Formula 1 – Austria: Verstappen walks in the Red Bull Arena

Brilliant home win for Max Verstappen at the Austrian Grand Prix as he made Red Bull 1-3 – Leclerc second.

the Austrian Grand PrixThis year’s race is ninth on Formula 1 World Championship And at home for Red Bull Racingperfectly developed for “bulls”, with Max Verstappen to win comfortably from pole position and reach 42 career victories. the Charles Locklear Ha Scuderia Ferrari He had no antidote to the Dutchman’s dominance and finished second. the Sergio Perez Pretend saved and completed the podium, after starting from the 15th position.

Begins

The weather was not good for the Turtles on Saturday and the cars took their places at the start on a dry track. The majority of drivers chose the mid-range for Pirelli tyres, with the exception of Alonso, Bottas and Magnussen, who preferred the hard tyres, with de Vries.

The red lights went out and Pullman Max Verstappen made a good start keeping Charles Leclerc behind. The Ferrari driver was very aggressive and attacked at every subsequent corner, trying to overtake the Dutchman, but to no avail.

Carlos Sainz kept third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who made a very good start and passed Norris, while Fernando Alonso also won, moving up to sixth. Lance Stroll lost two places, because in addition to Alonso, Nico Hulkenberg also lost him.

But it was stopped before the first lap was completed, as the safety car appeared to clear a path of debris that had fallen on it after Tsunoda made contact with another car at the start.

Restart

The pit stop lasted for a short time and two laps later the safety car returned to the pits and racing resumed. This time, however, Max Verstappen was not threatened by Leclerc and quickly pulled away from his rival and out of the DRS circle.

Leclerc quickly realized he had no antidote to Verstappen’s speed and had to deal with his stable mate as Sainz was stuck behind him and looked faster at that point in the race. However, Ferrari instructed its drivers to hold their positions.

Hulkenberg didn’t have the race pace in the Haas to hold his position and quickly lost it to Stroll, who moved up to seventh and dropped the German to eighth. Sergio Pérez in the back also picked up a few spots, moving into eleventh, which he took after a hard-fought battle with George Russell.

Lando Norris increased his pace and was openly threatening Hamilton in front of him. The McLaren driver was within DRS radius, but it didn’t look like he could threaten his compatriot. On the other hand, Hamilton received a warning from the stewards too early for violating track limits and was in danger of a penalty.

The pit battle stops

Hulkenberg no longer had to worry about losing places after the Haas car had to stop with smoke billowing from the back of the Ferrari engine. The Virtual Safety Car appeared, prompting the drivers to start making their way to the pits to change tyres.

Contrary to what the rest did, Verstappen and Perez did not enter the pits. This left the Dutchman in the lead and moved the Mexican up to third, behind Leclerc, who changed his tyres. Missed out on the whole process was Saint, who found himself on the track behind Hamilton and Norris.

By the time Hamilton was handed a 5-second penalty for his road violations, Saint had passed Norris and moved up to fifth. The Spanish Ferrari was very fast and shortly thereafter also passed Hamilton, moving up to fourth place. On the next lap, St. Perez also passed, reclaiming the third position.

A ray of hope for Ferrari

With the first third of the race completed, Verstappen had been leading for about 15 seconds but Leclerc was closing in on him. The important thing is that Monegasque made a pit stop and the Dutchman didn’t, which means that when Verstappen stops to change a tyre, Leclerc will have the chance to get in front of him.

Behind, Perez and Hamilton were fighting hard for fourth place, with Norris watching closely. Alonso, Gasly, Russell and Albon completed the top ten.

Max Verstappen decided to pit a few laps later and swapped the medium tyres for hard ones. However, when he returned to the path, he saw that he had been passed not only by Leclerc, which was almost certain, but also by Saint. But the Dutchman, with the help of new tires and the speed of Red Bull, quickly managed to overtake the Spanish Ferrari and start chasing Leclerc.

Verstappen hunter

After tangling with Saint, Verstappen put his head down and was closing in on Leclerc at a fast pace with very fast laps. At the same time, Sainte was announced a 5-second penalty as well, for a well-known reason: violation of track limits.

Lando Norris took the opportunity and attacked Hamilton to finish fourth. The other driver who gained places at that point in the race was Sergio Pérez, who after pitstops dropped out of the top ten but with successive overtakes moved up to eighth.

After a few laps, Verstappen fell behind Leclerc. The Ferrari driver tried to defend as best he could but eventually had to retire and saw Red Bull pass him relatively easily with the help of the DRS. After overtaking, as expected, Verstappen disappeared over the horizon.

Second pit stop

Going into the final third of the race, the final tire changes began. At this point, drivers who received a 5-second penalty (St, Hamilton, Ocon, Albon, Gasly) dealt with it in the pits and this affected their position when they returned to the track.

Saint was right behind Norris but passed him almost immediately and moved into fourth (Perez had yet to stop). Hamilton found himself behind Alonso in seventh place in what proved to be a tough race for the Briton.

But for Red Bull, things were going well. Verstappen is in and out first, no problems. Pérez returned to the track in fifth place, behind Saints and Norris, still maintaining his podium hopes despite starting 15th.

Perez’s rise

Sergio Perez only needed a few laps to catch up and pass Lando Norris and even less so to get behind Carlos Sainz. But the Spaniard has proven to be a tough opponent and has never made the Mexican’s job easy. The two battled the wheel for several laps, until Pérez was able to make the pass and move into third to save a race he had himself “abandoned” due to his mistakes in qualifying.

By the time it was happening, Verstappen had opened up a gap of more than 20 seconds on Leclerc, ending talk of his dominance of the race being challenged.

So, in the end, Max Vertappen took another comfortable victory, which was duly celebrated by the Red Bull team, as it went home to them, but also by the thousands of Dutchmen who flooded the stands. The Dutchman also set the fastest lap of the race, having the luxury of running on soft tires with two laps to try.

Charles Leclerc finished second, the best he could do in this race, and the podium was completed by Sergio Pérez, who performed a “total reset” starting from 15th. They were followed by Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll, who made three stops and overtook Albon in the last laps.

» Formula 1 standings after the Austrian Grand Prix

The next Formula 1 championship race is the British Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend, July 7-9.

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