SPIELBERG, Austria — Six-time series champion Lewis Hamilton won the Styrian Grand Prix from the pole position Sunday for his 85th career victory, moving within six of Michael Schumacher’s Formula One record.
Most of Schumacher’s wins were during a dominant spell with Ferrari, but his old team is struggling badly during the Lewis Hamilton Formula One era.
For the second time in the past four races, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel crashed into each other and retired. The incident happened on the third turn of the first lap as Leclerc made an aggressive entry and bounced off the curb with his rear tires shearing off the rear wing of Vettel’s car.
Hamilton’s record-extending 89th career pole on a rain-drenched track Saturday was one of his best in extreme conditions, but during the race he was hardly challenged as he finished a sizeable 13.7 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas and 33.7 ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Bottas won last weekend’s season-opening Austrian GP on the same Red Bull Ring track in Spielberg at the foot of the Styrian mountains – hence the name change.
Like last Sunday, drivers again wore black T-shirts with “End Racism,” and most took the knee a few moments before the national anthem.
