Formula 1: Max Verstappen keeps Austrian Grand Prix victory

After a post-race investigation, Max Verstappen has been declared the winner of the Austrian Grand Prix. He maintains his first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen earned his first victory of the 2019 Formula 1 season and the first victory by any non-Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport driver since he won the Mexican Grand Prix last October, and he did so by winning the 21-race 2019 season’s ninth race, the Austrian Grand Prix, at Red Bull Ring, Red Bull Racing’s home track.

However, this victory was called into question after the race, and it led to a post-race investigation.

With three laps remaining in the 71-lap race around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) Red Bull Ring road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria, Verstappen passed race leader Charles Leclerc of Scuderia Ferrari.

But the way by which the 21-year-old Dutchman executed this pass was deemed controversial. Here is a video of it.

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Verstappen went on to win this race by 2.724 seconds over Leclerc in second place, so a five-second time penalty would have demoted him to 2.276 seconds behind Leclerc in second.

But despite a fake document showing that such a penalty had been issued, that penalty never came, and there was no further action taken against this incident.

As a result, Verstappen has now won the Austrian Grand Prix in each of the last two seasons, and at 21 years old, he has already earned six victories throughout his Formula 1 career.

As for Leclerc, he once again leaves a Grand Prix heartbroken yet with a career-high finish, and his search for his maiden Formula 1 victory continues. Just like he dominated today’s race, he dominated the Bahrain Grand Prix back in late March, but an engine failure with 10 laps remaining relegated him to a third place finish.

Formula 1 is set to take next weekend off before it is scheduled to return on Sunday, July 14 with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone Circuit in England, United Kingdom. ESPN2 is set to broadcast this race live beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET.