F1: Verstappen wins Austrian GP ahead of rejuvenated Ferrari’s Leclerc

SPIELBERG, Austria –

Reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen continued his relentless march to a third consecutive world title with another dominant victory at Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, far from the chaos behind him as several drivers were given time penalties for going outside track limits.

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.

“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,” said Verstappen.

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.

Ferrari’s 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 at his team’s home track in Spielberg.

He made a clean start, restrained Leclerc in turns 2 and 3 and easily retook the lead from him after a tire change midway through the 71-lap race at the Red Bull Ring.

“The most important thing for me was the first lap, then staying in front,” said Verstappen.

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. “Obviously there is still a lot to do, Max and Checo (Sergio) have a lot of speed.”

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. After Aston Martin protested that some penalties had not been imposed, the race standings changed as Sainz, Hamilton and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly received an additional five-second penalty.

This moved McLaren’s Lando Norris up to fourth and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to fifth, while Sainz dropped from fourth to sixth and Hamilton dropped back to eighth behind his Mercedes team-mate George Russell. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll jumped up one position to ninth while Gasly dropped back to tenth.

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.”

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.

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, most teams opted to make another tire change. But Verstappen and teammate Perez stayed out.

“I saw a few laps in front of the (VSC) that we were driving quite a gap, so I knew I would get it back,” said Verstappen. “Just following our own plan was the best way forward.”

Drivers continued to push beyond track limits on the 4.3-kilometer circuit, which is known to be extremely difficult to stay within the white lines.

“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.

Aston Martin’s post-race protest apparently went against what most of the other drivers had been saying all weekend, with Perez expressing his frustration that such penalties had unfairly affected both Friday and Sunday qualifying.

“I don’t know how to say it, I don’t want to say a bad word about the track limits. Everyone got hit by it at some point,” said Perez, who started from 15th after his lap time expired. eliminated in qualifying. “Hopefully when we come back next time it will be something that can be fixed.”

The governing body FIA said it had not had enough time to complete all its track-limit reviews during the race and will recommend the circuit add a gravel pit at the exit of turns 9 and 10 where several track violations occurred.

Many drivers have called for gravel to be added, but track owners have been reluctant as the circuit also hosts a motorcycle race in mid-August, and such a move would not be popular with MotoGP riders.

“The stewards strongly recommend that a solution be found to the situation at the track limits at this circuit,” the FIA ​​concluded after the late rescheduling.