F1: Verstappen Takes A Dominant Win In Styrian GP As Hamilton Finishes A Distant Second

Max Verstappen took a dominant win in the 2021 Formula 1 Styrian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton took a distant second place. The Red Bull Racing driver led the race as the lights turned green and extended a healthy lead over the Mercedes driver right from the start. With an unmatched pace, Verstappen finished on top with a gap of 35.743s over Hamilton, while Mercedes secured a double podium with Valtteri Bottas claiming third place after starting fifth on the grid. Verstappen extends his championship lead in the driver standings by 18 points over the defending world champion at the end of this weekend.

Also Read: F1: Verstappen Beats Bottas To Claim Pole Position For Styrian GP

Finishing fourth was Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who sits a distant third in the driver standings. He, however, lost the podium during the pitstop to Bottas after his left tyre took too long to remove. The driver also fended early attacks from McLaren's Lando Norris who settled for fifth.

Sergio Perez had a close fight with Bottas for the podium but could catch up after his second pitstop

Finishing next was Carlos Sainz Jr of Ferrari who progressed from 12th on the grid to take sixth place after multiple overtakes in the initial laps including passing Lance Stroll on Lap 45 by using DRS. Teammate Charles Leclerc finished right behind at P7, in what was a rather adventurous outing for the driver after making contact with Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri on the opening lap. The incident damaged Ferrari front wing, while Gasly suffered a left-rear puncture. Leclerc made two pitstops as he made his way back up to the midfield.

Finishing next was Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin at P8, followed by Fernando Alonso claimed P9. AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda claimed the final point of the race finishing in 10th place.

Kimi Raikkonen in the Alfa Romeo bagged 11th, ahead of Aston Martin's Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren. The Australian driver had a good start to the race and was in the top 10 in the initial laps. But he reported low power on Lap 7 and dropped the order failing to recover. He ended up finishing 13th, ahead of Esteban Ocon in the Alpine.

Charles Leclerc made a strong recovery to take P7 after making an early pitstop due to a damaged front wing at the end of the opening lap

Antonio Giovinazzi finished 15th recovering from a close call with Pierre Gasly, which saw the AlphaTauri driver retire from the race. Gasly also made contact with Nicholas Latifi that gave the Williams driver a puncture and he eventually finished 17th between the Haas drivers Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Williams' George Russell was the other non-finisher in the race after facing a reliability problem with his car and retired on Lap 39.