Austrian GP: Verstappen extends championship advantage with dominant performance

It was Max Verstappen who took victory in the second race at the Red Bull Ring. He held the lead at the start, managed to hold the lead after a safety car resulting from Esteban Ocon pulling over with suspension damage after contact at Turn 3. He was so in control that he could pit for a new set of tyres and still have a considerable lead. He has extended his championship lead to 32 points.

It was a tough race for Lewis Hamilton, struggling to get past Lando Norris in the early laps before he eventually made the move stick. He then was dogged by damage from running over a kerb which resulted in him moving over for his team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who got the jump on Lando Norris in the pitstops as a result of a slightly harsh penalty after he pushed Sergio Perez off the track on the restart. Norris got past Hamilton, who then subsequently pitted and finished in fourth. Valtteri Bottas finished in second with Lando Norris picking up a fourth podium of the season in third

A late pitstop allowed Carlos Sainz to work his way up to fifth on fresher tyres ahead of Sergio Perez, who himself picked up two penalties for the same thing as Lando Norris, which saw him finish in sixth place. Daniel Ricciardo drove a solid race to finish in seventh ahead of Charles Leclerc in eighth, whilst Pierre Gasly, who did a 2 stop strategy finished in ninth place.

George Russell came oh so close to getting his first point for Williams but a few laps from the flag, Fernando Alonso managed to get past with a few laps to go. Yuki Tsunoda finished in twelfth following 2 penalties for crossing the white pit exit line. Lance Stroll finished in thirteenth ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi in fourteenth. Nicholas Latifi finished in fifteenth whilst a last lap collision between Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel when battling for twelfth drops them to sixteenth and seventeenth. The two Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin round out the finishers, whilst Esteban Ocon was the race’s only retirement.

Here is the result of the Austrian Grand Prix.