Max Verstappen powers to 'amazing' Austrian Grand Prix victory with fifth straight win, Lewis Hamilton finishes seventh
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Updated 02/07/2023 at 19:14 GMT
Red Bull's Max Verstappen left the rest of the chasing pack in his wake with another dominant victory at the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday. The flying Dutchman hit the front early on and after retaking the lead from Charles Leclerc, he never looked back in finalising a fifth straight win. Ferrari's Leclerc was second with Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez third. Lewis Hamilton finished seventh.
Verstappen on 'positive weekend' as he claims seventh victory of the season
Max Verstappen continued his dominance at the summit of the F1 World Championship with an almost flawless fifth straight victory of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver secured the one-sided win ahead of Charles Leclerc – who finished second to finalise Ferrari's second podium of the season – while Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez produced a fine powerhouse drive to complete the podium after coming through the field from P15 to claim third.
Perez was involved in a fabulous scrap in the closing 10 laps with Carlos Sainz that saw both men complain about each other's tactics before the Mexican finally overhauled the frantic blocking of Sainz's Ferrari.
That late battle probably helped Leclerc hang onto second.
He had briefly led when reigning world champion Verstappen pitted around the halfway stage, but once the Dutchman hit the front again, there was no looking back as his ability to avert any serious trouble again came to the fore in a car seemingly built for every condition.
Winning the Sprint Race on Saturday saw him extend his lead in the F1 Drivers' Championship to a daunting 70 points.
That was increased to 81 points ahead of Perez before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend, the 10th round of a season that already feels like a lap of honour for Verstappen after a remarkable 42nd career win, with half of those achieved in the past 14 months.
"That was an amazing race, guys," said Verstappen after taking another significant step towards a third straight world title. "The car was on fire. Really, really good and great pit stops too."
Holding a lead of over 23 seconds from Leclerc and with no sign of rain, Verstappen even had time to bolt on some soft tyres for the final two laps before he finished with the fastest lap of the race to ensure a maximum 26 points from his day's work in Spielberg.
Elsewhere, the race was littered with penalties, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton – unhappy with the pace of his Mercedes throughout the fiery 71-lap race – among several drivers penalised by a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits as he finished seventh.
"I don't like to think about [the title] yet," added Verstappen. "I'm just enjoying the moment driving this car and working with this team.
"The Sprint weekend is always hectic and a lot of things can go wrong, but luckily a lot of things went right – I'm just very happy with this weekend and we'll focus again on Silverstone."
Verstappen has won the Austrian GP in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023 with his other triumph at the Red Bull Ring coming in the 2021 Styrian GP.
Austrian Grand Prix Top 10
- 1. Verstappen
- 2. Leclerc
- 3. Perez
- 4. Sainz
- 5. Norris
- 6. Alonso
- 7. Hamilton
- 8. Russell
- 9. Gasly
- 10. Stroll
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