© Getty ImagesMax Masters The Ring With Hat-Trick Of WinsA dominant display by the Dutchman sees him claim a clean sweep of wins in the triple-header.
The Dutchman was faultless throughout, and after maintaining the lead at the start and managing a restart following a short safety car period due to Alpine’s Esteban Ocon’s lap one crash, Max effortlessly controlled the following 68 laps to finish almost 18 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Nursing a damaged car, Lewis Hamilton finished in P4.
It was a more difficult afternoon for Checo though however, he incurred two five-second penalties as a result of separate collisions with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and finished in sixth. The Mexican missed out on P5 by just 0.7s after he narrowly failed to stretch a 10-second gap to the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in the closing stages.
Lights Out At The Red Bull Ring© Getty Images
When the lights went out, Max made a good start to maintain his lead from pole position, ahead of Norris and Checo who made a good start from third place on the grid.
The race was soon neutralised, however, when Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was hit by the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi and the Frenchman pulled over off track on the run down to turn four. The Safety Car was immediately deployed.
When racing resumed at the start of lap four, Checo piled the pressure on Norris and attacked as they went down to turn four. The Mexican tried a bold move around the outside of the McLaren, but as Norris held his line, Checo was forced off into the gravel and he dropped to P10 behind the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo.
The soft tyre starters then began to pit. That boosted Sergio back up the order and on lap 20 he found himself in P7 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and within DRS range of the Ferrari. At the front, Max was 8.6s ahead of Norris, but then the McLaren driver was hit with a five-second penalty for causing the collision with Checo. His pain was increased when moments later he was passed by Hamilton.
The Mercedes driver’s move past Norris made little immediate impact on Max’s march, however, and by lap 24 the Red Bull driver was 10.2 seconds clear of his title rival.
That Moment On Lap 5© Getty Images
Norris and Bottas sparked a round of pit stops for the leaders on lap 31 and during his stop Norris served his five-second penalty. That allowed Bottas to exit the pit lane ahead of him, in third place.
Hamilton was the next to pit, on lap 32. On the following lap, Max made his switch to hard tyres and when the order shook out, Max found himself more than 13 seconds ahead of the Mercedes driver.
Checo made his first stop on lap 34, attempting to undercut Leclerc, and despite a slow stop caused by a problem with his front left wheel, Checo was able to find the pace on his out laps to steal the place from Leclerc when the Ferrari driver pitted on lap 35.
Wedged between Ricciardo and Leclerc, Sergio tried to reel in the McLaren even as Leclerc put the pressure on from behind. On lap 41 Leclerc attacked, around the outside in turn four, and the Ferrari and Red Bull made contact. Leclerc went off track but re-joined and Checo was swiftly handed a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off track.
The battle between the two flared again on lap 46. Leclerc once again got into DRS range and attacked into turn four. This time the battle continued through the following corner, but in turn six Checo held a wide line and Leclerc was forced off track a second time. The Mexican soon received another second five-second penalty.
Checo In Front Of The Orange Army© Getty Images
Hamilton now began to report that he was struggling with damage to his Mercedes and with Norris once again looking competitive in P4, Mercedes opted to allow third-placed Bottas to pass his teammate. Hamilton then fell back towards Norris and on lap 53 the young McLaren driver powered past the Mercedes man in turn six. Hamilton then pitted to take on another set of hard tyres.
At the front, Max had an almost 30-second advantage over Bottas and the Team took the precaution of pitting him for another set of hard tyres.
He emerged with more than seven seconds in hand over Bottas and on lap 62 he then grabbed the fastest lap of the race and an extra point with a time of 1:06.200.
From there it was a cruise to the flag for Max and after 71 laps he grabbed his 15th career win and the Team’s 70th F1 victory.
Cheering The Winner Across The Line© Getty Images
Behind him Bottas took second, while Norris scored the fourth podium finish of his career. Hamilton had to settle for fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who managed to pass Leclerc.
With two five-second penalties to take at the flag, Checo needed to eke out a 10-second advantage over the sixth-placed driver, but as Sainz rose through the order with pace, Checo ended up missing out by just 0.7s and had to settle for sixth.
With Ricciardo seventh and Leclerc eighth respectively, ninth place went to Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly. The final point on offer went to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso after he came out on top of an enthralling battle that denied Williams’ George Russell a first F1 point.
Max’s fifth win of the season and his fastest lap mean he now has 182 points and leads the Driver’s Championship by 32 points from Hamilton. Checo holds onto third place on 104 point, just three clear of Norris. In the Constructors’ Championship, the Team now has 286 points, 44 clear of Mercedes.
