Max Verstappen gives Red Bull Austrian double

Max Verstappen claimed his third win in a row from pole in the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday to consolidate his world driver’s championship lead over Lewis Hamilton who finished fourth.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas took second with McLaren’s Lando Norris in third.

Orange army out in force for Max Verstappen

Verstappen’s assured win triggered a carnival atmosphere in Formula One’s first capacity crowd since the coronavirus pandemic struck with most of the 100,000 in attendance decked out in his Dutch orange colours.

In contrast to last weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix, Verstappen faced no real threat from behind, even having enough time to take an extra pit stop with 10 laps to go to ensure he snatched an extra point for the fastest lap.

“To see so much orange in the stands is incredible, it’s an extra motivation, thank you” he told his cheering congregation at the Red Bull-owned Spielberg circuit.

“The car was unreal,” added the 21-year-old threat to Hamilton’s bid for an unprecedented eighth world crown who was following up his win at the track last week.

“On every tyre set we put on, it was really enjoyable to drive. A great effort by the whole team. These two weeks here have been incredible.”

Verstappen moved on to 182 points in the standings, 32 clear of Hamilton ahead of the seven-time world champion’s home British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 18.

Hamilton, without a win since Barcelona in early May, had forecast after qualifying Saturday that beating Verstappen looked unlikely.

More frustration

Hamilton worked his way up to second place from P4 on the grid before aerodynamic damage, picked up by running over exit kerbs, slowed his progress, allowing both Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas and McLaren’s Lando Norris to get past him.

“We’re miles away from them (Red Bull). They’ve brought a lot of upgrades and we haven’t so we’ve got to bring some,” he said.

Despite heavy pressure from Norris, who was awarded Driver Of The Day honours, Bottas held on for P2, with the McLaren driver taking a third podium finish of the season in P3.

Austrian Grand Prix results

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	TIME/RETIRED	PTS
1	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA	71	1:23:54.543	26
2	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	71	+17.973s	18
3	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	71	+20.019s	15
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	71	+46.452s	12
5	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	71	+57.144s	10
6	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA	71	+57.915s	8
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	MCLAREN MERCEDES	71	+60.395s	6
8	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	71	+61.195s	4
9	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPHATAURI HONDA	71	+61.844s	2
10	14	Fernando Alonso	ALPINE RENAULT	70	+1 lap	1
11	63	George Russell	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	0
12	22	Yuki Tsunoda	ALPHATAURI HONDA	70	+1 lap	0
13	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	0
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
15	6	Nicholas Latifi	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	70	+1 lap	0
16	7	Kimi Räikkönen	ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI	70	+1 lap	0
17	5	Sebastian Vettel	ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES	69	DNF	0
18	47	Mick Schumacher	HAAS FERRARI	69	+2 laps	0
19	9	Nikita Mazepin	HAAS FERRARI	69	+2 laps	0
NC	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	0	DNF	0

* Provisional results. Note – Verstappen scored an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race. Perez received a 10-second time penalty for forcing another driver off track. Stroll received a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Tsunoda received a 5-second time penalty for crossing the white line at the pit entry.