Another F1 Grand Prix, another dominate performance by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who won Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
In the closing laps in fact, his gap was so big, he was able to pit ahead Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for new tires, take the point for fastest lap, and still take the flag five seconds ahead of the Monegasque driver. Sergio Pérez delivered a superb recovery in the second Red Bull to claim the final podium position after starting in 15th place.
Verstappen was the driver to beat from pole position as he took the lead ahead of Leclerc as the grid streamed towards Turn 1. Behind them, Sainz held third, but fourth-place starter Lando Norris was beaten off the line by Lewis Hamilton.
Further back, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, starting 16th, tangled with one of the Alpines and damaged his front wing and with debris on the track the Safety Car was released and the race slowed.
The track was soon cleared and when running resumed Verstappen controlled the restart perfectly ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, with Hamilton still fourth ahead of Norris and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
In 13th place Pérez went on the attack and he was soon able to get past Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Mercedes’ George Russell and then Williams’ Alex Albon.
Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg then pulled over with technical issues and that led to the Virtual Safety Car being deployed. A host of drivers pitted for new tires. However, Verstappen and Pérez stayed out and when the track went green again Verstappen led Leclerc by 17.7 seconds, with Pérez ion P3. Sainz held fourth ahead of Hamilton, with Norris in sixth ahead of Alonso, Gasly, Tsunoda and Russell. The Red Bulls were now the only cars in the top 10 still on their starting tires and they began to lose ground to those who had pitted and on lap 21 Sainz passed Pérez to take back third place.
Verstappen made his first regulation pit stop of the race on lap 25 and he moved to Hard compound tires in a 2.3 second halt. That allowed Leclerc to sweep through into the lead and as Verstappen trundled out of the pit lane he was also passed by Sainz to put Ferrari 1-2 in the order. Verstappen soon closed up to the Ferrari and on lap 26, the Dutchman got a better exit out of Turn 3 and used DRS to outdrag the Spaniard on the run to Turn 4.
Pérez made his first tire change on lap 26 and after taking on another set of Medium tyres he rejoined in tenth place. He was soon on the move, however, and he quickly made his way past Albon and Russell to rise to eighth place behind Pierre Gasly.
At the front, Verstappen was steadily reeling in Leclerc and on lap 35 he dived down the inside of the Ferrari in Turn 3 to reclaim the lead. He then began to carve out a gap and on lap 41 he was seven seconds clear.
Pérez, too, was advancing, and after overtaking Gasly in Turn 3, he chased down Alonso and breezed past the Aston Martin driver in the same corner to rise to fourth place as other drivers pitted.
On lap 46 Sainz made his second stop for new tires and to serve a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, and that allowed Pérez to sweep past into third place. Leclerc stopped two laps later and Pérez was boosted to P2, though the Mexican would need a final pit stop.
Verstappen made his second stop on lap 50 and after fitting a set of medium tires and came out in the lead, six seconds ahead of his teammate. Pérez then pitted on the following lap and after taking a set of Hard tires he rejoined in fifth place, four seconds behind Norris and on fresher tires. The gap was erased in just five laps and on lap 56 he powered past the McLaren on the run to Turn 4.
Sainz was now just a second ahead and Pérez went on the attack. And after an epic battle Pérez at last got DRS out of Turn 3 and roared past through Turn 4 to take P3.
At the front, Verstappen was in commanding form and in the closing stages he extended his lead over Leclerc to a mammoth 24 seconds. On lap 70, he pitted for Soft tires and set a blistering final lap of 1:07.012 to take the win and the bonus point.
“I think the most important [thing] for me was Lap 1, to stay in front. After that we could do our own race,” Verstappen said. “Of course we opted not to box during the Virtual Safety Car, and just follow our normal strategy, and I think that worked out really well. The tire [degradation] was not that high around here and our stints were perfect, so a great day – I enjoyed it a lot.”
Leclerc crossed the line five seconds adrift and 12 seconds later Pérez took the flag to complete a stellar recovery and to seal a double podium for the team.
“It’s good to be back on the podium,” Leclerc said. “Friday and today we maximized what we have and the upgrades we introduced this weekend worked well. The team has done an excellent job and we will keep pushing in this direction. I also want to thank Carlos as he made my life a bit easier by putting up a great defense against Checo. I was watching on the big screen, it was very exciting! Now we go to Silverstone which, with Spielberg, is among my favorite circuits. Hopefully we can take advantage of the new upgrades we have on the car again and offer a bit more of a challenge to Red Bull in the next round.”
Fourth place initially went to Sainz with Norris fifth ahead of Alonso. Hamilton and Russell took seventh and eighth places respectively for Mercedes, while Gasly was ninth for Alpine and the final point went to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
But as was the case during qualifying Friday afternoon the race was peppered with track limit penalties.
And after the race a protest from Aston Martin regarding the results was upheld by the stewards, with additional penalties for exceeding track limits applied to the final classification.
Six drivers were given penalties — AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was given two five-second penalties because he violated the rule so many times. Sainz was dropped to sixth, Norris up to fourth, Alonso to fifth. Russell was promoted to seventh with Hamilton dropped to eighth, Stroll moved up to ninth and Gasly dropped to 10th.
FINAL ADJUSTED RESULTS
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
- Sergio Pérez (Red Bull)
- Lando Norris (McLaren) (+1)
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) (+1)
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) (-2)
- George Russell (Mercedes) (+1)
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) (-2)
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) (+1)
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) (-1)
- Alex Albon (Williams)
- Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) (+2)
- Logan Sargeant (Williams)
- Esteban Ocon (Alpine) (-2)
- Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) (+1)
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) (+1)
- Nyck de Vries (AlphaTauri) (-2)
- Kevin Magnussen (Haas) (+1)
- Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) (-1)
- Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) [DNF]
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.