Austrian Grand Prix 2021: Race
Win Number 15 In F1 For Max© Getty Images
Winning In Front Of His Fans© Getty Images
Max-imum Points In Austria© Getty Images
A Dominant Display From The Dutchman© Getty Images
Rocking The Ring© Getty Images
Lights Out And A Strong Start At The Front© Getty Images
Checo On The Charge© Getty Images
Max Leads The Safety Car Restart© Getty Images
F1 Podium 50 For Max© Getty Images
That Moment On Lap 5© Getty Images
A Race Win Powered By Honda© Getty Images
Cooling Down In The Austrian Heat© Getty Images
Make His First Stop For Hards© Getty Images
In Control From Lights Out© Getty Images
What A Sight!© Getty Images
Pulling Away From The Pack© Getty Images
It’s a great reward for everyone in the Team and it was also very nice to have Honda represented on the podium by Tanabe.
“To win again at home at the Red Bull Ring is just incredible. I expected it to be good, but not this good, and the car was on rails. It was really nice to drive and the pace was incredible on both tyre compounds. I could push and also look after the tyres which is exactly how you want it to be and I could extend my gap lap after lap. Just like everyone else we learnt from last weekend and we optimised the car even more by improving the set-up. It’s actually hard to put into words because it was so enjoyable to drive and the weekend was the best it could be, so let’s hope we can carry on in the same way. It’s a great reward for everyone in the Team and it was also very nice to have Honda represented on the podium by Tanabe.
The fans were incredible all weekend, so much orange in the grandstands and it’s just great to see people back and enjoying Formula One at the track. "The fans were also incredible all weekend, so much orange in the grandstands and it’s just great to see people back and enjoying Formula One at the track. There are of course a lot of difficult races coming up and Silverstone will be interesting with the Sprint Race to mix things up. But for now, I’m really happy with the way the whole race went and you don’t often get this type of race, so we all have to enjoy it.”
“I’m obviously not very happy with my race today. On the fourth lap I had the position and I out-braked Lando but he pushed me off the track which pretty much ended my race. As for the other incidents with Charles, I still have to review the situations and look at the incidents because I thought that I was ahead in both of them, especially the second one but it’s hard to say right now. I braked as late as possible, we were in dirty air and we had very old tyres so I lost the rear on the second one into Turn 6. I’m very sorry for Charles and how I affected his race because that’s not the way I like to race.
"I don’t feel happy with myself for compromising the race for another driver. But I am very happy for Max and the rest of the Team, it was great that we could get more points today at our home race at the Red Bull Ring. We move on and I’m looking forward to the next race at Silverstone.”
To achieve pole position, fastest lap, lead every lap and become the first driver to win all three races in a triple-header is just phenomenal.
“Max had another fantastic race today and a second victory at the Red Bull Ring is a great way for the Team to sign off the triple header. It was another impeccable drive from Max and he didn’t put a wheel wrong. To achieve pole position, fastest lap, lead every lap and become the first driver to win all three races in a triple-header is just phenomenal and shows the calibre of driver he is and the effort the Team are putting in every single weekend.
Checo was unlucky to have a racing incident with Lando, but for me that’s hard racing, just like the similar incidents later in the race. "Checo was unlucky to have a racing incident with Lando, but for me that’s hard racing, just like the similar incidents later in the race but he came back strong and we could all see how hungry he was to get a result. We’ve now won the last five races, a first for us in the hybrid era, but we cannot get complacent and need to keep that momentum going.
There’s a long way to go in this championship, we don’t take anything for granted and we have to keep doing what we’re doing, session by session, race by race. "There’s a long way to go in this championship, we don’t take anything for granted and we have to keep doing what we’re doing, session by session, race by race. Silverstone will be a big challenge and it’s been a Mercedes stronghold for the last seven years but there’s going to be a big crowd there and we have brilliant fans, so I can’t wait to put on another show for everyone who comes out to support us.”
A Team Like No Other© Getty Images
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Max Verstappen | Valtteri Bottas | Lando Norris | Lewis Hamilton | Carlos Sainz | Sergio Pérez | Daniel Ricciardo | Charles Leclerc | Pierre Gasly | Fernando Alonso |
| Red Bull Racing Honda | Mercedes | McLaren | Mercedes | Ferrari | Red Bull Racing Honda | McLaren | Ferrari | AlphaTauri | Alpine |
