
Max Verstappen sealed a hat-trick of F1 victories to extend his drivers’ championship lead over his nearest rival Lewis Hamilton. The Brit made only fourth and trails 32 points behind the Max. The local hero had taken the massive pace advantage, he made top podium last weekend here at the Red Bull Ring and, having secured the pole, dominated the race to the chequered flag with a solid performance.
Another disaster race for Hamilton at Red Bull Ring, who losing the pace following the floor damage from the Kerbs at turn 10. During the second half of the race Lewis struggled too much, when he ran on P2 and third position runner Bottas was instructed by his Mercedes team not to race Hamilton, hoping the Brit can stay on second and restrict the drivers title loss to rival Verstappen.
But aggressive Lando Norris closing the gap between front runner Bottas. Following Mercedes decided to call Hamilton for another pit-stop, finally the Brit finished on fourth ahead of Sergio Perez, who received 10 seconds penalty for the two different incidents during the race.
Closing stages of the race Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz overtook Daniel Ricciardo and finished behind Perez on sixth, but he promoted to fifth place following the Mexican’s time penalty. The Australian Ricciardo finished on seventh with a remarkable race-pace, who started from the 13th on the grid.
The second Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc in eighth. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was in ninth and Fernando Alonso in 10th for Alpine, who overtook Williams ‘youngster George Russel in three laps remaining. The Englishman took 11th after impressive race.
Incredible to be honest… the car was on rails – Max
“Incredible to be honest… the car was on rails,” says Max Verstappen after his third straight win.
“Every tyre set we put on it was really enjoyable to drive. I’m a bit amazed today how today went, I didn’t expect it to be like this.
I’m frustrated but happy with P3 – Lando
“It was fun, it was a good race, it was exciting… but I’m disappointed because we should have been second place. I thought on Lap One [after the Safety Car] was just racing really, he [Perez] tried to go around the outside which is a bit stupid, and he ran off the track himself, I didn’t even push him.
“I’m frustrated but also happy with P3, we had very good pace.
“It’s nice to know we can actually race them. That was probably the first race in many years where we were actually racing a Mercedes and a Red Bull. Hopefully we can keep it up.”