Max Verstappen wins uneventful Styrian Grand Prix

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen put in a dominant performance at the Styrian Grand Prix to win easily, further extending his lead over championship rival Lewis Hamilton in the process. For Mercedes, nothing could be done to even mount a challenge, and behind-the-scenes battles about how the two teams are approaching their cars was the highlight of a generally uneventful race.

Both Verstappen and Hamilton sat on the front row, but that was as close as they ever got. The Red Bull driver opened up an early lead, more than a second clear of Hamilton after two laps, and that gap only grew as the race went on. Verstappen never lost first, even through pit stops, and he eventually finished 35 seconds of the second-placed Hamilton, extending his championship lead to 18 points. Hamilton struggled with pace and was unable to do anything – a late pit stop, getting some fresh tyres to claim the bonus point for fastest lap, was little consolation.

There were few moments of drama on the track. Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas had a small battle for third – Perez held it for the first part of the race, and lost it on lap 26. Bottas developed tyre issues, and Red Bull pitted Perez with the view to Perez mounting a challenge – he was 20 seconds behind with 15 laps to go, and closed up a lot of the gap, but he wasn’t close enough to finish on the podium. Lando Norris, who had qualified in third, rounded out the top five.

Down the track, Charles Leclerc, who’d qualified in seventh, dropped down the pack after contact with Pierre Gasly. Gasly was out on lap one, but Leclerc recovered impressively after sustaining wing damage, and eventually finished seventh. His teammate, Carlos Sainz, also drove a great race to finish sixth. It was a sad day for George Russell, however – he was strong in eighth until an engine issue ruled him out on lap 36.

After the race, Verstappen said: “You never know how it is going to end up but straight away I felt a good balance in the car. It was good to manage the tyres from the start. They pitted one lap earlier than us, we reacted to that and we just kept on going, trying to hit our lap times – that worked really well today.

“That’s really positive but we have to show it again next week. We’ll definitely have a look as to what we can do better. I’m looking forward to next week. It’s looking really good [for Red Bull]. We just have to keep pushing really hard and I’m confident we can do a really good job again.”

I was trying to keep up with those guys but, the speed they have – they’ve obviously made some big improvements

– Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton said: “It was a bit of a lonely race really. I was trying to keep up with those guys but, the speed they have – they’ve obviously made some big improvements. Impossible to keep up. Their long runs seem to be a bit better, they continue to keep pulling out those laps – and on the straights we lose a lot. Nonetheless, we got good points as a team today and we’ve just got to keep pushing.”

Bottas said: “I think from where I started, this was the maximum today, so it’s good. It was important to be in between [Red Bulls] two cars, to be in the points. Bit of damage limitation and good thing we get to do all this again next week. It was getting pretty close at the end [with Sergio Perez], it was the best thing they could try and it nearly worked. I’m glad we could defend and I’m happy to be on the podium again.”

Much of the drama of this race came off the track, however. It has since emerged that Mercedes has no plans for any major improvements to their car this year – as new budget and design rules come into effect next year, the team are concentrating their resources onto 2022. This has put them at odds with Hamilton, who insists that the car needs some form of upgrade if he is to mount any real challenge to Verstappen – this is already his longest winless run since the end of 2017, and it shows no signs of abating.

By contrast, Verstappen confirmed that Red Bull are still at work on their car, adding performance every race. They’re already crushing the Mercedes – if the car keeps getting better every week and Mercedes do nothing, the championship is already over.

 Next weekend, we return to the same circuit for the Austrian Grand Prix and, based on today’s race, I wouldn’t anticipate that it’ll be any more exciting or that the result will be radically different. If Verstappen storms it by as large a margin as he did this week, expect the calls from Hamilton to his team to grow even louder.