F1: Austrian Grand Prix – live!

Lap 49: “Let’s do it” is the call from the Red Bull radio as they race into the first turn. Vettel is just about holding him off, using all his experience. At the front, Leclerc leads Bottas by 4.4 seconds.

Lap 48: Verstappen has his DRS available now, and Red Bull urge him to try Vettel through turn one, where he has “a significant pace advantage”. He’s firmly in the German’s rear view now…

Lap 47: Leclerc and Vettel are both moving faster than Bottas in second. It seems Ferrari and Red Bull may have been smarter than Mercedes in judging the track temperature.

Lap 46: Hamilton looks out of contention here, barring a safety car. He’s 13 seconds behind Verstappen.

Lap 44: Verstappen has set a new fastest lap, and is closing fast on Vettel with DRS in hand. McLaren ask Norris to try and hold up Ricciardo (and Red Bull’s Gasly) behind him. “Forever?” asks the bemused driver. Forever ever.

Lap 42: Norris does finally get around Ricciardo and up to sixth, although the top five are now off in the distance. Sainz finally goes in, and re-emerges in 14th.

Lap 40: Mercedes still believe there’s a race to be won here, with the field expected to bunch up again in the latter stages. Verstappen is on the move, closing to within 2.5 seconds of Vettel in third.

Lap 39: Ricciardo has still not been called in by Renault, and is under serious pressure from Norris and Gasly. The Australian has to have his wits about it to cut off an attempted overtake from the McLaren driver.

Lap 37: Hamilton is still not back up to full throttle, and trails Verstappen by eight seconds now. A long way back to a podium place now.

Lap 36: Meanwhile, Leclerc is cruising along in first place – he’s set the fastest lap, and his lead over Bottas is out to five seconds.

Lap 35: At the halfway stage, and it’s been a great first half for Ferrari – that pit-stop mix-up aside. Norris, who will be back up to sixth once Sainz and Ricciardo pit, has gone to medium tyres, which will be interesting in the final few laps.

Lap 34 of 71: After that flurry of pit-based drama, here’s the top 10, with Leclerc back at the front of the pack:

1. Leclerc 2. Bottas 3. Vettel 4. Verstappen 5. Hamilton 6. Sainz (yet to pit) 7. Ricciardo (yet to pit) 8. Norris 9. Gasly 10. Raikkonen

Lap 32 of 71: Verstappen briefly leads before pitting and switching to hard tyres. He heads back onto the track in fourth, sandwiched between Vettel and Hamilton.

Lap 31 of 71: It was an 11-second stop – not bad by any means – but Hamilton emerges in fifth, behind Vettel who is flying, setting a new fastest lap!

Lap 30 of 71: Hamilton is coming in, and will need his front wing to be changed! The speed at which Mercedes get this done could be crucial, although he’s already lost plenty of time…

Lap 28 of 71: Hamilton has a problem with his front wing, and it may need replacing when he pits. He’s still leading, but losing time – and may end up behind teammate Bottas when he gets back on track.

Lap 27 of 71: This has been a cracking race so far. Hamilton is heading in imminently – he’s losing downforce, and getting reeled in by Verstappen!

Lap 26 of 71: Pierre Gasly and Norris come in as Hamilton endures another wobble through a corner. He’s racing close to the edge here, trying to push his medium tyres as far as he can.

Lap 25 of 71: Hamilton and Verstappen, who haven’t pitted yet, lead Leclerc. Vettel is sixth after quickly working his way back through the field.

Lap 24 of 71: Raikkonen comes in, while Bottas pitted shortly after Vettel – which means Hamilton is in the lead! What’s more, he says the tyres are OK for now. Things are suddenly looking up for Mercedes…

Lap 23 of 71: A smoother pit stop for Leclerc, with drivers switching to hard tyres. Magnussen very much the canary in the mine – he switched to hards five laps ago, and has managed to keep up at the back.

Lap 22 of 71: …and the move massively backfires for Ferrari, who weren’t really ready for a quickfire tyre change. In fact, the pit crew were still scurrying around fetching the tyres when Vettel came in. Yikes!

Lap 21 of 71: Hamilton runs wide on the first turn, and Vettel looks to pounce on his lack of pace with a duck into the pits…

Lap 20 of 71: Vettel picks up the fastest lap baton, and keeps shaving time off the gap to Hamilton…

Lap 18 of 71: Mercedes aren’t having things their own way here – Vettel is getting closer to Hamilton, and Bottas is losing ground on Leclerc. Close to a five-second lead for the 21-year-old now.

Lap 17 of 71: Verstappen sets a new fastest lap! He’s been going at a blistering pace – such a shame he messed up the start so spectacularly.

Lap 16 of 71: “Go to Plan A” is the instruction from the Ferrari garage to Leclerc. That’s not really how Plan A normally works, but I presume that means the soft tyres are holding up well.

Lap 15 of 71: Poor old Kevin Magnussen. From an initial qualifying position of fifth, he’s now dead last after getting a drive-through penalty for creeping out of his box at the start line.

