Max Verstappen took advantage of a rare bad day for Mercedes to claim a memorable home win for Red Bull at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Moving upto third on a chaotic opening lap, the Silver Arrows would fall by the wayside as a strategic mistake and poor reliability saw the German manufacturer suffer their first double retirement since the infamous Lap 1 crash at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.
Then, the hotter than expected temperatures in Spielberg made it all about tyre management in what was a controlled performance from the Dutchman and arguably the best of his career to beat both Ferraris to the finish.
The race began with Kimi Raikkonen getting the better start from third on the grid, thanks to his Ultrasoft tyres, and opting to try and go between the two Mercedes on the run to the first corner.
Unable to draw ahead enough, it would be Lewis Hamilton on the inside who took the lead at Turn 1 with the Ferrari driver moving upto second and polesitter Valtteri Bottas demoted to fourth, behind Verstappen.
In the slipstream of the lead Mercedes, Raikkonen would look to the outside of Hamilton approaching Turn 3 only to run wide. He would come back on the track alongside Verstappen with the pair squabbling down to Turn 4.
As they did, it would allow Bottas to sweep around the outside at the tight right-hander and reclaim second, with Verstappen securing what would be a vital move on Kimi at Turn 7 after making slight contact with the Finn.
Ricciardo would run fifth in the second Red Bull as Vettel lost places having also gone off track at Turn 3 but quickly the German would re-pass the Haas cars and sit in sixth.
With the order somewhat settled, Mercedes began to show the dominant pace they had in qualifying as their cars stormed clear. Further back, Nico Hulkenberg would suffer a fiery end to his race as his Renault engine failed spectacularly on the main straight.
He would park up by a fire marshal at Turn 1 but no sooner had his car being cleared, the key moment occurred as Valtteri Bottas pulled off at Turn 4 with a hydraulics problem.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed to recover the Mercedes with both Red Bulls and both Ferraris opting to pit for the Soft tyres while Hamilton stayed out in the lead.
This would be the wrong decision as the slower pace allowed Verstappen, Raikkonen and Ricciardo to pit and come out within the time margin it would take the leader to pit a full racing speed.
Ricciardo, who celebrated his 29th birthday on Sunday, would then capitalise on a mistake from the 2007 world champion at Turn 3, to use DRS and sweep past at Turn 4 into third.
That would soon become a Red Bull 1-2 as Hamilton would pit earlier than perhaps expected to ensure he remained ahead of Vettel in fifth.
All appeared ripe for a remarkable result for the Anglo-Austrian team at their home track, but it on the Soft tyres that the hotter temperatures had an impact with Ricciardo suffering a major blister on his right-rear.
That saw his pace began to drop and would allow Raikkonen the chance to re-pass the Australian at Turn 4.
Eventually, he would have to pit again, switching to the Supersofts, but when he slowed to enter the pits, it would be enough to allow Vettel to close up on Hamilton and make a bold move on his championship rival into Turn 3 for third.
The world champion’s day would get worse as he then suffered his own blisters, forcing a second stop, while Verstappen and the Ferraris continued out front.
Coming out behind Ricciardo, Hamilton would regain fourth as the Red Bull was forced into retirement with a broken exhaust. The Briton would then see his remarkable 33-race points scoring streak end with a fuel pressure problem forcing him to stop at the top of the hill.
That just left the top three to battle it out to the finish, as the Ferraris tried to catch a slower Verstappen, who was managing tyres and his engine.
Ultimately, it would be in vain as the 20-year-old scored the biggest win of his career so far in front of thousands of Dutch fans and cued big celebrations at the Red Bull Ring.
Raikkonen enjoyed his best race of the year in second, as the Scuderia elected not to impose team orders and ask him to allow Vettel behind in third.
With half of the top six cars out, it allowed Haas to score their best result in Formula 1 in fourth and fifth, as Romain Grosjean finally scored his first points of the season ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen.
Force India also scored a better-than-expected result as Esteban Ocon took sixth ahead of Sergio Perez in seventh.
Fernando Alonso was forced to start from the pit-lane after McLaren changed parts after qualifying but the Spaniard would fight his way upto eighth, his first points since Spain.
The two Saubers would complete the top 10, with Charles Leclerc recovering from a trip through the gravel on Lap 2 to come home ninth just ahead of teammate Marcus Ericsson.
Those drivers would be involved in a great battle with Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso over the closing laps, with the Frenchman just missing out on points in 11th.
Carlos Sainz was another victim of blisters and also a botched pit-stop in 12th, meaning Renault failed to score points at a race for the first time this season.
The two Williams’ would follow with Stoffel Vandoorne the last finisher in P15.
Full results can be seen below:
