen is out after a crash in turn three. He was being hunted by Ocon and Raikkonen.

Lap 16/71: That has just made Hamilton's task a lot easier. He remains 7 seconds off the lead, but has already eaten into Bottas' lead a little.

Lap 14/71: Feierabend for Verstappen! He's stranded in the pits as the Red Bull engineers cannot save him. His race is over, and that's a huge disappointment for the man who has won twice here before.

Lap 12/71: Engine failure for Verstappen! Disaster for the Dutchman, who manages to drag himself into the pits.

Lap 10/71: Hamilton overtakes Albon with a tidy pass and moves into third. Meanwhile, Bottas is flexing his muscles up front and is now 3.2 seconds clear of Verstappen, who will start to feel the pressure from Hamilton soon. 

Lap 5/71: Albon takes Norris! It's a brilliant start by Albon in the Red Bull, who glides past Norris, who then concedes a place to Hamilton, has just recorded the fastest lap of the race so far. Red Bull now have second and third, which isn't great news for Hamilton — but the Briton is applying the pressure on Albon.

Lap 1/71: GO GO GO! It's lights out in Austria and Bottas is safely ahead of Verstappen at the first corner, after Norris had briefly overtaken the Dutchman but ran wide. Hamilton started in fifth and remains there for now after Albon defends his place well in the Red Bull.

Pre-race news: The big news from Austria is that Hamilton has been downgraded to fifth on the grid after a steward's inquiry following Saturday's qualifying session. The reigning champ was initially cleared, but Red Bull successfully appealed.

Qualifying

Valtteri Bottas will start ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton at the start of the grid as the Finn recorded a blistering time at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.

Defending champion Hamilton had dominated the practice sessions and had looked set to secure pole position, but Bottas' sensational lap was enough to secure him a 12th career pole and his third in Austria.

It's a record-equaling 65th front row lockout for Mercedes, whose car is now all black in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. Red Bull's Max Vertstappen was third fastest.

The Standings

This is the first race of the 2020 season, which is finally underway after the original season-opener in Australia in March was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A bespoke Europe-only schedule has been created to allow the season to start, albeit in exceptional circumstances.

The 2020 season starts with back-to-back Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, followed by the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 19, back-to-back races in England on August 2 and August 9, the Spanish Grand Prix on August 16, the Belgian Grand Prix on August 30 and the Italian Grand Prix on September 6.

The rest of the season's schedule is yet to be announced.

Quote of the day

"We show year-on-year that we continue to be the best team. We're constantly pushing the boundaries and there's not really any politics within the team." - Lewis Hamilton.

Circuit profile: Red Bull Ring

Situated near the city of Spielberg, the Red Bull ring has been on the F1 calendar on and off since 1970. Formerly known as the Österreichring and later the A1 Ring, the track is nestled in the central Austrian mountains.

At 4.32 kilometers and with only nine corners, it's the shortest lap time of any circuit this season. It has four long straights and plenty of elevation variation with an average speed of 224 km/h, making it one of the fastest tracks on the calendar.