The Dutch Red Bull driver and World Championship leader prevailed over Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished third like last year at the Red Bull Ring on the podium, while Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton only managed to finish fourth.
Acclaimed by at least 20,000 Oranje fans, Verstappen again extended his lead in the World Cup duel with Hamilton with the victory hat-trick. The British defending champion drove the second half of the race in an apparently damaged Mercedes and is already 32 points behind after the ninth of 23 races of the season. Another preliminary decision could be made at the upcoming race at Silverstone on July 18th. Red Bull Racing has won the last five races.
Four of them go to the account of the five-time winner of the season, Verstappen, who turned solitary laps in Styria like a week ago. “We were better on the road than the previous week. The car was amazing,” the winner radioed. The action took place exclusively behind it. Sergio Perez (6th) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari / 8th), for example, fought bitter duels that resulted in a five-second penalty for the Mexican at Red Bull twice.
As a result, Red Bull did not achieve the hoped-for double victory. But that was the only downer for Dietrich Mateschitz’s home team at the 36th Austrian Grand Prix, which was able to take place with full audience participation for the first time after the Corona easing.
The race, which was ultimately rich in penalties, began with a picture-perfect start and favorite Verstappen from the third pole in a row ahead of Norris, Perez, Hamilton and Bottas. But the safety car had to go out on lap one because Esteban Ocon had an accident at turn three. Verstappen led the field into the restart without any problems, but lost “Wingman” Perez, because he landed in the gravel trap after an impetuous overtaking maneuver against Norris in turn four and fell back to tenth place.
Hamilton was initially stuck behind Norris for a long time and demanded “more power”. When he finally overtook his 21-year-old compatriot, the world champion thanked the “fair” Norris. He also got a somewhat tough five-second penalty for the initial Perez maneuver and therefore initially fell behind Bottas when he stopped to change tires.
In the front, Verstappen drove up and away from the field with his superior RB16B. One lap after Hamilton, the Dutchman also had his first tire change and was then so superior that he asked for fresh rubber and a more powerful engine mode again with a lead of over 20 seconds in order to get the additional point with the fastest race lap.
“The car was awesome. It was great fun with every set of tires. I’m amazed myself, I didn’t expect that,” said Verstappen, trying to explain the almost uncanny instantaneous superiority of Red Bull Racing. “What we delivered today cannot be taken for granted,” said Verstappen. “We didn’t have the slightest problem. And with all the fans, it was very, very nice”
At Mercedes they once again made optimism, although the previous week’s runner-up Hamilton, 46 seconds behind, had no chance of a podium this time. That was apparently due to a damage to the left underbody. “I don’t know where it came from. Otherwise it would have been an easy second place,” Hamilton was sure. For the defenseless Briton, the race was also a bit of a humiliation, as team-mate Bottas was directed past him on the 52nd lap by his own team. Norris later overtook him.
“It wasn’t a good day. But the deficit looks worse than it is,” weakened Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. “In terms of pace we would have been good, but not good enough to win,” said the Austrian, who did not want to attach too much importance to the deficit. “A race that was canceled quickly happened for Max, then it would be our turn again.” Bottas revealed: “We still scored decent points based on how much slower we are. But it was the maximum.”
McLaren celebrated Norris, but mourned a possible second place. The young Englishman was voted driver of the day but was frustrated with his time penalty. “Actually, second place would have been possible. Today I saw orange as a cheer for myself,” said Norris with a laugh. Unlucky of the day was Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel, who was taken out of the race one day after his 34th birthday in the final lap by Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa.
The only thing that could have prevented Verstappen’s renewed triumph was apparently the right rear tire. A small cut was found on this after the exchange. “We are proud of 51 points over two weekends,” said Red Bull’s agent Helmut Marko after the double home triumph. “Now we’re going to Silverstone to win there too.”
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