Lap 13 of 71: Norris is coming for Raikkonen, and after two laps of bumper-to-bumper stuff, he overtakes silkily at turn three and gets back into the top six!

Lap 12 of 71: Leclerc has eked out a 3.5 second lead over Bottas, who leads Hamilton by a similar margin. Mercedes are having issues with their tyres, too – plenty of ‘lifting and coasting’ going on to try and regulate the tyre temperature. Tricky when the surface temperature is 20 degrees higher than usual.

Lap 11 of 71: Christian Horner confirms Verstappen suffered an anti-stall, but is now “head down, trying to get back to Vettel ahead.” He says the ‘clipping’ energy issues the Dutchman was suffering are now resolved.

Lap 10 of 71: The two Haas drivers, Magnussen and Grosjean, are really struggling – both have dropped into the bottom six as their tyres overheat. Cooked on the outside, cold in the middle, apparently. Gordon Ramsay would not be impressed.

Lap 9 of 71: Verstappen is motoring now, and hares past Raikkonen and up to fifth. He’s four seconds behind Vettel, who is 10 seconds adrift of the front three.

Lap 8 of 71: Norris has complained over his team radio that Raikkonen “ran me off the track”. The stewards took a look, but decided not to take it any further.

Lap 7 of 71: Vettel employs his DRS to scoot past Raikkonen and up to fourth! Verstappen, who was having power issues, emphatically resolves them as he overtakes Norris.

Lap 5 of 71: Here’s the top 10 after that full-throttle start:

1. Leclerc 2. Bottas 3. Hamilton 4. Raikkonen 5. Vettel 6. Norris 7. Verstappen 8. Gasly 9. Giovinazzi 10. Perez

Lap 4 of 71: Norris and Vettel are locked in a furious battle for fifth, with the Ferrari man squeezing past and holding off the teenager through turn four. All told, things going pretty well for Ferrari so far…

Lap 2 of 71: Leclerc sets the fastest lap, and leads Bottas by two seconds. Verstappen’s terrible start appears to have been down to the anti-stall mechanism kicking in. It’s bad news for the hordes of orange-clad Red Bull fans in the stands.

Lap 1 of 71: Charles Leclerc holds his lead, with Bottas second and Hamilton immediately up into a podium place. Verstappen has dropped to seventh, behind Kimi Raikkonen, Lando Norris and Sebastian Vettel, who has jumped up from ninth!

Away we go – and Max Verstappen makes a terrible start, allowing Bottas to zip past him. Everyone’s through the first few turns without incident, but Verstappen has lost a fair few places…

The drivers are off on their formation lap, testing their tyres on this sizzling surface. Leclerc is starting on softs, Verstappen on medium – that gamble could make or break the race for Ferrari.

The heat is on!

Lewis Hamilton, talking over the team radio, says this feels like “the hottest race I’ve ever had”. It’s a balmy 32 degrees even at altitude in Spielberg, with the track temperature pushing 60 degrees. Phew, what a scorcher, etc.

Just to clear up some grid-based confusion – Hamilton is fourth, despite getting an initial three-place penalty from second. That’s because Kevin Magnussen received a five-place penalty, and drops down to 10th. Also, George Russell will start from the pit lane after his Williams required some front-wing repairs.

1 Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari
2 Max Verstappen (Neth) Red Bull

3 Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Mercedes
4 Lewis Hamilton (GB) Mercedes

5 Lando Norris (GB) McLaren
6 Kimi Räikkönen (Fin) Alfa Romeo

7 Antonio Giovinazzi (It) Alfa Romeo
8 Pierre Gasly (Fr) Red Bull

9 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Ferrari
10 Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas

11 Romain Grosjean (Fr) Haas
12 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Renault

13 Alexander Albon (Thai) Toro Rosso
14 Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) Renault

15 Carlos Sainz (Sp) McLaren
16 Sergio Pérez (Mex) Racing Point

17 Lance Stroll (Can) Racing Point
18 Daniil Kvyat (Rus) Toro Rosso

19 George Russell (GB) Williams
20 Robert Kubica (Pol) Williams

Three months ago in Bahrain, Charles Leclerc was cruising to his first-ever Grand Prix win and threatening to shake up the F1 title race. Then, with 11 laps to go, his Ferrari gave out. Lewis Hamilton apologetically rolled past Leclerc to take the chequered flag, and normal service was resumed.

Hamilton has won five of the six races since; the other was won by his team-mate, Valtteri Bottas. In the constructors’ championship, Mercedes have more points than Ferrari and Red Bull put together, and Hamilton’s dominant summer has left the paddock worried about F1’s chronic lack of drama.

That might change today thanks to Leclerc, who begins on pole after a storming run in qualifying. Hamilton’s three-place grid penalty means last year’s winner here, Max Verstappen, starts alongside him in an impossibly young front row.

Hamilton starts in fourth behind Bottas, with another young gun, McLaren’s Lando Norris in fifth and Sebastian Vettel down in ninth. Even if Hamilton does make it five wins on the spin, this should be more exciting than the ennui of the French Grand Prix.