Max Verstappen cruised to his fourth grand prix victory of the 2021 Formula 1 season, taking a lights to flag win at the Styrian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman, who extends his championship lead over rival Lewis Hamilton, was unchallenged throughout the 71 racing laps.
Hamilton was second on the road, crossing the line over 35 seconds behind the Red Bull driver, having made an extra pit stop.
Mercedes’ largest attempt at confronting their championship rivals for the win came in the pit stop phase, when it attempted to undercut Verstappen with Hamilton.
However, Verstappen’s gap over Hamilton was enough to keep him comfortably ahead after switching to the Hard compound, leaving him to journey uncontested to the chequered flag.
Bottas beats Perez to final podium spot
Valtteri Bottas took the final spot on the podium, as Mercedes benefitted from a slow pit stop for Sergio Perez.
Perez and Bottas both passed Lando Norris early on, which set in motion their battle for third place.
Perez peeled into the pit lane first on lap 27, but a 4.8 second pit stop allowed Mercedes to pounce on the following lap and get Bottas ahead of Perez.
A second pit stop followed late in the race for Perez, which momentarily gave him the fastest lap, before Hamilton stole it at the end following his second stop.
Perez hunted down Bottas, but failed to catch him in time before the chequered flag, despite closing to within a second by the end of the race.
Norris heads midfield as Ferrari recover
After being passed by Perez and Bottas, Norris settled into his own race and faced little opposition throughout the grand prix.
The McLaren driver took fifth on the road, heading both Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Sainz benefitted from going long into the race, making an overcoat strategy work after starting from 12th on the grid.
Leclerc, meanwhile, recovered strongly after suffering a puncture on the opening lap. The Monegasque driver leaped his way past his rivals and into seventh place – an encouraging outcome following Ferrari’s disastrous round in France.
Lance Stroll was eighth for Aston Martin, while Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the final points paying positions.
Power unit issue denies Russell points chance
George Russell, who started the race from 10th on the grid, looked to be on course to score his first points with Williams, as he found himself running 8th in the opening stages.
The Briton was equipped on the Medium compound, while much of the cars ahead were running the less durable Soft tyres.
However, his FW43B car developed a power unit issue during the midway point of the grand prix, which forced him into an early retirement.
The Mercedes junior driver was one of two drivers that failed to finish, as Pierre Gasly was eliminated on the opening lap after contact at Turn 3.
Daniel Ricciardo also made a strong start to the grand prix, but a power unit issue early on demoted him down the order. He eventually finished 13th, behind Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel.
[motorsport_result id=’67140′]
Discussion about this post