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Leclerc beats Verstappen to win Austrian Grand Prix
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Red Bull's Max Verstappen (L), Ferarri's Charles Leclerc (Second L) and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton (Second R) at the victory ceremony during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on July 10, 2022 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Guenther Iby/SEPA.Media /Getty Images)

Red Bull's Max Verstappen (L), Ferarri's Charles Leclerc (Second L) and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton (Second R) at the victory ceremony during the F1 Grand Prix of Austria at Red Bull Ring on July 10, 2022 in Spielberg, Austria. (Photo by Guenther Iby/SEPA.Media /Getty Images)

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc won the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday in an eventful race that saw his teammate Carlos Sainz, who was chasing a second place finish, retire after his car caught fire with just a few laps to go.

Leclerc took the win over Max Verstappen despite a late-race scare in which the Ferrari driver reported his throttle pedal to be sticking, making downshifts difficult and allowing the chasing Red Bull driver to close to within 2.3 seconds.

"It was a really good race. The pace was there. The end was incredibly difficult - I had this problem with the throttle but we managed to make it stick until the end. I'm so so happy," Leclerc said after the race.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took third place, a good result for the seven-time world champion who had looked set to finish out of the podium places until Sainz retired from the race.

Hamilton's teammate George Russell came in a distant fourth having started there, with Alpine's Esteban Ocon taking fifth place.

Mick Schumacher, who was later voted as the fans' Driver of the Day, finished in sixth place ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris and his Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen in P8.

The second McLaren car driven by Daniel Ricciardo took ninth place, with Alpine's Fernando Alonso rounding up the top 10.

Sunday's win for Lecrec took him to second place on the driver's standings, overtaking Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who was forced to retire after a first lap collision with Russell, who was then handed a five-second penalty.

Ferrari will however feel they missed an opportunity to close in on the Red Bulls in the Constructor's standings, following the gut-wrenching retirement by Sainz.

The drivers now take a two-week break from action ahead of the French Grand Prix scheduled to be held on July 24.

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