SPIELBERG, Austria – Max Verstappen continued his reign at the front of the Formula 1 field with another dominant victory Sunday, this time in the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
Verstappen was in his own zip code yet again as the Dutch driver led every lap en route to his fifth victory of the season and third in a row to further extend his lead at the top of the Formula One championship standings.
“The car was on rails on every tire set we put on. It was really enjoyable to drive,” Verstappen said after his second victory at the Red Bull Ring in as many weeks. “Pretty insane. I’m a bit amazed myself how today went. I didn’t expect it to be like this. Yeah, incredible job by everyone.”
Verstappen was never challenged Sunday, with the battle behind him for the runner-up spot being contested among Valtteri Bottas, Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton started fourth and was able to get up to as high as second, but aerodynamic damage sustained when he ran over a kerb slowed his pace. Hamilton willingly gave up second to his teammate Bottas before Norris, who started a career-best second, ran him down and passed him for third.
Norris ran as high as second early in the race, but was penalized five seconds for forcing Sergio Perez off track during an early restart. He served his penalty during a round of pit stops, which allowed Bottas to go from fourth to third at the time.
Bottas was able to hold Norris off for the rest of the race, though Norris kept things interesting and stayed within a few seconds of Bottas until the checkered flag.
“I think as a team we got some decent points considering the gap we have to Red Bull in terms of pure pace,” Bottas said. “Lando was really quick today and actually putting some pressure.”
Hamilton settled for fourth, one place off the podium. Carlos Sainz was credited with fifth despite finishing sixth on the road behind Sergio Perez. Perez was penalized multiple times for pushing drivers off track, with the time penalties allowing Sainz to overtake Perez in the final rundown after the race.
Daniel Ricciardo finished seventh, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.