Starting from tenth place, the Dutchman plowed through the field in his Red Bull on Sunday and finally won ahead of Lewis Hamilton and pole position man George Russell in the Mercedes. Verstappen also benefited from again questionable strategic decisions at Ferrari, which affected his World Cup competitor Charles Leclerc.
Fourth was Carlos Sainz as the better Ferrari driver in front of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull. Monegasque Leclerc, who had led in the meantime, had to settle for sixth place in the end. Verstappen thus extended his lead in the World Cup to 80 points and is ahead of Leclerc before the summer break. Never before has a championship leader had such a large credit on his pursuer at this point. Nine races are still to be completed after that, it continues on August 28th in Spa-Francorchamps.
“Let’s keep going”
“Who would have thought when we got up that we would win the race?” Verstappen asked his team after his 28th Grand Prix victory. “Of course I was hoping to get close to the podium. But we had such a good strategy and always pitted at the right time.” Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was almost beside himself: “That counts for the best of you. Unbelievable! Fantastic!”
Hamilton was happy about another remarkable result for the team. “I’m so grateful to you. Let’s keep accelerating!” Said the Briton. “A bit better qualifying and I could have been fighting for the win here.” Russell had led the race from the start and wasn’t entirely satisfied. “I really struggled with the mediums at the end and the rain,” said the 24-year-old compatriot of Hamilton.
Tire problems at Leclerc
Verstappen and Perez stormed forward from tenth and eleventh place right after the starting signal. By lap 13 the Red Bulls, both of whom had had a new drive unit before the race without penalty, were already fifth and sixth. Hamilton, who had started from seven, also jumped up to fourth. On lap 16, Russell and Verstappen entered the pit lane, Sainz followed one lap later. The Spaniard came back onto the track behind Russell and was also passed by his stablemate Leclerc, who later changed tyres. Hamilton lost the virtual pit stop duel against Verstappen. The order after the first tire change was Russell – Leclerc – Sainz – Verstappen – Hamilton.
Leclerc took the lead on lap 31, passing Russell on the outside before corner one. Verstappen pitted for the second time on lap 38 as the first in the leading group, Leclerc and Russell countered one lap later. Back on the track, Verstappen was in front of Russell, shortly afterwards he grabbed Leclerc, who surprisingly switched to the slow hard tires. After a spin by Verstappen, Leclerc passed the Dutchman again for a short time, but was then overtaken by him again.
The Monegasque was struggling enormously with his tires and lost second place to Russell on the 54th lap from 70th lap. At a third stop, Leclerc switched to the faster soft tyres, but that put him out of the fight for the podium. Hamilton overtook Sainz and his teammate Russell shortly before the end.
Source: Nachrichten
