It wasn’t the exciting racing we have become accustomed to from this track but it did still have intrigue. Not at the front though. Max Verstappen led from the get go and bar a few radio exchanges regarding the brake by wire system, was largely trouble free up front, taking a convincing victory.
Lewis Hamilton had no answer for the Red Bull driver, eventually bailing to get that extra point for fastest lap, which he duly managed to claim, which minimised the loss. Whilst the battle for third got exciting towards the end, as Sergio Perez on fresh tyres was catching Valtteri Bottas at a rate. One more lap and he may have done it. But Valtteri maintained the final podium spot ahead of Sergio.
Lando Norris had a lonely race to finish in fifth place, with Carlos Sainz finishing in sixth. Charles Leclerc had an eventful race. He made contact with Pierre Gasly on the opening lap, which took Pierre out of the race due to a puncture, and Charles had to pit for a new front wing. But he fought his way through the field and brought his car home in seventh place. Lance Stroll finished in eighth ahead of Fernando Alonso, who just fended off Yuki Tsunoda at the back end of the points.
Kimi Raikkonen finished in eleventh ahead of Sebastian Vettel in twelfth. It was a very disappointing race for both Daniel Ricciardo, who nursed tyre issues at the beginning, and Esteban Ocon. Antonio Giovinazzi finished in fifteenth ahead of Mick Schumacher, Nicholas Latifi and Nikita Mazepin. There were two retirements. Pierre Gasly, and a terribly unfortunate George Russell. He was doing an incredible job, getting up to eighth after the first lap and doing what he needed to do to get his first points for Williams. But cruel luck struck the Brit as a hydraulic issue eventually put him out of the race.
Max Verstappen has now extended his lead to 18 points over Lewis Hamilton.
Here is the result of the Styrian GP.
RaceWeek 