Dominant Verstappen retains the lead at the start and wins the Austrian Grand Prix for Leclerc

Reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen continued his relentless march to a third consecutive world title with another dominant win at Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen started from pole position for the fourth race in a row to take his fifth consecutive victory and seventh in nine races so far this season. He increased his lead in the championship to 81 points over his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

“I think our stints were perfect, so a great day, I enjoyed it a lot,” said Verstappen. “I just enjoy driving this car and racing for this team.”

So much so that he even got his way coming in two laps from the end for a shot at the fastest lap, despite his team’s reluctance to take the risk. Typically on the last lap he got the bonus point for finishing a perfect weekend after his victory from pole in Saturday’s sprint race.

“I saw the gap and said: ‘We have to pit’,” said Verstappen. “From the outside it might look like a big risk, but when you’re in the car it doesn’t feel like a risk at all.”

The win also lifted the 25-year-old Dutchman to 42 F1 wins overall, one ahead of the late Ayrton Senna and only fifth on the F1 all-time winners list.

Charles Leclerc – last year’s winner here – finished 5.2 seconds behind Verstappen in second with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez third, 17.2 behind.

But Verstappen’s margin of victory was cut short by his late pit stop and it was another comfortable victory at his team’s home track in Spielberg.

With a clean start from pole, he held off Leclerc in turns 2 and 3 and easily retook the lead from him after a pit stop midway through the 71-lap race at the Red Bull Ring.

It was only Leclerc’s second podium of the season, but it put him in an optimistic mood.

“The upgrades we brought made me feel better. It looks good for the future,” said Leclerc. “It is clear that there is still a lot to do, Max and Checo [Sergio] have a lot of pace.”

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. and several other drivers received a five-second time penalty for going outside the track limits.

Perez started 15th and passed Sainz with 10 laps to go to take his first podium since finishing second at the Miami GP two months ago.

“It’s a good comeback,” said Perez. “It was a bit of a rough patch for me, so hopefully we’re back now and can keep that consistency now.”

Sainz was fourth, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in sixth, Hamilton in seventh and his teammate George Russell in eighth.

Red Bull has won all nine races, all eleven including the two sprint races with Verstappen’s victory in Saturday’s sprint following Perez’s success in Azerbaijan.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll of Montreal rounded out the top 10.

After a safety car came out briefly at the end of lap 1, Verstappen got away cleanly at the restart.

Hamilton, who had started well and was fourth early on, began to struggle to control his car and began going off track.

When a virtual safety car came out on lap 15 after Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg went off track, most teams opted to make another tire change to take advantage of pitstops that take them less time as cars on track are forced to to reduce speed.

But Verstappen and teammate Perez stayed out.

“I already saw a few laps for the [VSC] that we were closing a big gap, so I knew I would get it back,” said Verstappen. “Only following our own plan was the best way forward.”

On the 4.3 kilometer circuit, which is known to be extremely difficult to stay within the white lines, the drivers continued to go outside the track limits.

“Has he been punished yet?” Hamilton asked about Perez and continued to complain about other drivers going wide after his own penalty, forcing team boss Toto Wolff to intervene.

“The car is bad, we know, please drive it,” said Wolff.

Perez was warned by his team with 15 laps left to respect track limits. He was right behind Sainz at the time and could not afford a time penalty.

Drivers lined the grid for a minute’s silence in memory of 18-year-old Dutch driver Dilano van ‘t Hoff, who died on Saturday following a crash during the Formula Regional European Championship at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

F1 will hold a race in Belgium on July 30.