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Max Verstappen took a very impressive victory around the Red Bull Ring as he secured Red Bull’s fourth consecutive victory. The Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas came second and third as the pressure on them mounts even more.
Sergio Perez was not able to catch Bottas as the second Red Bull finished fourth ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris in fifth. The two Ferrari’s of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc drove fantastically for the Italian outfit to finish sixth and seventh. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll crossed the line in eighth ahead of Fernando Alonso in ninth and Yuki Tsunoda in 10th.
Starting Grid
It was Max Verstappen who lined up on pole position after his fantastic 1:03.841 lap time put him at the front of the pack. Lewis Hamilton, Lando Norris and Sergio Perez all moved up one position on the grid after Valtteri Bottas’ penalty saw him drop from second to fifth.
Pierre Gasly qualified a fantastic sixth for AlphaTauri’s ahead of the Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in seventh. Fernando Alonso, Lance Stroll and George Russell all moved up once place into eighth, ninth and 10th respectively after Yuki Tsunoda’s grid drop saw the Japanese driver start from 11th.
The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz had a poor qualifying as the Spaniard started from 12th with Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel behind him on the seventh row of the grid.
Antonio Giovinazzi was able to get his car into Q2 as he qualified 15th ahead of the Williams of Nicholas Latifi in 16th, the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in 17th, the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen in 18th and the two Haas’ of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in 19th and 20th respectively.
As It Happened
Verstappen got the better start as the Dutchman led the pack into turn one. The top five came out unscathed as Leclerc sustained front wing damage. Latifi pitted after a puncture and Gasly entered the pit lane to retire the car after he endured suspension failure.
After the first five laps, the Red Bull of Verstappen had a two-second advantage over second-placed Hamilton and a four-second advantage over third-placed Norris. Perez followed in fourth ahead of Bottas in fifth, Stroll in sixth, Alonso in seventh, Russell in eighth, Ricciardo in ninth and Tsunoda in 10th.
Ricciardo dropped down a couple of positions as he complained of a loss of power. Tsunoda, Sainz, Vettel and Raikkonen overtook the McLaren to relegate him down to 13th.
The Aussie’s teammate, Norris, dropped down to fifth as both Perez and Bottas made their way past the McLaren a lap after each other.
After Leclerc’s early pit stop, the Ferrari man started his comeback drive as he overtook Schumacher, Mazepin, Giovinazzi and Ocon in a matter of laps.
Bottas was able to get ahead of Perez as the Red Bull man dropped behind the Mercedes due to a poor pit stop from his pit crew.
Ferrari’s Leclerc continued his fantastic charge as drivers started to pit which allowed the Monegasque to move into the points.
At the halfway point, Verstappen continued to lead the race with Hamilton in second and Bottas in third. Perez was in fourth ahead of Sainz, who was yet to pit, Norris, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Leclerc and Ocon in 10th.
Leclerc made his second pit stop of the race which dropped him down to 14th with Russell the second retiree of the race due to reliability issues.
The Ferrari of Leclerc continued where he left off from before his second stop. In a matter of laps, he was back up into the points by overtaking Raikkonen, Giovinazzi, Ricciardo and Vettel to reach the top 10.
Perez went onto fit a new set of medium tyres on lap 55 as the Red Bull crew decided a fresh set of tyres may see the Mexican overtake Bottas in the dying embers of the race.
Leclerc made up even more positions as he made the switch-a-roo work to overtake Tsunoda at turn four to move up into ninth. A lap later, the Monegasque driver made the move on Alonso to claim eighth.
With 10 laps to go, Verstappen lead by a fine margin ahead of the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Bottas in second and third. Perez continued to close up on the Finn in fourth with Norris behind him in fifth. Sainz followed in sixth ahead of Ferrari teammate Leclerc in seventh, Stroll in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Tsunoda in 10th.
Bottas was finally able to get out of the turbulent air of Ricciardo as he lapped the McLaren man. Ahead of the Mercedes, Vettel and Raikkonen squabbled the position as the latter made the move on the former to move up into 11th.
Hamilton made a late pit stop to fit the soft tyres as he looked to grab the fastest lap of the race which he was able to do so.
It was Verstappen who crossed the line first to secure back-to-back race victories ahead of the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and Bottas in second and third. Perez crossed the line under a second behind the Finn in fourth with Norris in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Leclerc in seventh, Stroll in eighth, Alonso in ninth and Tsunoda in the final points position in 10th.
Raikkonen came 11th ahead of his old teammate Vettel in 12th. Then came Ricciardo in 13th, Ocon in 14th, Giovinazzi in 15th, Schumacher in 16th, Latifi in 17th and Mazepin in 18th.
What’s Next?
Max Verstappen will continue to put even more pressure on the Mercedes team as Formula One remains at the Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix next weekend.
The German outfit will need to pull something out of the hat to stop this dominant Red Bull team and not allow them to record a fifth consecutive victory.
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