Max Verstappen defines dominance with F1 Grand Prix victory in Austria

Orange is the new black in Formula 1.

In a series of dominance that has long since ceased to be in vogue, Verstappen scored his first Formula 1 Grand Slam of his career on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. He started from pole, led every lap and drove the fastest race lap when winning the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Austria.

The win crowned a triple header sweep for Verstappen, who left the race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg by 32 points – a cushion of more than a full race – ahead of Hamilton in the championship with nine of 23 races in the books.

The win in front of 132,000 fans was the fifth of the season for Verstappen and the fifth in a row for Red Bull against the black-painted Mercedes. It was a large crowd, with Verstappen fans dressed in orange and many firing orange smoke bombs during the race to celebrate their driver. Last week’s race in Austria was due to a limited number of participants due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“It was amazing to see all the fans today,” said Verstappen. “It was so much orange, it was just amazing. Also a great motivation.”

In this race there was no stopping a hard attacking Lewis Hamilton – or anyone else – or a tire drama towards the end of the race. Verstappen was just dominant. The only thing that happened to Verstappen on Sunday was overtaking backmarks as only eight challengers crossed the finish line on the lead lap.

Even Max Verstappen was a bit surprised that Sunday’s victory in Austria was so dominant.

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“I’m a bit amazed at how it went today,” Verstappen told Sky Sports. “I didn’t expect it to be like that. Incredible work from everyone to deliver something like this. Of course when you go into the weekend and see everyone as a favorite, but it’s never easy to always deliver what we did today . “

Verstappen played with the field from the start and led from the traffic lights to the finish. He was even able to make a second pit stop 10 laps before the end to successfully fight for the fastest laps. With one pit stop more than runner-up Valtteri Bottas from Mercedes and third-placed Lando Norris from McLaren, Verstappen still had a comfortable lead of 17.9 seconds over Bottas and 20 seconds over Norris.

“I knew that if I could drive a fast lap, I could drive my own race,” said Verstappen, who left the surprise qualifying starter Norris behind with little effort at the start.

Lewis Hamilton, who started fourth, was fourth, 46.4 seconds back. Verstappen started the race on Sunday with an advantage of 18 points in the drivers’ standings and now has a sovereign advantage of 32 points over the seven-time champion.

There was no shortage of orange in the stands in Austria this weekend.

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Meanwhile, July 4th was another tough outing for the American Haas F1 team. Mick Schumacher finished 18th and team-mate Nikita Mazepin 19th. Only Esteban Ocon’s car, who was damaged on the first lap after coming into contact with Antonio Giovinazzi’s car, was only further down in the ranking.

“We used alternative strategies,” said Mazepin. “We made two stops, which didn’t work. I think the tire drop wasn’t as big as expected, but it was the blue flags. You can’t keep your pace because you have to stop more, it was a long one Afternoon.”

For Bottas, the podium was the 61st of his career, overtaking Nelson Piquet for 10th place on the all-time F1 list for the most podiums. Hamilton tops this list at 171.

F1 Austrian Grand Prix

Results

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, 71 laps
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, +17.9 seconds
3. Lando Norris, McLaren, +20.0
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +46.4
5. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +57.1
6. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +57.9
7. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren, +1: 00.3
8. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, +1: 01.1
9. Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri, +1: 01.8
10. Fernando Alonso, alpine, 1 lap
11. George Russell, Williams, +1 lap
12. Yuki Tsunoda, AlfaTauri, +1 lap
13. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +1 lap
14. Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
15. Nicholas Latifi, Williams, +1 lap
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo, +1 lap
17. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, +1 lap
18. Mick Schumacher, Haas, +2 rounds
19. Nikita Mazepin, Haas, +2 rounds
20. Esteban Ocon, Alpine, +71 laps

Driver standings

1. Max Verstappen 182
2. Lewis Hamilton 150
3. Sergio perez 104
4. Lando Norris 101
5. Valtteri Bottas 92
6. Charles Leclerc 62
7. Carlos Sainz Jr. 60
8. Pierre Gasly 37
9. Daniel Ricciardo 34
10. Sebastian Vettel 30
11. Fernando Alonso 20th
12. Lance hike 14
13. Esteban Ocon 12
14. Yuki Tsunoda 9
15. Kimi Raikkonen 1
16. Antonio Giovinazzi 1

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