Red Bull driver Max Verstappen made it three wins from three races today when he won the Austrian Grand Prix as he extended his lead in the Drivers’ Championship over Lewis Hamilton, who only finished fourth.
Hamilton’s Mercedes AMG Petronas teammate Valtteri Bottas took second while McLaren driver Lando Norris was third.
Today’s race took place in front of the attendance of 100,000 spectators after the post COVID-19 pandemic.
“To win again at home at the Red Bull Ring is just incredible. I expected it to be good, but not this good, and the car was on rails. It was really nice to drive and the pace was incredible on both tyre compounds. I could push and also look after the tyres which is exactly how you want it to be and I could extend my gap lap after lap. Just like everyone else we learnt from last weekend and we optimised the car even more by improving the set-up,” said the 23-year-old Verstappen, who is trying to deny Hamilton’s desire to win an eighth world title.
“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. It’s a great reward for everyone in the Team and it was also very nice to have Honda represented on the podium by Tanabe. The fans were also incredible all weekend, so much orange in the grandstands and it’s just great to see people back and enjoying Formula One at the track. There are of course a lot of difficult races coming up and Silverstone will be interesting with the Sprint Race to mix things up. But for now, I’m really happy with the way the whole race went and you don’t often get this type of race, so we all have to enjoy it.”
Verstappen now leads the Drivers’ Championship with 182 points – 32 points ahead of Hamilton as the race heads to the British Grand Prix next near Silverstone on 18 July 2021. – By Akira Wong
