MOTORSPORT: Verstappen dominates Styrian F1 GP

If Max Verstappen continues to race the way he did in the Styrian Grand Prix he will be the Formula 1 world champion of 2021.

Mighty Max had the fastest car on home ground at the Red Bull Ring and used it to dominate qualifying before driving away from Lewis Hamilton for an imperious win.

He was at the front of the field for all 71 laps, extending his lead over Hamilton on the championship table, and was only remotely threatened when race director Michael Massi warned him against repeating his victory burnout on the start-finish straight.

Hamilton did his best but knows he has a tough fight to the end of the year as Mercedes-AMG has admitted there will be no more major technical upgrades for season ’21 as the focus switches to the all-new F1 cars for 2022.

“They have obviously made some big improvements over the last couple of races and it was impossible to keep up,” said Hamilton.

That was good news for Verstappen, although the Black Arrows locked out the rest of the podium as Valtteri Bottas won the race of the wing men ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull.

“I had a really enjoyable race, the car was working well and I always enjoy driving on this track,” said Verstappen.

“I just focused on my own race. To be honest, I really wasn’t expecting it to be like it was today.”

The same could be said for Daniel Ricciardo, who had a dismal day as his McLaren teammate Lando Norris finished best-of-the-rest in fifth place while the Aussie started and finished only 13th.

Ricciardo should have been in contention for solid points as he rocketed forward in the early laps, but when his engine lost power dramatically he dropped into the clutches of a torrid mid-pack battle and had to protect his car’s powertrain for the rest of the race.

“The start was great, we got up to ninth. The race was looking up from there, and then we lost power,” said Ricciardo.

“We were able to fix it on the steering wheel, but everything we gained, we then lost, and we back where we started.”

Styrian was a tactical battle for much of the day in hot conditions, as the Bulls and Benzes chased any advantage at the head of the field and Ferrari raced through from a dismal qualifying performance to finish sixth and seventh with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

Two-times champion Fernando Alonso had another solid comeback race with Alpine as he finished ninth, against his teammate Esteban Ocon back in 14th.

There were two retirements from the race, Pierre Gasly who had crash damage to his AlphaTauri after multiple hits on the opening lap, and speedy George Russell who had to retire his Williams with hydraulic trouble.

The Styrian GP was the second leg of an F1 triple-header that will see teams repeating the race next weekend, but as the Austrian Grand Prix.

Hamilton and Mercedes know they have to find something extra to snap Verstappen’s winning streak and at least put a speed bump into his drive to his first title.

“I don’t know where we are losing all the time, I think their long runs seem to be a bit better, plus on the straight it feels like we lose a lot,” he said.

“It’s a serious challenge, we need to figure out what we can do to elevate the package and give us more performance.”

Verstappen is expecting a fightback but also knows things could change in a week’s time.

“We’ve had a really positive weekend and, of course, it’s not going to be completely the same next week,” he said.

“Everyone else will also learn from this race so we will of course try and do even better and keep improving ourselves so we can stay ahead.”

2021 Styrian Grand Prix results:
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-AMG
4. Sergio Perez, Red Bull
5. Lando Norris, McLaren
6.  Carlos Sainz, Ferrari
7. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
8. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin
9. Fernando Alonso, Alpine
10. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
11. Kimi Raikkonen, Alfa Romeo
12. Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin
13. Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren
14. Esteban Ocon, Alpine
15. Antonio Giovinazzi, Alfa Romeo
16. Mick Schumacher, Haas
17. Nicholas Latifi, Williams
18. Nikita Mazepin, Haas
DNF George Russell, Williams
DNF Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri

2021 Formula 1 driver standings:
1. Verstappen, 156
2. Hamilton, 138
3. Perez, 96
4. Norris, 86
5. Bottas, 74
6. Leclerc, 58
7. Sainz, 60
8. Gasly, 37
9. Ricciardo, 34
10. Vettel, 30