Super Max Verstappen won yet again at the Red Bull Ring to make it four wins from the last five races, as he cruised his way to claim victory at the Austrian Grand Prix. Team-mate Sergio Pérez finished sixth in eventful race for the Mexican.
Verstappen dominated the grand prix, leading from flag to finish as no one was able to keep within eyesight of the Dutchman. During the race there was very little coverage of Verstappen due to his sheer dominance, winning the race by just over seventeen seconds. Had he not done a second pit-stop purely to get the fastest lap he would have won by nearly forty seconds over Valtteri Bottas.
The win moves Verstappen into complete control of the championship, he now leads Lewis Hamilton by thirty-two points after taking all three wins from the triple header. Verstappen was cheered on the whole race by an army of Dutch fans in attendance, as he made it win number five of the season.
“To win again at home at the Red Bull Ring is just incredible. I expected it to be good, but not this good, and the car was on rails. It was really nice to drive and the pace was incredible on both tyre compounds. I could push and also look after the tyres which is exactly how you want it to be and I could extend my gap lap after lap. Just like everyone else we learnt from last weekend and we optimised the car even more by improving the set-up.
“It’s actually hard to put into words because it was so enjoyable to drive and the weekend was the best it could be, so let’s hope we can carry on in the same way. It’s a great reward for everyone in the Team and it was also very nice to have Honda represented on the podium by Tanabe.
“The fans were also incredible all weekend, so much orange in the grandstands and it’s just great to see people back and enjoying Formula One at the track. There are of course a lot of difficult races coming up and Silverstone will be interesting with the Sprint Race to mix things up. But for now, I’m really happy with the way the whole race went and you don’t often get this type of race, so we all have to enjoy it.”
“I’m very sorry for Charles” – Sergio Pérez
For Sergio Pérez it was a race to forget as soon as possible, the Mexican who started in third found himself down in tenth by the end of the fourth lap after being supposedly forced off circuit by Lando Norris at turn four. The Mexican tried to go around the outside of Norris but found himself in the gravel and down in tenth.
Norris was awarded a five-second penalty for the incident, which funnily enough Pérez was awarded as well for being deemed to have forced Charles Leclerc off the track at turn four again much later in the race. This wasn’t Pérez’s only incident with Leclerc though, as only a few laps later after the pairs first scuffle Pérez was given yet another five-second penalty, this time for being deemed to have forced Leclerc off the circuit at turn six.
In the end with penalties applied sixth was the best Pérez could manage on a day where he should have been on the podium, the Mexican is very disappointed in himself and is sorry about what happened with Leclerc.
“I’m obviously not very happy with my race today. On the fourth lap I had the position and I out-braked Lando but he pushed me off the track which pretty much ended my race. As for the other incidents with Charles, I still have to review the situations and look at the incidents because I thought that I was ahead in both of them, especially the second one but it’s hard to say right now. I braked as late as possible, we were in dirty air and we had very old tyres so I lost the rear on the second one into Turn 6.
“I’m very sorry for Charles and how I affected his race because that’s not the way I like to race. I don’t feel happy with myself for compromising the race for another driver. But I am very happy for Max and the rest of the Team, it was great that we could get more points today at our home race at the Red Bull Ring. We move on and I’m looking forward to the next race at Silverstone.”
