Verstappen Achieves Two Wins in Two Weekends in Austria

Photo Credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

At the beginning of the 2021 Formula 1 season, it was hoped upon by many parties that Red Bull Racing would mount a consistently competitive battle with the juggernaut that is the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. Although that seemed to have been the case in the earlier grand prix events in 2021, the races since the Monaco Grand Prix has instead shown Red Bull Racing potentially rediscovering their pre-2014 form while displacing the long dominant German factory team. Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, the squad fielding drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez has been on a four-race win streak. Claiming three of the victories in Red Bull Racing’s recent tear is Verstappen who entered the second race of the season at the 4.318-kilometer Red Bull Ring course winner of the previous week’s Styrian Grand Prix.

Though Mercedes-AMG showed the potential of matching their Honda-powered rival on pace through two of the three practice sessions ahead of Saturday qualifying, neither Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas broke into the top-three after Q3. Max Verstappen took the pole position with a 1-minute, 3.720-second lap time joined on the front row by #4 McLaren Racing car driven by Lando Norris. On the second row of the grid with third place Sergio Perez was the #44 car of Lewis Hamilton.

Photo Credit: Andy Hone/Lat Images/Pirelli

As was the case with the Styrian Grand Prix that took place on the Red Bull Ring one-week prior, the #33 machine made a commanding standing start of the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix carrying that momentum into the first turn. Before completion of the race’s opening lap, the safety car was called out to recover Esteban Ocon’s wounded Alpine A521 race vehicle. The French driver’s #31 car suffered a broken right front suspension after being squeezed between Mick Schumacher and Antonio Giovinazzi battling for position. Ocon would be one of two Formula 1 drivers not to cross the finish line for the Austrian Grand Prix. The other driver not to finish was Sebastian Vettel when his Aston Martin collided with Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo on the final lap.

Maintaining second place early in the 71-lap event, Lando Norris would aggressively defend the position in a manner that attracted the ire of race stewards. Under attack from the Honda-powered #11 Red Bull RB16B of Sergio Perez entering turn four on the fourth lap, Norris crowded the Mexican driver who was attempting to make an outside pass on the McLaren. With little room to run side-by-side, Perez took his Red Bull Racing machine into the gravel trap falling to tenth place but remaining in the race. The driver of the #4 car was eventually assessed a five-second time penalty as the Brit was deemed at fault for the incident. Norris would not be the only driver to be investigated and penalized for on-track behaviour during the Austrian Grand Prix with one of the other competitors being Sergio Perez.

Photo Credit: Mark Sutton/Lat Images/Pirelli

Lando Norris’ penalty as well as the speed of the Mercedes-AMG race cars was enough to allow Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to vault into second and third after the first round of pit stops were made. As Max Verstappen maintained a solid lead in the race, Hamilton found it difficult preserving the runner-up spot. A rough ride over the turn 10 curb deeply upset the balance of his #44 vehicle resulting in Hamilton surrendering second place to a faster Bottas on lap 52. The reigning Formula 1 World Drivers’ Champion would fall into the clutches of the #4 McLaren of Norris on the following lap taking the final podium spot in the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix.

Obtaining his third consecutive race win in the 2021 Formula 1 season and fourth in the past five events, Max Verstappen’s successful effort on the Red Bull Ring included pole position, leading every lap and scoring the fastest race lap of the afternoon. “Just like everyone else we learned from last weekend and we optimized the car even more by improving the set-up. It's actually hard to put into words because it was so enjoyable to drive and the weekend was the best it could be, so let's hope we can carry on in the same way.”, Verstappen said in a post-race press release.

Valtteri Bottas took second place in the Austrian Grand Prix 17.973 seconds behind the leader. The result is the Finnish driver’s best result in what has been an unlucky 2021 stint in the #77 Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 race car. Lando Norris joined Verstappen and Bottas on the podium and remains the only driver to score points in all nine Formula 1 events so far this season.

Photo Credit: LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd

Lewis Hamilton drove to a fourth place result under less than ideal circumstances in his #44 car. While Sergio Perez crossed the finish line in fifth, 10 seconds worth of penalties levied in the final results elevated the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. to the position. Behind Perez in the running order after the 71-lap race was Daniel Ricciardo who started in 13^th place on the grid but helped the McLaren team reinforce their third place spot in the ongoing constructors’ championship. The second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc finished eighth while Pierre Gasly crossed the finish line in ninth in the Austrian Grand Prix. The late stage of the grand prix featured a spirited fight as George Russell fought hard to hang to Williams Racing’s first point finish since the 2019 German Grand Prix. Unfortunately for the young British driver, Fernando Alonso in his Renault-powered Alpine overtook the #63 Williams Racing car on lap 68 for the tenth place spot.

 

After three straight weekends of Formula 1 action, the tour takes a one-week break before the season resumes at the Silverstone Circuit for the July 18^th running of the British Grand Prix.

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2021 Formula 1 Season
Austrian Grand Prix
Race Results
Pos #	Car #	Driver	Team	Engine
1	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	Honda
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
3	4	Lando Norris	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
5	55	Carlos Sainz Jr	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
6	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing	Honda
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
8	16	Charles Leclerc	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari
8	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
10	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
11	63	George Russell	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda
13	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari
16	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz
17	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz
18	47	Mick Schumacher	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari
20	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine F1 Team	Renault
20	10	Pierre Gasly	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda
2021 Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship Points (After Austrian Grand Prix)
		Driver	Total Points
	1	Max Verstappen	182
	2	Lewis Hamilton	150
	3	Sergio Perez	104
	4	Lando Norris	101
	5	Valtteri Bottas	92
	6	Charles Leclerc	62
	7	Carlos Sainz Jr	60
	8	Daniel Ricciardo	40
	9	Pierre Gasly	39
	10	Sebastian Vettel	30
	11	Fernando Alonso	20
	12	Lance Stroll	14
	13	Esteban Ocon	12
	14	Yuki Tsunoda	9
	15	Antonio Giovinazzi	1
	16	Kimi Raikkonen	1
	17	George Russell	0
	18	Nicholas Latifi	0
	19	Mick Schumacher	0
	20	Nikita Mazepin	0
2021 Formula 1 Contructors' Points (After Austrian Grand Prix)
		Constructor	Engine	Total Points
	1	Red Bull Racing	Honda	286
	2	Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz	242
	3	McLaren F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz	141
	4	Scuderia Misson Winnow Ferrari	Ferrari	122
	5	Scuderia AlphaTauri	Honda	48
	6	Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team	Mercedes-Benz	44
	7	Alpine F1 Team	Renault	32
	8	Alfa Romeo Racing	Ferrari	2
	9	Williams Racing	Mercedes-Benz	0
	10	Uralkali Haas F1 Team	Ferrari	0

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