Throughout the weekend there was massive hype that rain on Sundays could play a crucial role, but the rain gods are never open. With no external factors influencing the F1 race, Max Verstappen enjoyed a fairly straightforward Sunday afternoon beating Lewis Hamilton by a large margin.
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Behind the duo, Red Bull desperately tried a two-stop strategy for Sergio Perez to beat Valtteri Bottas, but the latter drove his heart out to secure the final podium for Mercedes.
The gap in the points table has widened further with this race weekend, because the Dutchman begins to shape his fight against his title rival on one side.
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Race start at the Red Bull Ring
Max Verstappen got off to a brilliant start, but behind the Dutchman there was chaos. Hamilton had to defend his life against Norris and Perez, who were sitting right on his rear wing at Turn 2.
Meanwhile, there was a massive tangle in the rear that began with Leclerc cutting Gasly’s rear left tire. While the Monegaske got away with a front wing damage, Gasly suffered the most, as a chassis damage forced the French to abandon the race.
Formula 1 F1 – Styria Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria – June 27, 2021 Alfa Romeos Antonio Giovinazzi and AlphaTauris Pierre Gasly after an incident at the start of the REUTERS / Lisi Niesner race
But it wasn’t before he rallied Giovinazzi and Latifi and drove into Turn 3. One of the Tangle’s biggest winners were Stroll and Russell, who jumped to P6 and P8, respectively.
On lap 10, Perez finally prevailed ahead of Norris and placed in the top 3. Bottas made a very similar move on the British in the next lap around turn 3. Behind Norris and Stroll a train formed between Alonso in P7 and Ocon in P14.
How the first pit window went
The pit window finally opened on lap 22 and the first driver to choose to stop was Mazepin. Up front, Russell was the first rider in the huge midfield to stop. Unfortunately, the Brit spent a whopping 18.3 seconds in the pit lane when the crew noticed a problem with the side pod.
A 4.3 second stop by Perez meant that the Mexican lost the final podium to Bottas. Hamilton tried an undercut against Verstappen, but the former only narrowed the gap, as neither of them swapped positions until the end of the first lap of the pit stop.
Formula 1 F1 – Styria Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria – June 27, 2021 Red Bulls Max Verstappen in action at the REUTERS / Lisi Niesner race
Raikkonen and Ocon pitted on lap 37 after a long stint on the hard tires when both switched to medium. Leclerc and Russell pitted for the second time on lap 38, but the latter never left the pits as he became the second DNF of the race. Sainz and Ricciardo were the last drivers to pit on lap 43.
The Spaniard came out on fresh, hard tires on an advantageous P7 and managed a slight pull on Stroll to advance to P6 on the following lap.
This is what the top 10 looked like in the end
Verstappen had a pleasant afternoon without much trouble from his rival when he saw the checkered flag at P1. Hamilton could not challenge the Dutchman again and contented himself with P2.
Behind the duo, Perez and Bottas fought hard for the last podium, which the Finn also claimed for himself in the end. Norris had an empty track in front and behind, the Briton drove a rather lonely race on P5.
Formula 1 F1 – Styria Grand Prix – Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria – June 27, 2021 Mercedes Lewis Hamilton in action at the REUTERS / Lisi Niesner race
Sainz had an excellent first stint, claiming P6 after starting from P12, while team-mate Leclerc delivered a late attack to secure P7. Stroll won the scraps from the Round 1 tangle, making it to P8 for Aston Martin, with Alonso and Tsunoda completing the top 10.
F1 driver ranking after the Styrian GP
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 156
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 138
- Sergio Perez (Red Bull) – 96
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – 86
- Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) – 74
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 58
- Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) – 50
- Pierre Gasly (AlphaTauri) – 37
- Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) – 34
- Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin) – 30th
- Fernando Alonso (Alps) – 19th
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) – 14th
- Esteban Ocon (Alps) – 12th
- Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) – 9
- Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo) – 1
- Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) – 1
- George Russell (Williams) – 0
- Mick Schumacher (Haas) – 0
- Nikita Mazepin (Haas) – 0
- Nicholas Latifi (Williams) – 0
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F1 constructors’ championship after the Styrian GP
- Red Bull Racing – 252
- Mercedes- 212
- McLaren 120
- Ferrari – 108
- AlphaTauri – 46
- Aston Martin – 44
- Alpine – 31
- Alfa Romeo Racing – 2
- Williams – 0
All in all, it was a weekend at the Red Bull Ring, starting with the Hamilton-Verstappen duel, crashes on lap 1 and ending with a nerve-wracking chase from Perez to Bottas.
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So will the coming weekend be even more exciting when Austria hosts another race next weekend and the weather is likely to last?
The post Styrian GP F1 race report, updated driver and constructor rating as Verstappen beats Hamilton Beat first appeared on monter-une-startup.
