Max Verstappen wins the Styrian Grand Prix!
He crossed the line in first this afternoon to claim his third victory this season with 35.7s to spare.
Joining the Dutch driver on the podium this afternoon was the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in second with the fastest lap of the race after a late switch to soft Pirellis.
His teammate Valtteri Bottas held Perez off until the end and will take the final step on today’s podium with Perez crossing the line in 4th.
In 5th was the McLaren of Lando Norris after a P3 start. He finished well ahead of his Aussie teammate in P13 at the chequered flag.
The Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished in P6 and P7, after a particularly impressive race from the Monegasque driver who charged up the field from P17 after a first lap pit.
Aston Martin’s Lanco Stroll was in 8th, ahead of the Alpine of Fernando Alonso, and Yuki Tsunoda closing out the top ten.
Speaking after the race, the Dutch victor told Sky Sports F1; “Straight away I felt a good balance in the car. It was good to manage the tyres from the start. It felt to the end that I had tyres left.
“We kept on trying to hit our lap times. That worked really well today.
“We have to show it again next week. We’ll look at what we can do better and I’m looking forward to next week.
“It’s looking really good, we just have to keep ongoing. I’m confident we can do another good job again.”
Mercedes Lewis Hamilton said; “It was a bit of a lonely race. I was trying to keep up but with the speed they have, they’ve obviously made some big improvements over the last couple of races and it’s impossible to keep up.
“I don’t know where we’re losing all the time but I think their long-run looks to be a bit better. We lose a lot down the straights.
“We got good points as a team today and we need to keep pushing.
“I try not to concern myself (with Red Bull’s momentum). They’re just faster. I’ve got to do my best job I can each weekend and we need to find some performance. We need an upgrade of some sort. We need to find some performance from somewhere.”
Race report to follow.
