Austrian Grand Prix – Verstappen, imperial, widens the gap on Hamilton

Max Verstappen never wavered throughout the 71 laps of the Austrian Grand Prix, despite numerous penalties being imposed. Lewis Hamilton had to settle for fourth place, beaten by Valtteri Bottas and Lando Norris.

Logo Mi mini
Rédigé par Par

After a relatively calm start, the car was forced to enter the track after the first lap due to a slight collision between Antonio Gionvinazzi’s Alfa Romeo and Esteban Ocon’s Alpine. The Frenchman was thus forced to abandon his single-seater at the edge of the straight line between turns 3 and 4.

The big loser of this first phase was George Russell, who started in eighth place. The Briton then found himself in twelfth place. At the restart, Max Verstappen waited until the very last moment to pick up his race pace. It almost worked out for Sergio Perez, who tried to gain the upper hand on Lando Norris. But after a tight battle until turn 4, the Mexican was forced to go into the gravel trap, due to lack of space left by the Briton. He was then only able to rejoin the track in tenth position while Lando Norris received a five-second penalty.

The McLaren driver was still able to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him until the 20th lap, which allowed Max Verstappen to build a comfortable ten-second lead over his championship rival.

On the 31st lap, Lando Norris dived into the pit lane, immediately followed by Valtteri Bottas. The Finn took advantage of Lando Norris’ penalty to climb back on the podium. Subsequently, Lewis Hamilton, then Max Verstappen, also made their stop, each to switch to hard tires.

Eleven laps later, we found a train consisting of Gasly – Ricciardo – Perez – Leclerc, slowed down by the Frenchman who was struggling with his worn hard tires. The Monegasque then tried to regain the advantage over the Red Bull but Sergio Perez also decided not to give any space at turn 4. As a result, same action, same penalty: Sergio Perez in turn received a five-second penalty. Five loops later, Charles Leclerc attempted a new maneuver at turn 6, which resulted in another trip into the gravel trap, causing the fury of the Scuderia driver and a second penalty for the Red Bull driver.

With 18 laps to go, Mercedes asked Lewis Hamilton to swap positions with Valtteri Bottas because the latter was too slow. Shortly after, he was also overtaken by Lando Norris after a superb maneuver, which convinced the pit wall to have the seven-time world champion go back through the pits. Max Verstappen did the same with ten laps to go in the race to secure a comfortable victory.

The end of the race was marked by a splendid battle between George Russell and Fernando Alonso as the driver hoped to score his first point with Williams. Unfortunately, for the young British driver, he had to surrender just three laps from the finish.

In the final lap, George Russell was forced to defend against Kimi Räikkönen at turn 4. Except that the Finn had not noticed that Sebastian Vettel was lurking just behind. This resulted in a collision between the two former Ferrari teammates.

A dramatic end to the race, as former team mates collide #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/mS8rG9mKWo — Formula 1 (@F1) July 4, 2021

In the championship, Max Verstappen has a great advantage as his lead over Lewis Hamilton increases to 32 points, more than a victory.

Votre commentaire

Vous recevrez un e-mail de vérification pour publier votre commentaire.

Haut
Motorsinside English
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.