Verstappen dominates Styrian GP, extends F1 championship lead

In just seven days, Belgian-Dutch racing driver Max Verstappen managed to secure another win, this time at the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria.

Whether it’s luck, skill, or home-court advantage, racing in the Red Bull-owned circuit saw Verstappen take a flawless lights-to-flag victory leaving racing rival Lewis Hamilton 35 seconds behind.

“You never know, of course, how it’s going to end up but straight away I felt a good balance in the car and it was good to manage the tires basically from the start. I felt like also to the end I always had tires left,” said Max Verstappen during the Styrian GP Sunday press conference.

At the start of the race, the Red Bull Racing frontman made the perfect getaway taking the lead over the Mercedes-Benz driver.

By Lap 10, Verstappen managed to eke out a three-second gap to Hamilton. Verstappen slowly but surely began to pull away from Hamilton and on lap 48 the gap had stretched to 6.5 seconds.

During the final lap of the short Styrian GP, Hamilton headed for the pits and took on a set of soft tires. He claimed the fastest lap and reduced the damage caused by Verstappen to seven points.

Verstappen now leads the Drivers’ championship on 156 points, 18 ahead of Hamilton. In the battle for the Constructors’ championship crown Red Bull Racing now has 156 points, 40 ahead of Mercedes.

When asked if the Red Bull Racing sees the Styrian GP as his most dominant victory of the season so far, Verstappen answered, “Well, clearly with the gap, yes. But also just the balance of the car was the best of the season.”

Check out the top 10 finishers for the Styrian GP below.

1. Max Verstappen - Red Bull/Honda
2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes
3. Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes
4. Sergio Pérez - Red Bull/Honda
5. Lando Norris - McLaren/Mercedes
6. Carlos Sainz Jr. - Ferrari
7. Charles Leclerc - Ferrari
8. Lance Stroll - Aston Martin/Mercedes
9. Fernando Alonso - Alpine/Renault
10. Yuki Tsunoda - AlphaTauri/Honda

Photo from FiA and Red Bull Racing

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